Suggestions for February Work 



FEBRUARY weather usually is too 

 severe in the Northern states to ad- 

 mit of any outside work, but this 

 does not mean that the strawberry grower 

 is to remain in idleness. This season of 

 cold and quiet is the very time of the 

 year in which to prepare for the inevitable 

 rush and bustle of fruiting time, which 

 will be with us much sooner than now 

 we think it will as we look out over the 

 broad fields of snow-covered vines. 

 Every strawberr)' grower should have some 



CUT l-AT WORK AT THE CRATE BENCH 



place about the farm where an old stove 

 may be set up and a comfortable work- 

 shop improvised, and here, while the 

 northerly blasts sweep and Jack Frost 

 engraves his fantastic pictures in white 

 upon the landscape, the man of fore- 

 thought and enterprise may do a lot of 

 things that will make his summer work 

 lighter and pleasanter, to say nothing of 

 increased profits and the economy result- 

 ing from this preparation. 



For instance, there are the crates and 

 boxes to be made. The first thing to do 

 in this work is to make a crate-form like 

 that shown in Cut No. 2. Full instruc- 

 tions appear under the cut. Observe the 

 man at work making crates at his bench. 

 You will see that the form holds the 

 crate in place as he makes them up, leav- 

 ing his hands free to work with hammer 

 and nails. One man can make 150 of 

 these crates in a day. 



There are also the quart boxes to be 

 made up and placed in the crates, bottom 

 side up, so as to prevent any dust or 

 dirt from settling into them. When the 

 quarts are all placed in this manner they 

 may be stacked on top of each other in 

 small space, in readiness for packing time. 

 The stapling machine shown in Cut No. 



7 is one of the most economical devices 

 ever made, and effectively solves the box- 

 making problem. 



Then there are the neat and helpful 

 head stakes showing thedifFerent varieties, 

 as indicated in Cut No. 8. These stakes 

 should be nicely painted, which adds not 

 only to their appearance, but to their 

 keeping qualities as well. The stakes 

 shown in the cut serve a double purpose — 

 they indicate the \arieties and they show 

 the proper method to set plants to mate 

 them properly so as to secure perfect pol- 

 lenation. You will observe that the first 

 stake to the left represents Excelsior, then 

 two Warfiekls, and third. Senator Danlap, 

 which is followed by Warfield. Excel- 

 sior, which is an extra-early bisexual, will 

 furnish pollen for Warfield's first bloom, 

 while the Dunlap, a later bisexual, 

 supplies the later bloom of the \VarfieId, 

 which is a pistillate. This is what we 

 call congenial mating. All pistillates 

 should be mated by two bisexuals, one a 

 little earlier and one somewhat later than 

 itself. 



In making these variety stakes we find 

 that a good material to use is two-inch 

 strips, one-half inch thick and about two 

 feet long. This allows them to be driven 

 into the ground a distance of from six to 

 eight inches, and still leave the names of 

 the varieties exposed ro full view. One 

 who has not seen these neatly painted and 

 lettered stakes may not realize how much 

 they add to the appearance of the place. 



Straight marking stakes, placed at in- 

 tervals across the fields in order that the 

 grower may ha\'e something to assist in 

 keeping the rows from going awry, are 

 another valuable aid. No matter how 

 beautiful the plants may be, unless they 

 are in straight rows the field will present 

 a disappointing appearance. An example 

 of straight rows with neatly lettered head 



stakes is shown in Cut No. 3. It also 

 indicates how properly to mate Gandy. 

 Then there is the marker, so import- 

 ant at setting time as an aid to straight 

 rows, and it does the work so quickly that 

 it is quite impossible to do without one of 

 them. Cut No. 6 shows one wheel of 

 the marking device on the farm home of 

 The Strawberry. Three or four of these 

 wheels may be attached to a frame. The 

 number used will depend, of course, up- 

 on the number of rows you wish to mark 

 out at a time. You will find suggestions 

 under Cut No. 6 that will make this 

 work easy. 



Another convenience for the strawberrj' 

 grower is the packer's table. This should 



CUT 2 CRATE FORM 



T^AKE a plank two inches thick, sixteen to twenty 

 inches wide, and two feet long. Nail a six-inch 

 board to the back of this, then put on one-inch strips 

 to form the slots, as shown in the picture, and the job 

 is done. These slots hold the ends and center pieces 

 of crates in their places while the sides are being 

 nailed on. One end of crate is shown in slot. 



be made about as tall as an ordinary table, 

 the length to be determined by the size of 

 the packing shed and the amount of busi- 

 ness to be done. The top should be 

 sand papered and polished quite smoothly, 

 so if berries fall upon it there will be less 

 danger of bruising them. 



Pickers' stands or carriers are a neces- 

 sity upon the well-managed strawberry 

 farm, ^'ou will find under Cut No. 5 



CUT 3-AN IDEAL STRAWBERRY FIELD, SHOWING VARIETY HEAD STAKES 



Page 27 



