THE STRAWBERRY NOVEMBER 1906 



However, it didn't seem a bit too big 

 when I came to count up my cash, after 

 I had made up my mind to make it pay 

 my way through the university. Fact is, 

 I guess I used to be a little jealous that 

 other folks liked that fruit so well. 



But, as I was saying, every member of 

 the family liked that little patch well 

 enough to take a hand in its management, 

 and next to the old fireplace in the big 

 living room, I believe it was the most 

 popular place for family gatherings. Af- 

 ter the fruit began to ripen in June there 

 was a family convention in that patch 

 every day till the crop was gone, and 

 e\erybody took a hand in gathering the 

 fruit. And when it came time for me to 

 go away to college, and Mother put her 

 hand on my arm and said to me, "Well, 

 John, you've earned your right to a good 

 education, but the lessons you've learned 

 in the strawberry patch will be to you 

 through life among the most valuable and 

 helpful!" I felt repaid for every hour of 

 time I had spent there. And now I un- 

 derstand what she meant by her remark. 

 These mothers of ours have a wisdom 

 the depths of which we never may quite 

 sound. 



That's why I have a family strawberry 

 patch right now. It is an inspiration and 

 a joy to every member of my family, and 

 the hours we spend in it together draw us 

 closer one to the other. Our boys and 

 girls work together there, if you may call 

 effort, every stroke of which is pleasure, 

 work. If you haven't a family strawberry 

 patch, don't let another year go by with- 

 out one — that's my advice to everybody; 

 and I don't care whether you live in a 

 metropolis or in a hamlet or on a farm — 

 you'll find a patch of strawberries the 

 rallying place for all the members of the 

 family. It is a feature of family lie you 

 can't afford to neglect, no matter from 

 what viewpoint it may be considered. 

 As I say, it was an inspiration and a 

 blessing to me, as well as a means to a 

 broader intellectual life. 



How a Novice Compels Success 



By L. C. Stifler 



I AM a novice in strawberry culture. 

 Bought a little farm here, and with 

 my excellent guide. The Strawberry, 

 under my arm I hustled out last spring 

 to see what I could do. Fixed over an 

 old patch of nearly one-half acre that was 

 on the farm when I bought it last year. 

 Result: took to our home market over 

 ninety cases of big red berries for which I 

 received the top price. The good price 

 we received was the result of our careful 

 picking and still more careful packing. 



That old patch was too weedy to suit 

 me, so where the fine berries were there 

 is now growing an immense crop of buck- 

 wheat — the weeds are still there; under 

 the ground. 



\N'e!l, 1 was busy in April and more 



busy first of May — could not find time 

 to set the new patch, and May had almost 

 gone by the time I did get at it. Had 

 carefully plowed and fertilized part of my 

 young peach and pear orchard and after a 

 nice rain on May 23 I set the plants 

 with a dibble made from a yellow pine 

 hoard. I was short some 200 plants to 

 complete my bed, so sent to a neighbor, 

 who raises plants for sale; but he had 

 none for me of the kind I wanted. He 

 said to my buyer: 'He is too late plant- 

 ing." Was I.'' ^Vell, Mr. Editor, come 

 over to VanBuren county, Cjeneva town- 

 ship, four and one-half miles southeast of 

 South Ha\e:i, and see that strawberry 

 bed of 1600 plants. Matted row? Not 

 for me ! 1 tried your double-hedge row 

 and it is simply a "beaut." And that 

 fellow that said I was too late will have 

 to put an electric battery to his bed to 

 have it catch up to mine. We are now 

 busy hoeing and cutting off the runners 

 and the bed is certainly a "thing of 

 beauty." We had lots of berries this sum- 

 mer that measured seven inches around; 

 from an old bed, too. 



South Haven, Mich., Aug. 20, 1906. 



