THE STRAWBERRY MAY 1906 



And if the berry grower listens to such 

 people he would be giving his berries 

 away. 



The only satisfactory plan is to make 

 a price and stick to it, even though a few 

 quarts of your berries do spoil. The 

 berries are not going to get a chance to 

 spoil if you pack them honestly. There 

 always are enough people who are willing 

 to pay a good price for fancy fruit to 

 purchase your entire output. 



Here is one thing I wish to imp'ess 

 upon your minds. Do not listen to the 

 kickers, but just go ahead packing your 

 fruit attractively and stick to your price. 

 What one has done you can do. 



Helpful Hints for Strawberry Folk 



SOME excellent suggestions are made 

 relative to many phases of straw- 

 berry production in an article from 

 the pen of Wilfrid Wheeler which ap- 

 pears in the Garden Magazine for April. 

 In this article the writer says: 



"The strawberry is the most important 

 fruit for the home garden; first, because 

 it is quickly grown. The amateur very 

 often rents his garden and cannot afford 

 to wait five or six years for such fruits as 

 apples, pears, plums, etc., while the 

 strawberry, which can be grown in a short 

 space of time, answers his purpose well. 



"It is the most important, also, on ac- 

 count of its adaptability to all kinds of 

 soil. Any garden soil that will grow 

 peas, beans, corn or potatoes will do for 

 strawberries, though modification may be 

 necessary. If your garden is low and 

 damp, with rain-water standing in pools 

 on the ground, some means of drainage 

 must be employed, for the strawberiy 

 does not like to have the ground-water 

 nearer than eighteen to twenty inches 

 from the crown of the plant. A few tiles 

 laid through your garden, leading into a 

 well or ditch, will improve these condi- 

 tions. If the ground is sandy and dry, 

 add some heavy soil, meadow-mud or 

 well-rotted manure, and, also, to get the 

 best results, have the garden hose within 

 reach. If, on the other hand, your soil 

 is heavy, with a clay subsoil, work in 

 some sand at the time of trenching. 



Whatever your soil may be, you 

 must trench it to a depth of at least fif- 

 teen inches, adding stable manure and 

 fertilizer. This trenching may seem un- 

 necessary, but it will save a lot of trouble 

 later on, especially with regard to moist- 

 ure conditions. In a dry season, the 

 roots will go down deep in a well- 

 trenched soil, and in a wet season the 

 surplus water will drain away more 

 quickly. 



When locating your bed, choose the 

 sunniest spot in your garden, which may 

 not of necessity be fiat and level. Don't 

 plant strawberries under currant bushes, 

 or under pear or apple trees, for with 

 only a few square feet in the sun you can 



produce more berries than from a larger 

 space in the shade. Be sure to give your 

 bed some protection from sweeping 

 winds: a fence or a hedge on the north 

 side will make ideal conditions. 



"The strawberry is remarkably free 

 from the attacks of leaf-eating insects, but 

 is often troubled by a far worse pest — 

 namely, the white grub larvae of the June 

 beetle, which eat the roots of the plants. 

 To get rid of this pest, an ounce of pre- 

 vention is worth a pound of cure; so do 

 not plant strawberries on new sod land, 

 or after a crop of potatoes, both places 

 being conducive to the propagation of 

 this pest. The grubs are found very 

 often in old garden soil; so, if this must 

 be used, treat it first with a good dress- 

 ing of lime. 



"If it is desired to have strawberries 

 earlier than the regular crop, take a piece 

 of ground six by six feet, or larger if you 

 wish to use more sash, and set plants in 

 August ten inches apart, giving the same 

 treatment as for hill culture. Just before 

 the ground freezes, make a frame about 

 these plants to carry two three-by-six 

 hotbed sash. Bank up the soil on the 

 outside to the top of the frame and give 

 the plants extra protection, by first plac- 

 ing pine boughs upon them, then straw 

 or hay over these, finally covering the 

 frame with boards laid rather loosely. 

 Do not make the frame so that water 

 will stand in it, or you will come to grief. 

 About the first of March take of? the 

 boards from the frame and put on sash, 

 but do not remove the mulch inside until 

 it has thawed out. Cover the sash at 

 night with mats, giving plenty of air on 

 warm and sunny days. When the plants 

 come into flower, remove the sash on 

 bright days, in order to give the blossoms 

 a chance to pollenize. Water must be 

 applied .so as not to wet the flowers, and 

 liquid manure may be used until the pet- 

 als of the blossoms fall. With care, the 

 fruit in this frame will be ripe at the 

 time the cut-of-door plants are in bloom. 

 The Marshall, Senator Dunlap, Nick 

 Ohmer and Brandywineare good varieties 

 for frame culture. 



In conclusion, the important things 

 to keep in mind, in order to have a suc- 

 cessful home strawberry bed, are: Good 

 plants, constant cultivation, plenty of 

 manure, water during a dry season, and 

 ample winter protection." 



The Strawberry Inspiration 



KENTUCKY grows splendid straw- 

 berries — no doubt about that. 

 But one can imagine what sort of 

 fruit it must be to inspire the editor of the 

 Louisville Herald to rhapsodic utterance 

 concerning the product of his own county, 

 as in the following: 



Queen of strawberries is the Jefferson 

 county variety. It is Edenic, for all the 

 best Aztec and Seminole traditions, sup- 

 Page 108 



ST. JOSEPH. MICH. 



StNDrORILlUSTHATCD PRICE l|5,T,:„i 



HEADQUARTERS FOR 



Berry Boxes 



PEACH AND GRAPE 



BASKETS 



ALSO MELON BASKETS 



Established in 18 6 9 

 Experience Counts 



To obtain highest prices for your fruits 



ship in our packages 



Illustrated Price List Free 



Welis-Higman Co., st. joseph, mich. 



Webster Basket Co., 



Manufacturers of the 



BEST WIRE-SEWED BERRY 



BASKET ON THE MARKET 



Get our Cataloccue and Price 



before ordering; elsfwhere 



WEBSTER BASKET CO., 



Box 40. WEBSTER, Monroe Co., N. Y. 



Fruit Packages of all Rinds 



Before ordering your supplies 

 write for our 

 Descriptive Catalogue 

 and Price List. 



BERLIN FRUIT BOX CO.. 

 Erie Co. Berlin Heights, Ohio. 



Berry- 



Quarts, $3 per 1,000 



IRilCK PtC Hnllnrk'KOups, Hallock'sBoxes, 

 UClOIWiO rr:ites, Etr-., instock. 

 Senti for List. AV. D. Soper, Jackson, Mich. 



ported by the most ancient documents 

 that paleontologists are able to decipher, 

 agree that the Garden of Delight lay 

 somewhere between the Big Sandy and 

 the Tennessee, probably taking in Green 

 river, without the headaches. Salt river, 

 without its mint beds, Louisville, without 

 its politics, Jefferson county with its 

 strawberries, and Lexington with its fine 

 horses. 



Strawberries, indeed! The Jefferson 

 county variety is a lover's dream, gour- 

 mand's delight, a poem dropped from the 

 stars. From it comes the blush to the 

 cheek of Kentucky's maid, lusciousness ' 

 to her lips, the laugh to her eye. Straw- 

 berries.' The Great Artificer could never 

 think of any other place for their produc- 

 tion in highest culture. Where else 

 could be got the cream inseparable 

 from the true strawberry.'' Where the 

 right kind of people to enjoy that stimu- 



