THE STRAWBERRY OCTOBER 1906 



they do more good than harm. Of 

 course, where one burrows under and 

 lifts a plant, the plant will die. But we 

 never have tried to kill them, because 

 they are heavy feeders upon the white 

 grub and other injurious insects. Some 

 people have used poisoned grain in their 

 attempts to exterminate moles, but we 

 never have found anything else so effec- 

 tive as mole traps. 



Breeding Double-Crop Plants 



DOUBLE-CROPPER plants have 

 done finely this season, owing to 

 the long and unbroken season of 

 hot weather. From many sections of t'le 

 country come reports of extraordinary 

 yields, some grov\ers securing a sufficient 

 ouintity to take to market. One report 

 fro n Coshocton Ohio, advises us that 

 Uaniel Valentine of that place took a 

 crate to market September 8, and re- 

 ceived 25 cents a box for the unexpected 

 but none the less delicious berries. That 

 there ever will be large success in devel- 

 oping varieties of persistent and reliable 

 double-croppers, however, is yet a matter 

 of doubt, at least so far as northerly lati- 

 tudes are concerned. The press of the 

 country has been greatly interested in the 

 experiments of Harlow Rockhill of 

 Grundy county, Iowa, who has been try- 

 ing for eight years to develop plants with 

 crowns capable of bearing double crops. 



In a recent letter Mr. Rockhill says 

 that he is now at work hybridizing varie- 

 ties showing the strongest tendencies in 

 the desired direction, and is growing 

 seedlings. We quote: "Seeds were 

 sown in window-boxes the first week of 

 February, 1905, and 100 plants was the 

 result. In September and October of the 

 same year 12 of these seedlings fruited, 

 and so far as I am aware these are the 

 first seedlings of the large fruited strawber- 

 ries that were ever known to fruit the 

 same year the seeds were sown. These 

 plants were transplanted last April to- 

 gether with the runners they had made, 

 and they are proving to be the most per- 

 sistent fruiters the world has ever known. 

 Up to July 7 I had destroyed three full 

 crops of fruit stems . . . About 

 twelve plants which did not fruit the same 

 year the seed was sown are now produc- 

 ing a heavy second crop of fruit, making 

 about one-fourth of the entire batch of 

 seedling second-croppers." 



Mr. Rockhill says there will be no 

 plants of douhle-crop varieties for sale for 

 another year or two. 



T^HE enthusiastic strawberry grower 

 *■ will compare with much interest the 

 characteristics of the new varieties as they 

 grow and multiply, says a writer in The 

 Fruit Grower. It is wonderful how 

 much individuality there is in each va- 

 lety. Doubles" are almost as rare as 



in the human race. There is endless di- 

 versity in size, in leaf, in color, in growth, 

 and in vigor and length of runners. There 

 is the blunt, almost round leaf, and the 

 long narrow one; there is one thin and 

 delicate of texture and another thick and 

 leathery; there is the very dark and the 

 light green leaf; there is the small plant 

 and the big rank grower, maybe a foot 

 high; there is the round compact plant 

 with a dense mass of leaves and the open 

 straggly one with few stems; here is one 

 prolific in runners and there is one almost 

 barren; here are runners with nodes or 

 plant joints twelve inches apart and there 

 are others only thi-ee inches; here are 

 runners with thin wiry cords and here are 

 others growing on big sappy cables — and 

 so on in endless diversity. The grower 

 who loves his art will note all these points 

 of difference and learn to know his plants 

 like a shepherd his flock. 



Reading for Strawberry Folk 



MEMBERS of The Strawberry fam- 

 ily will find in the clubbing offers 

 we are making this month (see 

 second cover page) an unusual opportun- 

 ity to secure a fine fund of high-class 

 reading matter at a cost so low as to bring 

 it within the means of everybody. One 

 cannot read the list without being im- 

 pressed with its quality, and the various 

 clubbing offers made present a variety of 

 subject matter that comes very near fill- 

 ing the desires of everybody. 



