A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 45 



ened over, the cans are put away in a dark cupboard in the 

 cellar. 



And now perhaps the/armer will not care for the rest of 

 this book ; but read the first part of the next chapter, any way, 

 for it may do you good. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CAN FARMERS GROW BERRIES TO SELL? NO AND YES PRO- 

 FESSIONAL MEN AND VILLAGE PEOPLE (LADIKS AS WELI, 

 AS MEN) ADVISED TO GROW STRAWBERRIES FOR RECREA- 

 TION, AND TO IMPROVE THEIR HEALTH HILL CULTURE 

 USUALLY BEST FOR SUCH FRUIT-BEARING FLOWERS. 



I heard a good German friend say once, at an institute, 

 that mixed farming and berry-growing didn't splice. He was 

 correct. On most farms there would be the clover to cut, and 

 the corn and potatoes needing constant cultivation, and wheat 

 harvest coming right on, all this at just the time when the new- 

 ly set strawberry-beds must have frequent tillage, and the ber- 

 ries from the old ones must be picked and marketed daily, or 

 the fruit lost. Truly, under these circumstances, ordinarily, 

 the berries had better be left alone. A few things well done 

 pay better than more half done. But if the farmer has children 

 whom he does rot need at other work, large enough to set out 

 the plants, cut the runners and blossoms off, pull the weeds, 

 pick the fruit, and perhaps do some of the hoeing, and has a 

 home market for his sxirplus, he might sometimes, when pre- 

 paring the ground for his own patch, fix up, say, a quarter of 

 an acre and gh*j the children a little business to attend to. It 

 would be lit lie more trouble for the farmer if the piece were 

 the right shape (long and narrow), to cultivate 40 rods, or even 

 80, than 20, after he had got hitched up ready. Of course, 

 every one could not do this or there would be no market for 



