AN EXAMPLE OF PERFECT CULTIVATION- W. C. LANDIS AND HIS FINE STRAWBERRY PATCH AT SHOALS, IND. 



Growing Late Strawberries for Market at the North 



By C. F. Nehmer 



ANSWERING the query of the 

 editor of The Strawberry regard- 

 ing our strawberries, let me say 

 that we first commenced growing 

 them eight years ago seven and one-half 

 miles from town, on a homestead. We 

 started with about one-fifth acre, which 

 we planted with a grub hoe, and as we 

 had pretty good success with them we 

 increased our area until we had eight 

 acres in berries there. But, as we had a 

 very rough road to haul over and were 

 too far away from town to handle the 

 fruit to best advantage, we bought forty- 

 five acres within the village limits of On- 

 tonagon, where we are located now, and 

 started planting here in the spring of 

 1904 — about ten acres — off which we 

 picked 1,939 sixteen-quart cases in 1905. 

 We had a bad storm in the fruiting sea- 

 son or we should have had even more. 

 This year we picked about twenty acres 

 and got 4,052 sixteen-quart cases that we 

 have kept account of. 



Our principal market has been in the 

 copper country so far, that is, Hancock, 

 Houghton and Calumet. Last year they 

 averaged us about $1.35 per case and this 

 year we sold our surplus crop under con- 

 tract to Hancock at $1.40 per case straight, 

 f. o. b. Ontonagon, and at Ontonagon 

 rind all other small places along the line 



FROM rhe first this magazine has urged the 

 importance of cultivating late berries for 

 marl^et, and the opportunity presented for 

 this work in that vast district known as the Lake 

 Superior Region, and comprising the northerly 

 sections of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. 

 We should add as territory available for this 

 purpose the Dakotas. The story herewith of 

 The Lake Superior Strawberry Farm, of uhich 

 Daniel Nehmer & Sons are proprietors, is an 

 account of a practical demonstration of the very 

 point for which we have contended, and we pub- 

 iish it with great pleasure in the hope that it may 

 inspire many young men, and young women, too, 

 who are seeking an independent livelihood, to 

 study the situation and, perhaps, find in this 

 field an entrance to a successful business ca- 

 reer. —Editor The Strawberry. 



we received from $1.60 to $1.75 per case, 

 purchaser paying express charges when 

 shipped. 



Now about our yields: they could have 

 been much larger if our ground had been 

 worked up properly before planting and 

 drained right (are going to underdrain all 

 of our patch this fall). 



Our soil is a sandy loam with clay 

 subsoil from one to six feet down. So far 

 we have used barnyard manure and wood 

 ashes only for fertilizer. We never 

 have used commercial fertilizer, as we 

 did not know what kind was best for our 

 purpose, but would be glad to hear from 



Page 197 



some one in regard to commercial fertil- 

 izer for such land as we have. We have 

 grown all of our berries in single-hedge 

 row so far, but we are thinking of plant- 

 ing the same in solid rows about twelve 

 inches in the row and two feet nine inches 

 between rows next year. It takes a few 

 more plants to start with, but we think it 

 more profitable the first year's picking 

 than the single-hedge row. 



We raise our own plants in propagat- 

 ing beds started from plants bought from 

 Kellogg. We always manage to keep 

 cultivator and hoe going all summer. 



Last year we put on mulch as soon as 

 it froze up and left it on until we picked, 

 but shall not do so again, as we find those 

 cultivated in the spring do the best. 

 Mulching may be all right in winter in 

 places where snow does not remain, but 

 we think it more profitable to put the 

 labor it takes to put mulch on into hold- 

 ing snow on the ground, as we find snow 

 makes a better mulch in winter than 

 straw. Of course, we mulch with straw 

 and marsh hay in spring after the patch is 

 well cultivated, just before the blossoming 

 season, to keep sand off. 



In regard to planting, we find that 

 early spring-set plants do best. We are 

 now working up about eighteen acres to 

 be planted next spring which is in far 