Look at those extraordinary offers at a 

 uniform cost to the subscriber of $3.33. 

 Note that with The Strawberry you get 

 The World To-Day, one of the really 

 great publications of the age, filled to the 

 brim with interesting accounts of what is 

 going on in the world about us, and in- 

 spiring and helpful suggestions as to what 

 may be done. The American magazine 

 now has upon its staff those famous 

 writers who have been such important 

 factors in reforming many of the crying 

 evils of the day — Ida M. Tarbell, Lincoln 

 Steffens, Ray Stannard Baker, and already 

 takes high place and is to-day one of the 

 greatest of the world's periodicals. The 

 Breeders' Gazette is without question the 

 greatest agricultural weekly in the world, 

 and even those who have no direct con- 

 nection with live-stock breeding or agri- 

 culture in any form find within its pages 

 matter of much interest. To the breeder 

 and the farmer it is invaluable. The 

 Housekeeper is one of the very strong 

 publications devoted to the interests of 

 the home and woman's work. Such a 

 combination as this must appeal to every- 

 one. 



Then there is the combination which 

 includes World's Work, one of the noble 

 publications of the time. The Delineator 

 so full of helpful suggestions to woman- 

 kind in every department of life, and that 

 giant of monthly magazines, McClure's. 



Pa<e 200 



NATIONAL TOOL COMPANY 



Three Rivers, Mich. 



Manufacture a Fine Line of 



HARDWARE SPECIALTIES 



which are all staple and good sellers 

 ALSO DO 



Contract Manufacturing 



In Metal Specialties, of Patents and Inventions 

 for others 



Let Us Be Your Factory 



You do the selling 

 KATIONtL TOOL COMPANY, THREE RIVEIIS, MICHIGAN 



And who does not think with pleasure 

 of enjoying the monthly visit of the Re- 

 view of Reviews, of Woman's Home 

 Companion, and of Success.'' 



What a combination of literary and 

 pictorial delights these three combinations 

 make! Notice the combinations we are 

 offering for $2.95 and for $1.95, and 

 please observe the opportunities given the 

 individual to change these combinations 

 by selecting other publications in their 

 stead. The fruit grower, the poultry- 

 man, the apple man, the swine breeder, 

 the home-maker — every interest of the 

 rural home is represented in the splendid 

 publications offered you to select from. 

 We sincerely trust that you will not fail 

 to take advantage of these generous offers. 



THE Illinois State Grange recently 

 passed the following resolution: "As 

 practical and independent farmers, we 

 call upon Congress to abolish its petty, 

 annoying and needless practice of broad- 

 casting free and common garden seeds all 

 over the rural districts, and we ask that 

 the control of seed distribution be placed 

 under the Department of Agriculture and 

 limited to experimental work." When 

 the farmers all over the country rise up 

 in protest against the insulting action of 

 Congress, repeated at each succeeding 

 session, and without effect, isn't it time 

 something were done to make the indi- 

 vidual members who vote for this "graft" 

 understand that the people mean what 

 tliey say ? 



'^ ^ 



'^^E take especial pleasure in calling the at- 

 ^ tention of our readers to the advertisement 

 of the Three Rivers Business College which 

 appears in this issue. This institution has fur- 

 nished stenographers for The Strawberry and 

 for the R. M. Kellogg Co. and other large 

 establishments here and in different parts of the 

 country and we can testify to the thoroughness 

 and excellence of its work. The school is cen- 

 trally located, is large and well lighted and 

 ventilated. Living for pupils in Three Rivers 

 is comparati\ely inexpensive, and the school 

 management, ever anxious to aid pupils to se- 

 cure an education that will fit them for life's 

 opportunities and duties, helps them to secure 

 employment during spare hours. Write for 

 further information, and if you have a boy or 

 girl whom you would give practical training 

 along business lines, you need not hesitate to 

 send either to this worthy institution. 



