56 THE STEAWBEEEY CULTUEIST. 



children to assist in gathering the fruit or can always 

 depend upon those of their neighbors to lend a hand 

 when needed. An acre of Strawberries under high cul- 

 tivation, with the fruit gathered and marketed in the 

 very best condition, will often yield more clear profit ^o 

 the grower than ten acres under opposite conditions. 



Circumstances have changed since the first edition 

 of this little treatise was written, for at that time our 

 large cities and villages were wholly supplied with small 

 fruit, by the farmers and gardeners in their immediate 

 vicinity, and, if the seasons were unfavorable, the price 

 of fruit advanced in proportion, and the grower was sure 

 of obtaining a fair remuneration for his labor whether 

 he had a large or limited crop of fruit. But all this is 

 now changed, for railroads have practically annihilated 

 distance in the transportation of perishable commodities 

 of all kinds, and the Strawberry growers of no one local- 

 ity or region of the country are masters of their own 

 local markets, for those residing a hundred or even five- 

 hundred miles away may become their most persistent 

 and successful competitors. If a market is not fully 

 supplied, and prices go up in consequence, the telegraph 

 conveys the information to those who may be able to 

 supply the deficiency; hence local monopolies are no lon- 

 ger possible. The Strawberry season in our Northern 

 cities opens with fruit from Florida, and continues until 

 the last crate comes in from Maine or Canada, and yet, 

 fresh, choice, large fruit usually commands a fairly re- 

 munerative price in all of our large cities and villages 

 throughout the entire country. 



While the profits of Strawberry culture are not so 

 large as they were twenty or thirty years ago, still, they 

 are sufficient to induce those who have longest made the 

 cultivation of this berry a specialty, to continue in the 



