THE STRAWBERRY APRIL. 1906 



and let us who are in the business of grow- 

 ing strawberries see if we may not develop 

 a home market in our rural neighborhood, 

 if we live and work in such a neighbor- 

 hood: take to those about us the best ber- 

 ries our science and skill can produce. 

 There is an opportunity here, only await- 

 ing enterprise to develop into something 

 really important and splendid. 



How to Get Your Own Prices for 



Strawberries 



By Frank E. Be atty 



ONE of the most pleasant features 

 of the strawberry business is dur- 

 ing fruiting time when we can go 

 out into the field and see the vines laden 

 with big, red, luscious berries; and if 

 proper arrangements have been made for 

 marketing this big crop of fruit, the 

 grower may justly feel proud. To know 

 how to grow big crops of fancy straw- 

 berries and market them at a big price is 

 a science, and when a grower has mas- 

 tered this latter and very important fea- 

 ture of the work, he well may be called 

 an expert. There is no profit in a big 

 crop of berries unless you do know how 

 to sell them for what they are worth, and 

 no one on earth knows better what it 

 costs to grow a strawberry than the pro- 

 ducer. That is why the grower should 

 make his own price, and if his berries 

 properly are graded and honestly packed 

 it will be no trouble to do this. 



We get a great many letters from 

 growers complaining that the grocers in 

 their particular towns want fancy berries, 

 but are not willing to pay any more for 

 them than for common stock. The 

 proper way to treat such dealers is to 

 send your berries to some other market, 

 willing to pay what your fruit is worth. 

 The merchant has no more right to set 

 the price on your berries than you have 

 to fix the price for the sugar you buy 

 from him. And I have had some exper- 

 ience along this line m\self. 



When I first started my fruit farm at 

 Covington, Ind., I shipped my berries on 

 consignment to one good grocer each in 

 several neighboring towns, and to one or 

 two of the best dealers at home. iMy 

 berries were graded and honestly packed; 

 the top layer of each quart box was 

 placed with stems down, and they cer- 

 tainly made a handsome appearance. No 

 one could possibly take a peep at them 

 without longing for a taste. Each deal- 

 er's customers, and many more who 

 never traded at their store before, flocked 

 in and bought the berries by the armful. 

 These merchants would pat me on the 

 back and say: "Frank, you are 'it,' and 

 you certainly know how to grow and 

 pack fancy berries to make people hun- 

 gry. Letters would pour in from all 

 my customers, and every letter was 

 chock full of taffy and high compliments 



about Beatty's celebrated berrie?,. Letters 

 came from other merchants who were 

 not getting my shipments, but wanted to 

 get the sale of these berries because their 

 customers were calling for my brand. 



Well, of course, these pats on the back 

 and the letters made me feel mighty good, 

 but when the statement of sales and the 

 checks came, the figures representing 

 prices did not look so good to me. After 

 the last shipment was made that season, 

 all the dealers wrote their regrets that 

 these berries could not continue to come 

 the year 'round, and ended up with a 

 "P. S. Put me down for your dealer in 

 this town for next year. Be sure and 

 don't forget me." It was right there I 

 discovered that to know how to grow big 

 crops of fancy berries was not the whole 

 thing in the berry business; so I started lo 

 outline some plan whereby I would ha\ e 

 some say when it came to naming prices, 

 and when the next spring opened up the 

 prospects for a fine crop of choice berries 

 were very flattering. 



One day while out in my five acres of 

 strawberries, pulling some stray weeds 

 which were intruding on the preserves of 

 the berries, I resolved that no man was 

 going to have any say in naming the 

 price on this promised crop except myself. 

 A letter was formulated something like 

 this: 



Mr. Grocer, — Dear Sir: — My berries this 

 year are going to beat all records, and you can 

 safely promise your berry-hungry customers 

 that it will not be long until they can tickle 

 their palates with Beatty's celebrated strawber- 

 ries; but be sure and tell them that they will 

 have to pay 15 cents per quart or two quarts for 

 25 cents this year, because Beatty says so. As 

 I am the producer of these berries and know 

 just what it costs to grow them, I am the only 

 one who can intelligently name the selling price. 

 I will pay you 15 per cent commission for sell- 

 ing my berries, and also will pay the express. 



I must admit that both inyself and 

 wife were a little nervous until we re- 

 ceived answers from these letters, fearing 

 that our dealers might balk at these seem- 

 ingly high prices, but in a few days the re- 

 plies began to reach us, and every last 

 dealer said: 



Let your berries come; we will abide 

 by the law." 



Shake, old boy," says my wife. 

 I told you so," says I. 



Two happier people you never saw, 

 because we had won our point and felt 

 sure that \ve were going to make some 

 money. 



The berries were all I claimed for 

 them, and the dealers found it easy sail- 

 ing to get my prices, which were almost 

 double what they brought when the mer- 

 chant set the price. If any of their cus- 

 tomers found fault with the prices, the 

 dealer simply told them that he had no 

 control over the price, and that he must 

 follow Beatty's rules or he could not get 

 the berries at all. 



And the best of all is the fact that these 



Paige 74 



dealers stuck by me from year to year. 

 One season when berries were a partial 

 failure in some sections, I put the price of 

 my berries up to 17 '2 cents a quart and 

 got it without a word. There is no 

 reason why any grower cannot do this 

 same thing if he will stiffen up his back 

 bone and demand his prices. Of course, 

 it may take grit to do this, but if grit 

 helps to make hens lay eggs, why won't 

 it make the people lay down their twelve 

 or fifteen cents for a quart of fancy ber- 

 ries? It will if you furnish the right kind 

 of berries — with the grit! 



Weeding the Fruiting Bed 



WEEDS and grass are almost sure 

 to put in their appearance in the 

 fruiting bed, and unless some- 

 thing is done to destroy them there is go- 

 ing to be trouble. A strawberry plant is 

 laboring under too many disadvantages 

 and can not do its best when compelled 

 to associate with any of the weed family. 

 Just before the plants bloom is the best 

 time to remove these intruders, but never 

 work among them vi'hen the bloom is 

 open, as there is danger of destroying or 

 interfering with pollenation. 



A good and quick way to get these 

 weeds out is by paying good boys a fixed 

 price per row for the work. The price 

 will depend on the length of rows and 

 the number of weeds in them. Directly 

 after a rain they will pull easily. If the 

 ground is not wet then a sharp hoe can 

 be scraped under the mulching, cutting 

 everything off just under the surface. 



It is easier to get pickers when every- 

 thing is clean, and they can do much bet- 

 ter work than could be done when wad- 

 ing through weeds and grass. Then the 

 berries will dry quicker after a heavy dew, 

 permitting the pickers to get to work 

 earlier in the morning, and the grower 

 thus may get his fruit to market fresh for 

 dinner. 



But the greatest advantage in having 

 the plants free from all obnoxious weeds, 

 is in the saving of moisture and soluble 

 plant foods which will all be used to 

 good advantage in developing the crop of 

 berries. 



Two crops of anything can not be suc- 

 cessfully grown on the same piece of 

 ground at the same time any more than 

 two pigs can be fattened on the same 

 amount of grain that is required for one. 

 In a case of this kind both pigs would be 

 kept thin by fighting for their share, or 

 the weaker would have to succumb to 

 the stronger. Another advantage in hav- 

 ing your field of berries free from weeds 

 and grass is that it presents a much better 

 appearance to those who visit your farm 

 during fruiting time; and if you are sell- 

 ing to family trade, the more visitors you 

 have at picking time the more berries 

 you will sell in the field or from your 

 packing shed. 