Where Hasty Judgment Hurts 



SOME months ago one of the most 

 distinguished authorities in the straw- 

 berry world sent to The Strawberry 

 a report of his experiences with certain 

 varieties. In referring to one or two of 

 the best known and most popular varieties 

 he took occasion to criticise their perform- 

 ance in terms that could not have failed 

 to prejudice the unknowing concerning 

 them while it would have worked great 

 injury to those growers of plants who an- 

 nually grow and raise hundreds of thou- 

 sands of these favorites. When his at- 

 tention was called to this phase of 

 the case this distinguished writer and ex- 

 perimenter promptly acknowledged the 

 error involved in his act. 



This incident is referred to here because 

 we so often receive from our friends like 

 reports of their experiences — friends who 

 neither have time or opportunity or incli- 

 na:ion to test with scientific exactness the 

 performance of any variety even on their 

 own grounds, and who apparently forget 

 that a variety which may do poorly under 

 the climatic, soil or cultural conditions 

 obtaining in the particular instance, may 

 under different conditions prove itself a 

 leader. 



As a general rule, and one to which 

 there are few exceptions, no variety of 

 plants is long offered by reliable nursery- 

 men which does not possess distinct merit, 

 and it is quite safe to conclude, when a 

 variety fails you, that there is some local 

 cause for the trouble. At least, it will be 

 well to reserve one's condemnation until 

 other grov\ers in other sections are heard 

 from. 



If our friends who write us on this 

 subject find we have omitted such refer- 



PaCG 210 



ences from their contributions they will 

 understand why the omission is made. 

 The isolated experience of one grower, 

 taken by itself, is not sufficiently con- 

 clusive to aid others, while the denounce- 

 ment of a variety, published in a journal 

 like our own, might result in a general 

 rejection of a worthy plant and in positive 

 injury and loss to its honest and intelli- 

 gent propagators. 



Recollections of a Veteran 



IN some interesting reminiscences, re- 

 lated in Green's Fruit Cjrower, L. j. 

 Farmer, the well-known strawberry 

 specialist of New York, has the following, 

 and his success in that field is partly due 

 at least to his pertinacity and his deter- 

 mination to stick to business even though 

 his "best girl" had to suffer for it. ^Ve 

 quote: 



"The first strawberry plants I ever set 

 out were from grandfather's old Wilson 

 bed and some Crescents that came from 

 a bed that my brother set out. I remem- 

 ber that my brother bought 100 Crescents 

 for five dollars and set them in a little 

 bed by themselves, not knowing anything 

 about sex in strawberry blossoms. The 

 Crescents, being pistillate, never produced 

 much of a crop, although there were a 

 few fertilized by wild plants. The most 

 of the berries were nubbins. But when 

 I set them out beside the Wilsons they 

 produced wonderfully, and I never have 

 seen them surpassed in productiveness. 

 In 1886 I had rows 100 feet long that 

 produced 100 quarts each to a picking. 

 I have often thought that had my brother 

 or even myself known the true value of 

 those Crescents, we could have made a 

 good thing from the 100 plants which we 

 purchased for five dollars. 



"The first real acre of berries I ever set 

 out was in 1883. The plants were mainly 

 Bidwell with a few Crescents and Charles 

 Downing. The plants were purchased 

 from E. P. Roe, who was also a plant 

 nurseryman as well as story and horticul- 

 tural writer. I hired two men to help 

 me set them and not knowing much 

 about directing help, I found after the 

 work was done that one man had set 

 them very carelessly, merely, in some 

 instances, covering a part of the roots 

 with a handful of earth. However, most 

 of the plants lived, but it was a big job 

 for a boy of seventeen years, and they got 

 pretty weedy, and when finally all were 

 hoed and cleaned out it was pretty late, 

 and they never made much growth. I 

 did not cover them, and the winter being 

 severe, many were frozen out. In the 

 spring I rolled them as one would a 

 meadow. This was the first and last 

 strawberry bed I ever rolled. The gross 

 receipts from this acre were about $100, 

 and would not have been near this but 

 berries were high, nothing selling under 

 10 cents per quart. 



"I used to do most of the hoeing my- 



