THE STRAWBERRY AUGUST 1906 



record as the greatest strawberry state in 

 the Union, is able to report nothing more 

 definite than that the crop "was normal 

 as to yield and brought good prices." 

 And Tennessee, one of the leader;, of pro- 

 duction is even more indefinite, its com- 

 missioner of agriculture saying only that 

 the yield of strawberries this season was 

 the largest in many years." New York 

 and Ohio, both heavy producers, are 

 unable to give any statistical account of 

 themselves as to strawberries. 



We urge the importance of action on 

 the part of our readers in all of the states 

 looking to some definite effort in behalf 

 of a systematic collection and distribution 

 of strawberry statistics by the federal 

 government, confident that it would result 

 to the great advantage of the industry in 

 many of its more important phases. 



Improving on a Recipe 

 By James Charles 



THIS year's experience in canning 

 strawberries has taught us that a 

 heaping teaspoonful, or one and 

 one-half even teaspoonsful, of cornstarch to 

 a quart of strawberries, gives better results 

 than one-half teaspoonful, as suggested in 

 my communication in July issue of 

 The Strawberry, page 148, as this gives 

 a thick syrup all through the berries, and 

 every particle of the can's contents will 

 have the true strawberry flavor. 



Have received the worth of my sub- 

 scription to your excellent magazine 

 many times over already, so do not see 

 how any strawberry grower can afford to 

 do without it. Am recommending it to 

 others. 



Richmond, Ind. 



Slime Mold on Strawberry Plants 



/^UR strawberry bed is on high, dry ground; 

 ^"'^ and in spots sometimes one plant or two, 

 sometimes on part of one, there will be a purple 

 mold or smut on the stems of leaves and berries; 

 then the berries soon dry up. When you first 

 look at it you think it is covered with lice, but 

 on touching it, it seems like smut. The plants 

 were mulched with coarse strawy horse manure; 

 would that be the cause? 



Flushing, Mich. 



F. H. N. 



THIS inquiry was referred to Rufus 

 H. Pettit, Entomologist of the 

 Michigan Experiment Station, who 

 says: "While it would be impossible to 

 say just what it is, your correspondent's 

 description seems to indicate the presence 

 of a slime mold (one of the Myxomy- 

 cetes.) Purple mold such as he des- 

 cribes might very nicely be a slime mould 

 which may have come from the fertilizers 

 or from some other source and grown up 

 the side of the plant. We have grasses 

 here which support such colonies of 

 growth. The most of the injury that 

 comes from them, in the case of the grass 

 at least, is a sort of smothering effect, as 

 the growth is supposed to be entirely ex- 



ternal. Now these strawberries may be 

 affected by something of the kind on them 

 made by decay or something else. It 

 would be impossible to say without speci- 

 mens. I am inclined to believe, how- 

 ever, that the difficulty will turn out to 

 be caused by the slime mold. 



How to Handle Pickers 



By Frank E. Beatty 



f SHOULD like to see in The Strawberry a 

 discussion of the subject of the picking of 

 the crop. I have noticed that some pickers are 

 very hard on the vines, breaking down the fruit 

 stems, which causes the immature fruit to 

 wither. Others take hold of the berry in such 

 manner as to crush a great many. What can 

 be said or done to induce careful work/' 



I am greatly pleased with The Strawberry. 

 Very truly. 



Urbana, Ohio. 



J. R. WiCKERSHAM. 



WHILE it is rather late in the sea- 

 son to give instructions on hand- 

 ling berry pickers, the subject i^ 

 of such universal interest that it neve"" 

 is out of place. The handling of help 

 requires a great deal of tact in any busi- 

 ness. As a rule employes will take in- 

 terest in their work according to the in- 

 terest shown in them by their employer. 

 The surroundings and general appearance 

 of things usually have their influence. 

 Especially is this true with the class of 

 help that has an ambition to become 

 more than an ordinary day laborer, but 

 the trouble is that not enough help of 

 this kind can be secured to harvest a crop 

 of strawberries. 



Experience has convinced us that it 

 does not depend so much upon good help 

 in order to get berries properly picked as 

 it does upon having a good foreman who 

 understands how to manage the pickers. 

 No matter how conscientious the help 

 may be, it is necessary to have a system. 

 Iron-clad rules should be made and a man 

 with executive ability employed as foreman 

 to see that the system is carried out and 

 the rules obeyed. This foreman should 

 give every picker to understand that he 

 will not have anyone in the patch who 



will not live up to his rules, and should 

 any pickers become careless with the vines 

 and refuse or fail properly to pick the ber- 

 ries, they should be discharged at once. 

 If one picker is allowed to break a 

 rule, it will be a short time only until the 

 other pickers will get careless in their work. 



The only way successfully to handle 

 help is to say just what you mean and 

 mean just what you say. In other words, 

 the foreman should command the pickers 

 and not allow them to command him, and 

 yet all this must be done with kindness. 

 A foreman should never show an angry 

 spirit, because then he would lose control 

 of himself. If a picker cannot be handled 

 in a firm but kindly manner, tell him 

 quietly to go the office and get his money. 

 This is an object lesson to the other pickers. 

 They soon learn that that the foreman 

 means business and if they are to hold their 

 jobs they must do careful work. 



Some pickers will paw over the vines, 

 breaking the fruit stems and so injure the 

 plants and berries that the crop will be 

 greatly damaged. It is the foreman's place 

 to show each picker how to handle the 

 berries without bruising them or damag- 

 ing the vines. Every berry should have a 

 short stem left on it, and berries which 

 are to be shipped should be gathered a 

 little under ripe. No picker should be al- 

 lowed to pick a large handfull of berries 

 before putting them into the box. Two or 

 three berries is enough to pick in the hand 

 at one time, and they should be handled 

 by the stem as much as possible. 



CEMENT is the greatest 

 Building Material of our age. 



I want a man in every county to take up a specialty in 

 the industry. There is no brighter field for anyone 

 than concrete work. Something new has been found 

 that can be made from it. 



$100 per week can be made by two men 



In every paper you pick up you will see ads. with the 

 same iiidm.-t^ini'nts, but are they true? Will be only 

 too L'lad to i>r<»ve to you that this is true. You 



liiLve nothiujj to lose in writing me; will be all gain. 



C. J. UIBLE g:s?j^°''° 



The Land of 



Big Berries 



ARKANSAS 

 and TEXAS 



Choice locations along the 



IRON MOUNTAIN ROUTE 



Full information Free. Write to 

 H. D. ARMSTRONG, T. P. A. ELLIS FARNSWORTH, D, P. A. N. C. TOWNSEND, G. P,& T. A. 



SSGriswold Street 186 Clark Street ST. LOUIS, MO. 



DETROIT, MICH. CHICAGO, ILL. 



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