THE STRAWBERRY JULY 1906 



THE STRAWBERRY 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO 

 THE INTERESTS OF STRA\!CBERRY 

 PRODUCTION IN ALL ITS BRANCHES 



Published th= First of Each Month by 



The Kellogg Publishing Company 

 Three Rivers, Michigan 



W. H. BURKE Editor 



F. E. BEATTY - Instructor in Cultural Methods 

 ARTHUR D. AVERY .... Manager 



ROBERT S. FOUNTAIN, 



Advertising Manager, 



1603 Manhattan Bldg., Chicago, 111. 



SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: 



United States and Canada - • -$1.00 

 Foreign . . . . . . 1.25 



Entered a.s second-class matter at the Postofflce at 

 Three Rivers, Michi"an. 



JULY, 1906 



OUR cover this month presents a 

 scene of activity and interest in 

 the great "national strawberry 

 patch" of North Carolina, 

 where more than 200,000 acres are de- 

 voted to the production of the delicious 

 fruit and between ten and fifteen thousand 

 men and women take part in the work. 

 It is strikingly suggestive of the remark- 

 able evolution that has gone on in the 

 South during recent years, where the 

 change from cotton to strawberries and 

 other fruits and garden truck has so al- 

 tered the outlook of the people, given 

 them new hope and assured them a pros- 

 perous future. It is no less suggestive of 

 the great change that has been made in 

 the dietary of the American people and 

 in their ability to buy and pay for fruits 

 shipped so long a distance. 



pROM every point of view these 

 •* changes are gratifying, and to no one 

 else in greater degree than the strawberry 

 grower, present and prospective. They 

 indicate a steadily increasing demand for 

 this fruit in the years to come, and serve 

 as a firm foundation for the enterprise 

 that is to supply that demand. What 

 North Carolina has done may be repeated 

 in many other states, North as well as 

 South. Let it be remembered that wher- 

 ever prices have dropped below the line 

 of profit this season it has been due to 

 one of two causes or to both combined — 

 poor fruit or faulty distribution, resulting 

 in a glutted market. It still remains true 

 that there is never overproduction of first- 

 class fruit, but a ten-thousand town can- 

 not consume a supply big enough for a 

 hundred -thousand town. High-grade 



berries, properly distributed, always will 

 command a price that yields a fair profit. 



THE cover illustration is from a photo- 

 graph taken for the Atlantic Coast 

 Line Railway, and to W. J. Craig, pas- 

 senger traffic manager of that company, 

 we are indebted for its use. One who 

 recently visited the North Carolina fields 

 and studied the conditions under which 

 the berries are grown there, notes two or 

 three interesting features especially. He 

 says the most extreme pains are taken in 

 the proper use of special fertilizers for 

 these berries and also to guard against 

 any damage by frost. Along every few 

 rows of berries there are open spaces 

 where are long piles of what is known as 

 the "straw" of the long-leaf pine, so 

 abundant in that vicinity, while wide 

 wooden forks are ready for use, so that 

 when a frost alarm comes no time is lost 

 in covering the berries with the slender 

 needles of the pine, which form a won- 

 derful protection against cold, and serve 

 at once a double purpose by keeping the 

 berries clean when used as a mulch. 



^ '^ 



COMBINING the practical things of 

 life with the pleasurable is an art of 

 which Frank B. White's Class Advertis- 

 ing Co., Chicago, is master. The gather- 

 ing at the annual "round up" dinner at 

 the Auditorium in that city on the even- 

 ing of May 22 of agricultural newspaper 

 representatives and the men who patron- 

 ize their advertising columns to the total 

 number of 575 was an event in the social 

 and business life of each that will never 

 be forgotten. The banquet was a charm- 

 ing aff-air, the addresses were apropos and 

 the entire evening one of rare enjoyment. 

 On the day following the guests were 

 taken by tally-ho coaches to visit the 

 great factory of Messrs. Crofts & Reed, 

 at 842-850 Austin Avenue, one of the 

 mostsuccessful and reliable manufacturers 

 of perfumes, extracts, soaps, etc., in the 

 world. From small beginnings this house 

 has been built up to its present magnitude. 

 How great this really is may be judged 

 from the fact that they give $1,000,000 

 in premiums each year to their customers. 



^ '^ 



SEARS, ROEBUCK & CO., had ex- 

 tended an invitation to the entire 

 party to luncheon, and after going through 

 the works of Crofts & Reed the entire 

 party was driven over to the largest mer- 

 cantile house in the world, now occupy- 

 ing a plant of its own covering acres and 

 costing many millions. A volume would 

 be required to describe the interesting 

 features of this establishment, which to- 

 day is said to sell more goods at retail 

 than any other house in the world. The 

 central merchandizing building is the 

 largest structure in the world devoted to 



Page 156 



retail trade, and about this vast edifice 

 is grouped notable buildings, composing 

 the electric light and power plant, the 

 printing house, the administration build- 

 ing and factories. Beautiful parks and 

 walks and drives are being constructed 

 about the plant and the aesthetic and the 

 practical go hand in hand, conditions 

 highly appreciated by the 7,300 employes 

 of the concern. Such sights as these 

 only serve to increase confidence in the 

 future of our country, and illustrate that 

 growing trust among the people one of 

 the other that makes possible such gigan- 

 tic enterprises devoted entirely to the 

 mail-order trade. Mr. White and his 

 associates deserve and receive the hearty 

 thanks of their hundreds of guests for 

 such royal entertainment. 



^ '^ 



A RE you trying to capture that $20 

 ■^»- cash prize The Strawberry is off^er- 

 ing to the one who sends in the largest 

 club of subscribers before July 20? 

 Please observe it is a straight offer, with- 

 out any other provisions than that the 

 list you send in shall be the largest and 

 that the last subscription shall be mailed 

 from your postoffice July 20, 1906. Do 

 not hesitate to take up the work because 

 you fear you can't get the biggest list. 

 You may win the big prize before you 

 know it. And there's the $15, and $10, 

 and $5 prizes as well, to say nothing of 

 the generous commission allowed on each 

 subscription taken. We want to add 

 many thousands of subscribers to our list 

 this summer, and a canvass of the straw- 

 berry fields will accomplish it. If you 

 are not already in the field get to work at 

 once. A long, strong pull, and the big 

 prize may be yours ! 



HORTICULTURISTS who for 

 *■ A years have heard vague and unsat- 

 isfactory discussion of the "Stringfellow 

 method" of close-root pruning of orchard 

 trees will be glad to learn that H. M. 

 Stringfellow has put his method, as well 

 as the results he has achieved, into a book 

 that all may read. The title of the book 

 is "The New Horticulture." It is pub- 

 lished by Farm and Ranch Publishing 

 Co., Dallas, Tex., and is a fine addition 

 to horticultural literature. Whatever the 

 merits or demerits of Mr. Stringfellow's 

 methods, he has his say in this book, and 

 it is an interesting and hopeful word he 

 brings to those who grow tree fruits for 

 market. The experiences he relates have 

 abundant proofs of their authenticity, and 

 none may be harmed by reading them 

 and the conclusions Mr. Stringfellow 

 draws. No man ever met Mr. String- 

 fellow who after the meeting doubted 

 either his intelligence or his sincerity. 

 When such a man speaks the world owes 

 him a hearing, no matter if he runs coun- 

 ter to our accepted theories of horticul- 

 ture and destroys many orthodox beliefs. 



