THE STRAWBERRY SEPTEMBER 1906 



"hiarch to our strawberry bed as soon as 

 our supjier was over. Then the weeds had 

 to catch it. We had set the plants in rows 

 100 feet long and had sixteen rov\s. It 

 would take us three evenings to clean the 

 bed. iMy husband with the hoe would 

 loosen the weeds and I racked them up. 

 We did not let one escape us. But they 

 were as persistent as we were, and in less 

 than a week we had it all to do over again. 

 We kept at it, however, until late in the 

 fall, when we covered the plants with 

 straw for their winter's rest. 



Spring came, and we were ready and 

 waiting. In due time the covering was 

 removed and soon came the blossoms. 

 Blossoms, blossoms, everywhere. If only 

 I had taken a photograph of it! 



How anxiously we watched for the first 

 ripe berry. It came, and was soon fol- 

 lowed by others. And then we had to 

 get busy. June 15 we picked one box 

 which went to our own table. Next day 

 six boxes, which we sold for 20 cents a 

 box. They now came thick and fast and 

 we found a ready market for every berry. 

 From this on we got from one to two hun- 

 dred boxes a day until at last they were 

 all gone. 



I had kept strict account of every box, 

 and how much it sold for. From June 

 15 to July 12 we picked from this bed 

 863 boxes of great luscious berries. For 

 these we have received $83.20. We do 

 not know whether this is doing exception- 

 ally well or not. At any rate, we are ex- 

 tremely proud of our summer's work. 



Certainly no more heathful work can 

 be found, as our looks will testify; and we 

 would not exchange the enjoyment we got 

 from our strawberries, both in the field 

 and at the table, for a great deal. 



We are full of enthusiasm for next year, 

 and plan to do even better. 



Danvers, Mass. 



The Best Fertilizer 



WHAT is the best fertilizer.'' Is a 

 question that comes to The 

 Strawberry with frequent iter- 

 ation, and we are glad to quote Prof. J. 

 L. Stone, of Cornell University, on that 

 point. He says: 



"It is not possible to state that a fertil- 

 izer of a proper kind is certain of produ- 

 cing best results with any particular crop 

 or on an\' particular soil. This definite 

 information can only be secured by ex- 

 perimentation with the particular crop on 

 the praticular soil. 



Certain broad principles, however, 

 may be applied when the character of the 

 crop and the nature of the soil with its 

 recent treatment are known. For in- 

 stance, a soil that has recentl\- had a good 

 clover sod turned under is quite likely to 

 be well supplied with nitrogen, and a 

 smaller amount of this ingredient need be 

 applied in the fertilizer. 



For general crop purposes, a fertilizer 

 containing about 3 per cent nitrogen, 8 



per cent phosphoric acid and 7 per 

 cent potash would ordinarily be useful, 

 and this is about the grade of fertilizer 

 that can be made by the purchase of 

 nitrogen in the form of nitrate of soda and 

 dried blood, phosphoric acid in dissolved 

 rock, and potash in muriate of potash. A 

 very good formula to follow m mixing 

 these goods is to use 1,200 pounds dis- 

 solved rock, 200 pounds nitrate of soda, 

 300 pounds dried blood and 300 pounds 

 muriate of potash for one ton of the mix- 

 ture." 



Moving Pictures of Plant Growth 



THE scientists in the Department of 

 Agriculture are preparing to match 

 in a practical way, by a new appli- 

 cation of "moving-picture" photographic 

 apparatus, the miracle of the Hindu fakir 

 who plants a seed, and causes the tree, 

 which springs from it, to grow and come 

 to maturity before the eyes of spectators, 

 says World's Work. Professor WiUett 

 M. Hays, Assistant Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture, is preparing a series of unique stere- 

 opticon views with the idea that, in the 

 near future, an "education train" shall 

 be sent out to tour the country to tell by 

 "moving pictures" and lectures what the 

 government is doing for the farmers. 



To the human eye, plants are motion- 

 less. Their life processess are so grad- 

 ual that we observe the results, but not 

 the action. Yet this action, this growth, 

 can be reproduced by "moving pictures." 

 If a succession of pictures of a quick- 

 growing plant be taken at intervals — say, 

 of one every hour — and are then run 

 through a machine which throws them 

 upon a screen at the rapid rate of sixteen 

 or more to the second, the plant photo- 

 graphed seems to be growing before one's 

 eyes. 



In two or three minutes the machine 

 will throw on the screen the life history 



of a plant which may require many weeks 

 to mature. A cow-pea, for example is 

 one of the most rapid growers of our lati- 

 tude. Yet, after a pea is planted in a pot 

 of earth, several days elapse before there 

 is any sign of life. This interval is rep- 

 resented in the moving-picture exhibition 

 by several seconds. I'hen the first double- 

 leaved shoot presses out of the ground. 

 Two or three more days pass before these 

 two leaves have shaken ofT their protect- 

 ing envelope, and spread out. In the 

 moving picture, a couple of seconds suf- 

 fice to bring them to their full develop- 

 ment. Then a third leaf is seen taking 

 form between the other two. This spreads 

 and grows before the eyes of the aston- 

 ished spectator, followed by a fourth, a 

 fifth, a stalk, increasing in girth and 

 height, branches, more leaves and flow- 

 ers. These are seen to fall and in their 

 places the tiny seed pods take shape and 

 grow. These ripen and are picked; the 

 plant dries up and dies. It has all hap- 

 pened — all the changes of a season — in 

 three minutes. 



Considerable ingenuity is required to 

 get the pictures to show this process. 

 The plant whose picture is taken must 

 be in a green house, where it will not be 

 subject to the disturbances of wind or 

 other causes. An arc-light burns day and 

 night to furnish light for the exposures. 

 Finally, the moving-picture apparatus is 

 connected with the mechanism of a clock 

 in such manner that a new picture is taken 

 every hour. Thus twenty-four pictures 

 record the history of a day's growth 



There is a general demand in all farm- 

 ing communities for more information 

 about plant breeding. Accordingly, Pro- 

 fessor Hays has had the moving-picture 

 camera turned upon the work at the 

 Minnesota Experiment Station, where his 

 assistants are carrying on the work he in- 

 augurated in breeding new varieties of 

 wheat and flax. The views show the 



STRAWBERRY FIELD OF C. W. GORDON AT MONTVILLE, NEW JERSEY 



Paljc 175 



