STRAWBERRY 



STRAWBERRY 



3263 



Rent of land, two years $11 00 



Plowing and fitting 6 00 



Plants 15 00 



Setting plants 4 00 



Cultivation 16 00 



Straw for winter and fruiting mulch 15 00 



Labor hoeing, pulling weeds, etc 10 00 



Total cost $77 00 



Many northern growers raise berries at a much less 

 cost, and a few exceed this sum, especially when located 

 near a large town where rents are high; but it would 

 be safe for one about to engage in strawberry-growing 

 to figure close to this total, aside from the cost of 

 fertilizer. 



A Michigan grower estimates that the cost of pro- 

 ducing and marketing an average yield of 200 sixteen- 

 quart crates to the acre is $1.56 a crate; and the average 

 net return 88 cents a bushel, giving a profit of $88 an 

 acre. This is fairly representative of field culture in 

 the North. The high cost of production in Florida is 

 in marked contrast. As reported by a Plant City 

 grower it is: 



Interest on investment and land $20 00 



Interest on equipment 10 00 



Preparation of land 10 00 



Fertilizer 40 00 



Plants 40 00 



Setting plants 5 00 



Cultivation 10 00 



Picking 3,000 quarts at 2 H cents 7500 



Grading and packing at 1 cent 30 00 



100 crates at 15 cents 15 00 



3,000 boxes 11 00 



Hauling to station 10 00 



$276 00 



Still another phase of strawberry economics may be 

 observed in southern California. There it costs 3% 

 cents to produce and market a pint box of strawberries, 

 and the average selling-price is about 5 cents. Although 

 yields of 10,000 to 15,000 quarts to the acre are common, 

 the expense of picking is very heavy, since the season 

 lasts six to eight months, and it costs 150 an acre to 

 set a new field, since it requires 30,000 plants to the acre. 

 These examples serve to illustrate the very wide range 

 of conditions. The average yield, according to recent 

 census statistics of the United States and Canada, is 



1,700 quarts to the 

 acre. The average 

 selling-price, net to 

 the grower, is 6 to 

 7 cents a quart. 

 Authentic yields of 

 25,000 to 27,000 

 quarts to the acre 

 Have been secured 

 under intensive cul- 

 ture. 



New varieties of 

 strawberries are 

 raised from seed 

 with the greatest 

 ease. The genera- 

 t ions of strawberries 

 are short and new 

 varieties soon find 

 favor. The varie- 

 ties change so fre- 

 quently in popular 

 estimation that it is impracticable to recommend a list 

 of them in a work like this. The first great American 

 berry was the Hovey, introduced in 1838. (Fig. 1861, 

 Vol. III.) The most popular single varietv has been 

 the Wilson (Fig. 3720), introduced in 1854 and still 

 popular in Canada and the northern Pacific states. It 

 held almost undisputed control of the market from 

 1860 to 1880, when the Crescent and Sharpless secured 

 recognition. These three are the most important North 



3720. Wilson strawberry. 



3721. Gandy strawberry. 



American varieties; two-thirds of the 348 varieties of 

 known parentage have descended from them. Other 

 old favorites, now no longer grown, are the Cumber- 

 land, Triumph, Downer Prolific, and Charles Down- 

 ing. European varieties do not succeed here; notable 

 exceptions are Jucunda, and Triomphe. Over 1,800 

 varieties of North 

 American origin have 

 been introduced but 

 less than 150 of these 

 have attained promi- 

 nence. The oldest 

 North American va- 

 riety now cultivated 

 is the Longworth, in- 

 troduced in 1851; it- 

 is still prized in the_ 

 San Francisco mar-" 

 ket. The dominant 

 commercial varieties 

 of today are the 

 Dunlap, Haverland, 

 Marshall, Klondvke. 

 Aroma, Gandy, Glen 

 Mary, Bubach, 

 Brandywine, Clark, 

 Warfield. At least 

 fifty others are grown 

 to a considerable extent. The accompanying pictures 

 (Figs. 3720-3725) show types of American strawberries. 



The strawberry has been in cultivation but a short 

 time, as compared with other fruits. It has been grown 

 in gardens less than 600 years, and was not cultivated 

 commercially to any extent until early in the nineteenth 

 century. The first record of garden culture is in France, 

 early in the fourteenth century. This was the wood 

 strawberry, Fragaria vesca. The common wild straw- 

 berry of eastern North America, F. virginiana, was in- 

 troduced into Europe early in the seventeenth century. 

 Neither species showed much promise under cultiva- 

 tion. F. chiloensis, which is native to the Pacific coast 

 of America, was brought to Europe from Chile in 1712, 

 by M. Frezier, a Frenchman. See Fragaria. Although 

 the berries are large, this species found little favor 

 because of shy bearing and poor quality; it gave prac- 

 tically no improved varieties. Near the middle of the 

 eighteenth centurv the Pine strawberry (referring 

 to the pineapple fragrance of the fruit) appeared in 

 Europe, and became the principal progenitor of the 

 garden strawberry. The botanical origin of the Pine is 

 obscure. One view is that it was a form of F. chiloensis; 

 another, that it resulted from the hybridization of that 

 species with F. virginiana in European gardens; all the 

 early importations of the Chile were pistillate plants, 

 and varieties of the Scarlet were commonly planted 

 with them. The first of the modern race of large- 

 fruited varieties was the Keens' Seedling, originated 

 by Michael Keens, of England, hi 1819; it was a Pine, 

 and from it have sprung most of the European varieties 

 of today. The Hovey, from which modern North 

 American varieties have descended in large measure, 

 was undoubtedly a Pine in part, but there is consider- 

 able evidence that one of its parents was a variety of 

 F. virginiana. 



Wild strawberries were so abundant in North America 

 that there was no garden culture of this fruit until 

 about 1770. The Alpine and Hautbois types of straw- 

 berries (F. vesca and F. moschata) were introduced 

 then from Europe, but did not become popular; prefer- 

 ence was given to transplanted wildings of the Scarlet. 

 These species have never been grown here except by a 

 few amateurs. Commercial strawberry-culture began 

 soon after 1800, mainly in the vicinity of the four largest 

 towns of that period Boston, New York, Philadelphia, 

 and Baltimore. The varieties used were slightly 

 improved forms of F. nrginiana, notably Large Early 



