A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE 97 



and straight goods every time, and you will make money, and 

 it will be clean money. 



I should like to have you read the following lines, selected 

 out of an article from Prof. L. H. Bailey, of Michigan Agricul- 

 tural College, which I think first appeared in Popular Garden- 

 ing. They express my ideas in better words than I could put 

 them in : 



"The tendency of fruit-growing is to specialize, to grow 

 one or two products on a large scale, and solely for the money 

 there is in them. Fruits which endure rough handling and 

 long shipments are taking the places of the better fruits. The 

 person who depends solely upon the city markets can not know 

 or appreciate good fruit. Quality must always suffer when des- 

 sert fruits are grown and handled by the wholesale. The flavor 

 and relish of the individual varieties, the appreciation of deli- 

 cacy of taste, the appetizing influence of the best and freshest 

 products of the thrifty garden do not appear. The commercial 

 tendency of the times is toward the money rather than the 

 product. 



" Still, there is an abundance of people who are willing to 

 pay for the best. Every town contains such people. They 

 mike it possible for the gardener who is ambitious, to exercise 

 his skill in the production of the very best product. I rarely 

 advise my students to pursue horticulture on a large scale. I 

 urge them to grow less and grow better. Superior fruits com- 

 mand remunerative prices at nearly all times." 



These are excellent words for any one growing strawberries 

 on a small scale, to ponder over. Grow larger ones. Grow 

 choicer ones. Get them to the consumer in more perfect con- 

 dition. You can not hope to compete with large growers in 

 the ordinary market, nor can they hurt your trade much in the 

 direction pointed out so forcibly by Prof. Bailey. 



