A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 5 



know just what to do. If we do not do any more, we shall try 

 to make every little matter so plain that any girl or boy can 

 understand how to grow strawberries. The writer felt pro- 

 voked, not long since, when reading an article in an agricul- 

 tural paper, written by a well-known horticulturist. He 

 seemed to be trying to mystify the matter of fertilization 

 among strawberry plants. He seemed to wish to discourage 

 farmers from growing strawberries, on the ground that, from 

 their lack of knowledge, they would soon have barren beds. 

 And still that wri er had the ability to make the entire matter 

 of fertilization so plain and simple that any child could under- 

 stand all that is necessary. 



Considerable of what is in the following pages was written, 

 in substance, either for the Ohio Farmer, the Country Gentle- 

 man, or the Rural New-Yorker; but it has all been written 

 over and revised and put into more convenient form for ref- 

 erence. The first part of this book, you will notice, is par- 

 ticularly for farmers and others who want to grow only enough 

 berries for th*ir own use, with the least possible trouble, and 

 where the greatest yield is not an important point. Later 

 on will be found something for those who, like the writer, 

 grow some berries to sell, and enjoy making the most possible 

 out of what they do. 



CHAPTER II. For Farmers. 



Some readers may know that the writer for years argued in 

 the papers against farmers, as a class, fussing to raise their own 

 strawberries, where they can buy nice ones handily. The idea 

 was, that each one, farmer and fruit-grower, had better attend 

 to his own business ; that the farmer, so far as money-making 

 is concerned, had better raise a little more of what is in his own 

 line, and take the money and buy strawberries, rather than fuss 



