Harvesting and MarKeting Stra^wberries 



MANY fruit growers who can pro- 

 duce excellent crops do not make 

 as much profit as they should be- 

 cause of improper methods of harvesting 

 and marketing. Some growers are care- 

 less, others do not know. With straw- 

 berries this lack of care and want 

 of business methods is most disastrous. 

 The sooner strawberry growers dismiss 

 the idea that a gang of pickers, con- 

 sisting chiefly of boys and girls with 

 little or no experience, can attend to 

 the harvesting the sooner will higher 

 prices be obtained for their fruit. 

 Personal supervision by those who 

 understand the stage of maturity at 

 which the fruit should be picked to 

 reach the market that is being catered 

 to, in proper condition, is essential. 



The consuming pubHc is constantly 

 becoming more critical and a fruit of 

 high quality is demanded. Growers 

 who put up uniformly good fruit can 

 find a ready market at all times and 

 obtain the highest prices. If strict care 

 is taken to see that the fruit is graded 

 and the boxes filled and placed on the 

 market in satisfactory condition, no 

 worry will be caused because of low 

 prices. To ensure that he shall receive 

 due credit for the extra care, the grower 

 should have his name or his brand or 

 both clearly stamped on the box. 



The method of disposing of the fruit 

 will be regulated largely by existing con- 

 ditions. If satisfactory help can be 

 secured and a city is not too far distant 

 it may pay best to make direct sales. 

 If, however, transportation facilities are 

 good and help is scarce the most advis- 

 able method of disposing of it would be 

 through a commission house. The price 

 obtained from the commission merchants 

 may not at first be as high, but once a 

 reputation for supplying high grade goods 

 is established the price will be raised. 



In a recent letter to The Horticul- 

 turist, Mr. W. G. Horn, a successful 

 strawberry grower of Clarkson, Ont., 

 wrote as follows: 



"In gathering the strawberry crop 

 all growers have to contend with more 

 or less trouble in getting them picked 

 properly. I believe I am within the 

 mark in saying 25 per cent, of the 

 strawberry crop is picked in a premature 

 state on account of the pickers being 

 more anxious to fill the boxes than to 

 pick the berries properly. To have the 

 berries at their best they should be pick- 

 ed every third day. 



"In disposing of them we like to get 

 them off our hands as quickly as possible 

 on account of their perishable nature, 

 and to have them looking as fresh as 

 possible when placed on the market. 

 We depend largely on the commission 

 merchant for handling what we produce. 

 Sometimes buyers are at the stations 

 and buy them there for cash. It is 



almost impossible for the growers to 

 market their strawberries individually. 



SUMMER CUI/riVATION 



"It is difficult to have land on which 

 strawberries are grown in too high a 

 state of cultivation. Then it is impor- 

 tant to keep the patch well cultivated 

 and free from weeds before the runners 

 make a start. The runners should not 

 be allowed to become too thick in the 

 rows or the rows to become too wide. 

 A row 18 inches wide with strong, vigor- 

 ous plants is the ideal one. 



"If the patch has been a good one 

 the first yiear, and the plants are vigor- 

 ous, we keep it over almost invariably 

 and occasionally a third year, but very 

 seldom. The treatment for the same is 

 to clean it thoroughly from weeds and 

 mulch it with short, well-rotted manure 

 during the winter. Long manure an- 

 swers better on the new patch." 



NOVA SCOTIA METHODS 



In discussing strawberry growing in 

 its different phases before the students 

 at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, 

 Mr. J. C. Black, of Truro, one of the most 

 successful strawberry culturists in Can- 

 ada, dealt with the harvesting and 

 marketing end. His address was in 

 part as follows : 



"I am a strong believer in intensive 

 farming. There is no crop that will 

 respond better to intensive cultivation 

 than the strawberry. Those who are 

 better acquainted with the productive- 

 ness of potatoes than they are of straw- 

 berries may be somewhat surprised to 

 hear that an acre of land will produce as 

 many bushels of strawberries as it will 

 potatoes. I have grown 9,000 quarts 

 per acre. The average, however, ranges 

 from 3,000 to 6,000 quarts. The differ- 

 ence results from the condition of the 

 land and the amount of attention given 

 to the crop during the first season. 

 Strawberries have been grown in many 

 places to far exceed the above figures. 



" In old land that is more or less over- 

 run with grass or weeds it does not pay 

 to keep the patch for a second crop, but 

 on land that is clean a second crop may 

 be gathered. As soon as the crop is 

 harvested the land should be plowed 

 and everything turned under and some 

 crop put in to be plowed down in the fall. 

 If the matted row system is adopted a 

 new patch should be set out every 

 spring and the old one plowed down. 



"In har^'esting the crop we pay, by 

 the box, from one to two cents according 

 to the state of the crop, and always try 

 to get the most careful pickers. Some- 

 times one careless picker destroys more 

 than he is worth. 



"In marketing your fruit bear in 

 mind that the market is never glutted 

 with a good article. It is always the 

 inferior fruit that spoils sales. If you 



have the best fruit and let people know 

 it you can always get the highest prices 

 and secure the best class of customers. 

 Be sure always to have the best. It 

 is a good plan to have your name stamp- 

 ed on the boxes. Do not use old and 

 soiled boxes; let the other fellow have 

 them. Insist on the pickers filling the 

 boxes. Nothing disgusts a customer 

 more than to see a dirty box only two 

 thirds full of half-ripe fruit or soft and 

 mussy looking. 



" There is no cause for alarm about a 

 market for a first-class fruit properly 

 picked and boxed. The more good 

 strawberries people eat the more they 

 want. If the local demand is not likely 

 to be great enough you can always find 

 some other town that is not supplied. 

 If large enough quantities can be grown i 

 in any locality to make the venture J 

 worth while there is no reason why they ] 

 may not be shipped to Montreal or even 

 to Boston, as strawberries are scarce] 

 in those markets when our fruit is in its| 

 prime." 



No Non-SucKerin^ RaspberryJ 



Do you know of a red raspberry that is a tip! 

 plant — one that will not sucker? I know the 

 Columbian, but I refer to varieties producing 

 red berries. — John Deegan, Meaford 



There is no good non-suckering red 

 raspberry' known to me. The tip varie- 

 ties are either black or purple, the latter 

 being hybrids between the red rasp- 

 berry and blackcap. — W. T. Macoun, 

 Horticulturist, C.E.F., Ottawa. 



There is no red raspberry that roots 

 at the tip. They all sucker more or 

 ess. The only garden raspberries that 

 root at the tip are the blackcaps and 

 hybrids between the reds and the black- 

 caps, like Schaeffer, Columbian, etc. — 

 R. B. Whyte, Ottawa. 



"I always apply fertilizer to the 

 small fruit plantation in the spring. I 

 use muriate of potash on my grapes 

 because it stimulates fruit grow-th. 

 Currants do not need so much potash. 

 Nitrate of soda and barnyard manure 

 give best results." — A. W. Peart, Bur- 

 lington. 



Russetting of the fruit is frequently 

 caused in the early part of the season 

 by two or three fine days following the 

 spraying and then a rain coming.*? WTien 

 the fruit becomes more mature no harm 

 results. — N. Jack, Chateauguay Basin, 

 Que. " 



Do not stir the soil under or about 

 gooseberries, currants and Shaffer and 

 Columbia raspberries. The former will 

 drop their fruit, and the berries will fall 

 off in yield if the soil is stirred. Mulch 

 gives a full crop every time. — Stanley 

 Spillett, Nantyr, Ont. ' 



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