THE STRAWBERRY 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS 

 OF STRAWBERRY PRODUCTION IN ALL ITS BRANCHES 



Volume I No. 6 



Three Rivers, Mich., June, 1906 



$L00 a Year 



STRAWBERRIES and the home beautiful! How 

 naturally these associate themselves in the mind, and 

 how inseparable they should be in actual practice. 

 The home beautiful — what higher ideal can there be, 

 considered from the viewpoint of material possessions, than the 

 place where our lives are to be spent and our children reared to 

 manhood and womanhood? How great an influence in training 



and gilt and architectual grandeur may not vie in actual beauty. 

 See what one of The Strawberry family is doing with these aids 

 of nature to make his home a beautiful part of the landscape 

 and a place fit for a king to dwell in — although we are not dis- 

 posed to think that a king enjoys the beautiful things of this 

 world one whit more than do the men and women and boys 

 and girls who comprise the large and rapidly expanding Straw- 



the mind to think true thoughts, in developing high moral pur- berry family. However, this lovely home of J. O. Staats of 



pose and in inculcating noble principles in the hearts of the Dana, Ind., is typical of what may be done, and we are sure its 



young such a home may be is quite beyond estimate. That it simple beauty will appeal to every one, and all should see in it 



is one of the most powerful of life's influences has been proved suggestions which may be followed with advantage in their 



in all ages. And now, with June at hand, and all the sweet own particular situation, 



influences of nature calling to us to make the most of these It has been said that the home is the most accurate index to 



opportunities presented 

 by this delightful season 

 of the year, we should 

 give thought to this 

 matter, considering it 

 alike from the material 

 joys such a home afFords 

 and the larger interests 

 which have been sug- 

 gested above. 



Some folk, when you 

 speak of the home beau- 

 tiful, immediately pic- 

 ture in their minds a 

 magnificent castle, with 

 high towers and vast 

 acres spreading away 

 in greensward and in 

 forest. To such the 

 idea of the home beautiful and a large expenditure of mimey 



Ziic::Si*y^P'-. 



EDGEWOOD FRUIT FARM, THE HOME OF J. O. STA\TS, D\NA, IND. 



the character of the in- 

 dividual. Not long ago 

 we had a visit from Mr. 

 Staats, and we found in 

 the thoughtful man who 

 has won such extraor- 

 dinary success in straw- 

 berry culture that he 

 has a large annual in- 

 come from his fields 

 and has fully realized 

 that "comfortable" for- 

 tune of which Mr. Ed- 

 gerton is to speak in our 

 next issue — we found 

 him to be just such a man 

 as one expects would 

 conceive and create such 



a home as is shown in 

 the illustration on this page. Mr. Staats has had an interesting 

 are inseparable. Well, if this were true, there would be com- career as a strawberry specialist, and has led an interestmg life 

 paratively few beautiful homes in this world of ours, and to as a man, and now, with life's sun westering, he finds pleasure 



talk of them would be idle. But it is not true. Simplicity' is 

 a primary element of beauty; let us understand that at the out- 

 set. The most beautiful homes in the world are those which 

 have been created by lovers of simple natural beauty; who ha\ e 

 called to their aid grass and bush and vine and tree; a running 

 brook; a fountain playing through a mound of boulders; an oKl 

 tree trunk, covered with a mass of climbing foliage or bright 



in his work and solace and comfort and peace in his beautiful 

 but simple home at Dana. We could wish no better fortune 

 to the members of The Strawberry family than that each one 

 of them may find himself, while yet so full of the spirit of 

 youth as to enjoy such ideal surroundings, in a home so charm- 

 ing and so restful. 



Now such a home did not make itself; nothing in this world 



with the colors of myriad flowers; a closely cropped lawn; a garden that is worth while "just growed" as Topsy said she did. But 



on the other hand, the results accomplished by Mr. Staats are 

 so largely so out of proportion to the amount of labor expended, 

 as to encourage other friends to follow in his footsteps. One 

 thing Mr Staats enjoys that few rural homes possess, and yet 

 all may have it. It is a complete water system, and that little 

 fountain you see playing on the lawn is only one of the less 

 important features of this system. Many of our readers have 



well kept, with fruit bushes skirting its edges and the varying 

 shades of green of its different products; the strawberry patch 

 combining the loveliest of foliage with the most roseate of fruit'; 

 — these constitute the simple elements out of which may be con- 

 ceived and constructed the most charming and exquisite home. 

 The house.'' Oh, yes, the house is very important, but the 

 humblest cottage, surrounded by these lovely natural surround- 



ings, becomes a palace of beauty, with which marble and piint asked us about the Kewanee system of water supply. It may 



