A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 107 



give me pleasure to show him what I could do in the berry line* 

 It was with much difficulty that I at last induced him to come 

 out ; he was utterly sick and disgusted with berries. But he 

 finally came. I uncovered them. He bought them. I went 

 home. Before night of that same day he wrote me to bring 

 him four bushels more of these berries, offering an advance of 

 25 cts. a bushel, and $1 if his market should recover any so 

 that he possibly could. But our home trade wanted them all, 

 and I did not go to Akron again. I dislike to blow my own 

 horn, friends ; but I see no other way to make this important 

 point so plain to you. The plain truth is, such berries will 

 make a market for themselves. People who wouldn't have 

 looked at ordinary fruit couldn't pass such berries without tak- 

 ing home some ; and after they had one taste we were sure of 

 them for the season. Even our canning berries were made to 

 advertise themselves. If one box went into a neighborhood, 

 every family near would want some. For example, I sold to a 

 Mrs. C. a drawer at 4 P. M., and called there in the evening to 

 get the drawer back, and took orders from four neighbors, who 

 were waiting there to see me, for 2>^ bushels. Good fresh ber- 

 ries that there would be no waste to, and good measure did the 

 business. We put about 18 quarts in every drawer, 41 pounds 

 on the scales ; and if that didn't seem to fill the drawer very 

 full, we put on a few more. 



Now, while there are plenty of people able and willing to 

 pay for our best selected berries what such an article deserves, 

 it was with a great deal of pleasure that we sold many bushels 

 of good berries, but not the very largest, at prices that any one 

 could afford. Many families who could not afford 15 -cent ber- 

 ries bought half a bushel of 6 -cent ones, and ate them freely, 

 and canned the surplus. We sold a good many berries at $2 in 

 this way that we might have got a little more out of, and we 

 were real sorry that we did not have enough to go around even 

 then. We had to refuse many of our friends. 



I have now told you of the yield and the income therefrom. 



