THE STRAWBERRY 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS 

 OF STRAWBERRY PRODUCTION IN ALL ITS BRANCHES 



Volume I No. 7 



Three Rivers, Mich., July, 1906 



$1.00 a Year 



FROM many sources come the same old complaint this 

 season about the small, green berries at the bottom 

 of the box, and in some sections where commercial 

 strawberry production is carried forward on an exten- 

 sive scale, it is declared that the product of the entire district 

 has been affected by the acts of a few unscrupulous growers 

 who would rather make a nickel by cheating than build up a 

 reputation and insure success by square-dealing. In one Ten- 

 nessee district, it is said that this influence was sufficient to 

 lower the price upon products there to the point where profit 

 practically disappeared. One of the prominent growers and 

 shippers of that district, asked by a newspaper reporter as to 

 the probable effect upon the business as a result of that sort of 

 cheating, is quoted 

 as saying: "Of 

 course, it hurts the 

 market now, and 

 gives it, in some 

 measure at least, a 

 black eye' for the 

 future. The men 

 who are practicing 

 the trick may make 

 some little tempor- 

 ary gain by it, but 

 they are sure to be 

 losers by it in the 

 future. But that 

 does not relieve the 

 situation; such 

 methods hurt all 



growers and all local dealers. It is at the same time a great 

 mistake and a great outrage." 



1 he characterization is none too strong; indeed, it is not 

 strong enough, for such cheating is a crime, working, as it does> 

 mjury to both the consumer and the honest producer whose 

 berries have fallen under suspicion through the false pretense 

 and fraud thus practiced. 



But have the selling associations done their very best to 

 eliminate this dangerous factor.^ This is a question of serious 

 import. And has the selling association done its full duty to 

 the public and its individual members until it has made impos- 

 sible such an imposition upon all the members by one or a few 

 of its members.' We believe not, and we urge that before 

 another season arrives the associations all over the country will 

 each for themselves adopt standards of excellence which shall 

 result in the grading of the fruit and the casting out of every 

 grower who declines to come up to the standard thus fixed. 

 This is one of the very first things that should command the 

 thought of every fruit growers' shipping or selling association. 

 Good goods is the first pre-requisite to a strong and growing 



A BUSY DAY AT E. S. KATHERMAN'S FRUIT FARM, WARRENSBURG, MO. 



market, no matter what line of products is considered, and this 

 may be said to be of even greater significance where fruit so 

 sensitive and perishable as the strawberry is concerned. A 

 reputation for quality means an immediate sale of the fruit, and 

 that must be done in the case of the strawberry, or loss is in- 

 evitable and comes swiftly. 



Years ago the California orange growers suffered just as the 

 Tennessee gentleman says is true of his particular strawberry 

 district this season. Oranges were packed by the individual 

 growers according to standards each chose to adopt for himself. 

 But the fruit had to go to market in carload lots, and the poor 

 fruit and the bad fruit fixed the price for all of it. The condi- 

 tion became intolerable, and after trying one remedy after an- 

 other an organiza- 

 tion was formed 

 having iron -clad 

 rules, one of which 

 was that every 

 orange packed had 

 to undergo rigid in- 

 spection and was 

 graded with utmost 

 care. Then the 

 selling agents had 

 something they 

 could count upon in 

 the way of quality, 

 and the stamp of 

 that association up- 

 on the box was all 

 the guarantee the 

 Eastern buyer required. Firsts were firsts and seconds were 

 seconds, and the prices were paid without looking into the box. 

 That should be the place occupied by the strawberry growers 

 of this country in the matter of their product. And when it 

 becomes so we shall have no more talk about losing prices, 

 because there is a demand in this country for every really good 

 strawberry grown. 



Of course, if all the good berries grown were sent to one or 

 half a dozen markets the glut would result in lower prices and 

 consequent loss to the grower and the shipper. But add to 

 quality a sane method of handling and a wide distribution of 

 products, and every strawberry grown in the country that is 

 worthy to go on the market will be taken and at a price certain 

 to insure a profit to the grower and to give satisfaction to the 

 consumer. 



Apropos to this matter is the following from the Chicago 

 Packer, a leading produce-market journal: "Inferior berries 

 serve to kill the demand among the consumers and when thev 

 once give up eating strawberries it's hard to get them back until 

 another season comes on. If growers would pack and ship 



