33 



No crop, with the i^^ssible exception of the 

 onion, responds more freely to good and 

 frequent cultivation than the strawberry. 



In cultivating the ground in the spring, 

 one-horse or two-horse brakes should be 

 employed, taking care, however, that the 

 latter are not set wide enough to injure the 

 plants. 



Formerly strawberries were frequently 

 littered with long stable manure, which to 

 some extent, when washed by rain, nourishes 

 the plantation, but this is apt to make the 

 land weedy from the hay seeds. 



The fruit is chiefly picked in Kent in the 

 early morning, from 2 30 or 3 to 6 30 a.m. in 

 time to dispatch by vans with trotting horses, 

 as the trains so frequently deliver the fruit 

 late into market and the fruit i& often so 

 roughly handled that growers within 20 miles 

 of London prefer to send by road if they are 

 able. The motor lorry is now largely replacing 

 the horse in marketing strawberries and in- 

 creasing the radius round our big cities where 

 they can be profitably grown. Whether the 

 aeroplane will now extend this to the whole 

 country remains to be seen. 



The subject of "costings," however, is a 

 terror, and last year's control served to show 

 how many side expenses a grower is put to 

 that are apt to be overlooked. For instance, 

 on road- mending, we spent hundreds of pounds 

 in order to keep our soft fruit from getting 

 arred and shaken and to bring the motors 

 right up to the fields. Then there is the 

 question of wet day employment, housing for 

 pickers, bedding and fuel for pickers, and so on. 



The standard package is the peck, though 

 some growers of choice fruit pack in gallons or 

 chips containing 4 or 5 lbs. For Kentish straw- 

 berries the price, pre war, at the beginning of 

 the season was usually about 4s. 6d. per peck, 

 and the season ends with Is. The earliest in 

 market receive the best price ; thus similar 

 fruit may sell at 2s. 6d. per peck at 8.30 a.m., 

 and at Is. 3d. per peck at 3pm.; late delivery 

 into market may halve the return of the 

 grower. The fruit is generally largest the 

 second year after planting, whilst the crop is 

 generally heaviest the third year; a fourth 

 crop is taken but the fruit is smaller; after 

 which it is usually advisable to plough in the 

 plants and crop the land for five years before 

 replanting, growing such crops as cauliflowers, 

 peas, and potatoes, to give the land a com- 

 plete change, whilst manuring and cultivating 

 it well to keep it clean and in good heart. 



In the Blairgowrie district of Scotland I 

 understand the yield reaches 2^ tons per acre. 

 The price per ton previous to the war was 

 about £15 to £25 per ton, and is now about 

 £60 per ton. 



Strawberries are successfully grown on 

 small holdings in Hampshire, also on the 

 banks of the Tamar which divides Cornwall 

 from Devon. Here, on Lord Mount Edge- 

 combe's estate, land facing south suitable for 

 early strawberries lets at £5 per acre, whilst 

 the rent of adjoining land is 20s. This is one 

 of the only examples of difference in value I 

 have met due to aspect, but the southerly 

 slope makes the strawberries a fortnight 

 earlier than those of Kent. 



