102 ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



YIELD OF OUR HALF ACRE THIS YEAR (1890) QUALITY RIDES 

 OVER A GLUTTED MARKET NUMEROUS NOTES ON THE SEA- 

 SON'S EXPERIENCE. 



Since writing the previous chapters the berry season has 

 come and gone, and a few words in regard to this year's expe- 

 rience may be of interest. The cash sales from our patch were 

 $237.00. We were painting house and barn, and building an 

 addition to our covered barnyard, during the berry season ; and 

 as we had to board the carpenters, tinners, painters, etc., as 

 well as four men of our own, besides our own folks, we had a 

 very large " home market " for berries. We certainly ate, can- 

 ned, "jammed," and gave away $50 worth, probably more, as 

 some days I know by actual measurement that we ate three 

 pecks. We may safely say that the total value of the crop at 

 wholesale prices was $287. No attempt was made to get the 

 last dollar out of them, or the receipts might have been pushed 

 up to $300. We all got pretty tired of picking ; and when the 

 yield got so light that there was not much profit in it we let 

 them go and told the neighbors to help themselves. One lady 

 picked more than a bushel. As we had taken up plants from 

 one end of the patch, taking all clean as we went, the above 

 yield was obtained from several rods less than half an acre. I 

 haven't figured up the exact yield in bushels ; but it was over 

 100, or considerably over 200 bushels per acre. With the ex- 

 ception of three bushels the berries were all sold at the door, 

 or in our little town of Hudson. That we were able to do this 

 was a surprise to us. j^There are plenty of other growers here, 

 and the'streets were full of peddlers all through the season. 

 They took the berries from door to door. We sold to dealers 

 only, or to families who wanted a half-bushel drawer. I fixed 

 the price of our best selected berries at $3.20 a bushel, and the 



