THE STRAWBERRY 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS 

 OF STRAWBERRY PRODUCTION IN ALL ITS BRANCHES 



Volume I No. 1 



Three Rivers, Mich., January, 1906 



$1.00 a Year 



ONE of the peculiar facts in relation to the most uni- 

 versal of horticultural interests — strawberry cul- 

 ture — is the dearth of literature upon the subject, 

 both periodical and permanent, and the slight at- 

 tention given the subject alike by the agricultural experiment 

 stations and the horticultural press. The first sentence of a 

 bulletin received from a certain experiment station is as follows: 

 "There is probably no other single 

 horticultural subject concerning which 

 inquiries are more frequently made of 

 the Experiment station than that of 

 strawberries and their varieties." "^'et 

 the letter accompanying that bulletin, 

 written by a member of the station 

 staff, advises us that nothing has been 

 published by that station on the sub- 

 ject since 1896. Turn to the agri- 

 cultural and horticultural press, and 

 information relating to the strawberry 

 obtainable from that source is so mea- 

 gre, speaking of the general run of 

 these journals, as to be negligible. Re- 

 cently a Buffalo correspondent wrote 

 us that she had gone to the public li- 

 brary in that city in the hope of finding 

 something that would aid her to carry 

 out her resolve to engage in strawberry 

 culture, but "what I found there," she 

 says, "really was discouraging, and so 

 I come to you for help." 



When we consider the magnitude 

 of the strawberry interest from the 

 viewpoint of its universal popularity, 

 or from its large industrial and com- 

 mercial importance, or as a field of 

 boundless opportunity to the seeker 

 after an independent and profitable 

 business, such neglect of an interest 

 commanding the time and talents of so 



many intelligent men and women appears strangely out of place 

 in a land so full of enterprise as our own, given over as it is in 

 so remarkable a degree to specialization. 



However, a closer study of the situation reveals the fact that 

 important as the strawberry industry is, and universally popular, 

 few men adequately ha\e realized the scientific interest that it 

 holds, nor how great the rewards it gives to those who devote 

 to it their thought and skill. Rewards in the way of pleasur- 

 able hours such as nature lovers delight in, who witness the 

 work of their hands taking shape in a larger or more deliciously 

 flavored, or more delicately colored, berry than the variety with 



3forcwor^ 



MORE men and women are engaged in 

 strawberry growing ttian are to be 

 found in any other line of horti- 

 culture, yet there has been up to the present 

 time no periodical that has made attempt ad- 

 equately to represent this great and growing 

 industry. 



Hence The Strawberry, whose mission it 

 shall be to carry information, instruction and 

 advice to all who read its pages. 



To solve the perplexing problems that face 

 the strawberry culturist, bring joy to the amateur 

 aiid financial success to the commercial grower — 

 to make light the burdens of all, increase their 

 pleasures and profits and point the way to suc- 

 cess — these are the lines of work laid down for 

 this journal. 



Following the course of "Nature throughout 

 the year, marching with the seasons and marking 

 time with the months," each issue vv!ll bring 

 seasonable instruction and suggestion, making 

 failure all but impossible and insuring readers 

 against costly mistakes. 



Edited by those whose lives largely liave been 

 devoted to the scientific study and the practical 

 production of the strawberry, its teachings will 

 be sound, safe and sure. 



With resources for experimentation and prac- 

 tical tests unexcelled, published upon the largest 

 strawherry-plant farm in the world, as it is, it 

 will ever be found in the vanguard of progress 

 in all that pertains to the strawberry, satisfied 

 witli nothing short of the best. 



We want you with us; want your kindly 

 friendship, your interested and cordial cooper- 

 ation and your dollar. May we not have them? 



which he works had grown before. Imagine the satisfaction of 

 a Burbank who, after working in the laboratory of nature for 

 many long years, sees the splendid fruition of his hopes and 

 dreams, and realizes that man may indeed become a fellow- 

 worker with the Creator. To have originated such a fruit as 

 the Senator Dunlap or Warfield strawberry is a world-service 

 of inestimable importance, and Mr. Reasoner and Mr. Warfield 

 receive the sincere gratitude of thous- 

 ands for these great contributions to 

 the strawberry world. Then there is 

 the reward which comes to the owner 

 of the strawberry patch in the city 

 yard. An abundance of fresh fruit, 

 cold and rich with the fine flavor that 

 only the berry just from the vine in- 

 variably may possess, is a gift of the 

 gods that may not be too highly valued. 

 Or if we consider the financial returns, 

 we find that the strawberry field offers 

 the most satisfying investment of time, 

 labor and capital, giving increased re- 

 turns without fail for every extra atten- 

 tion given it. 



We repeat that few men have suf- 

 ficiently understood how great were 

 the opportunities offered in this field 

 to be led to take up its study with 

 scientific thoroughness, and the result 

 is the condition to which we have 

 pointed. Now, however, the com- 

 mercial side of strawberry production 

 is become so important that this field 

 no longer may be neglected. Where 

 there was one acre a score of years ago 

 there are today hundreds of acres de- 

 \oted to strawberry growing. In the 

 South it has become a business so vast 

 that it is difficult to get statistics ap- 

 proximating the actual figures repre- 

 sented by it in dollars and cents. And although it has become 

 so great and steadily is increasing, the production "down in 

 Dixie" not only does nor affect the demand for the Northern- 

 grown fruit, but positively seems to encourage still greater en- 

 terprise in the northern part of the country, and here new and 

 larger areas are being devoted to strawberry production. 



The field of the strawberry extends from the equator to the 

 fringe of the arctic circle, and it is a field so inviting that people 

 everywhere are interested in exploring its possibilities and shar- 

 ing in its profits. What the future m:iy develop in this direction 

 none mav estimate, but with a steadilv increasing demand for 



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3275^ 



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