THE STRAWBERRY JANUARY 1907 



Dunlap would be good for medium va- 

 rieties, and Dornanand Pride of Michigan 

 will be found entirely satisfactory for the 

 late varieties. All of these are heavy 

 foliage makers. 



3. While we do not consider buck- 

 wheat the best material for mulching, if 

 nothing else may be secured conveniently 

 it will serve the purpose admirably. The 

 principal objection to buckwheat is the 

 stiffness of the straw, but after going 

 through the threshing machine it gives good 

 satisfaction as a mulch. 



4. Where rye cannot be obtained, 

 wheat will take its place and will serve 

 your purpose well. 



W. D. B. , Onawa, la. The all-impor'ajit 

 problem with us here is, How can we rid the 

 soil of the white grub? Is there not some 

 chemical, like sulphur or salt, that if put on 

 the land will destroy them? 



Scientists claim that commercial ferti- 

 lizer has some effect upon all underground 

 insects. The salts contained in the chem- 

 icals are quite offensive to the grubs and 

 the wooly aphis. While we have reason 

 to believe that this is true, yet these 

 chemicals are not sufficiently effective to 

 destroy the grubs. As we have said 

 many times, breaking up the ground is 

 the best preventive, and where we have 

 followed the plan of fall plowing, and 

 used commercial fertilizer in the spring, 

 we never have been troubled with the 

 grub. 



C. A., Oakland, Oregon. Is mulching in a 

 warm, wet climate the right thing to do? If 

 so, what month should It be applied? 



2. I set one thousand Excelsior plants in fall 

 of 1905. Mowed them off in August. They 

 kept growing and started to bloom; most of 

 them in bloom now (November 7). Will 

 that injure their fruitage next year? 



3. What is the weight of one thousand 

 strawberry plants when crated? 



The mulching of strawberries is a 

 necessity in any climate. Of course, in 

 a state like Oregon mulching does not 

 serve so many purposes as it does in a 

 latitude like our own, as your plants never 

 are endangered by alternate freezing and 

 thawing; but when the big crop of berries 

 is ready to be marketed, then is the time 

 that the value of the mulch is appreciated. 

 Oregon folk don't like grit on their straw- 

 berries any better than do Michigan folk, 

 and the cleaner the fruit the higher the 

 price and the greater satisfaction you will 

 get out of their production. In countries 

 like your own mulching may be spread 

 along each side of the plants, but not over 

 the pi: nts. All you need is a clean bed 

 for the fruit to ripen on. The best time 

 to apply the mulch in your latitude is 

 during December or January. 



2. If weather conditions remain favor- 

 able until the pollen takes effect upon the 



Established 

 in 1869 



Headquarters 

 For 



ST. JOSEPH. MICH. 



) FOR ILLUSTRATED PRIEttlST. « 



Experience 

 Counts 



BERRY BOXES 



Peach and Grape Baskets 



Also Melon Baskets 



.^ Frait shipped in our packages insures high- 

 ^Wlpi I'st prices. 



— ( irder boxes now and make up at yonr leisure. 

 Write us for Berry Box Machine. 



Illustrated Price List Free. 



Wells, Hitman Companyfl 



Box 10. ' ST. JOSEPH. MICH. 



bloom now open in your plants, it is more 

 than likely that you will have a fall crop 

 of berries, something that is very common 

 in the warmer sections of the Pacific 

 coast. It is not likely that a sufficiently 

 large percentage of the buds will develop 

 this fall to cut down your next seoson's 

 crop. 



3. The weight of a thousand straw- 

 berry plants depends largely upon the 

 variety in question. Exceedingly large 

 plants will weigh when packed ready 

 for shipment about thirty-five to forty 

 pounds, while the smaller sorts will not 

 weigh more than twenty-five or thirty 

 pounds. 



IN connection with the multitude of 

 interesting and valuable experiments 

 with plants and plant life carried on in 

 the Department of Agriculture at Wash- 

 ington, some startlingly suggestive phe- 

 nomena have been observed. For in- 

 stance, it has been ascertained that when 

 plants are wounded their respiration in- 

 creases, and that at the same time their 

 temperature perceptibly rises, as if a kind 

 of fever had been produced by the wound. 

 In recent experiments a thermo-electric 

 apparatus, capable of registering a change 

 of one-four-hundredth of a degree, was 

 employed. When a potato was wound- 

 ed, the fever manifested itself by an eleva- 

 tion of temperature which was greatest at 

 the end of twenty-four hours, when it 

 began slowly to decline. An onion sim- 

 ilarly treated acquired an increase of tem- 

 perature many times greater than that 

 shown by the potato, and the fever, in- 

 stead of being ccuifined to the neighbor- 

 hood of the wound, affected the entire 

 onion. In fact, the onion proved to be 

 more readily affected in this way than 

 any other vegetable experimented with. 

 The rise of temperature is caused by in- 

 creased absorption of oxygen. 



ONE of the inventions of which Three Rivers 

 folic are particularly proud is the Doilge 

 Potato Digger, and it is one intended to increase 

 the fame of the town, already noted for its many 

 and important mechanical inventions. The 



Page 24 



■^o' Pedigree Holstein Cattle 



of the best strains of 



BIG MILK PRODUCERS 



Write DR. T. J. HAINES, Three Rivers, Mich. 

 PRICES LOW 



Armstrong Machine Co. manufactures this 

 latest candidate for the potato-grower's favor, 

 and all it asks is a chance to show you just how 

 excellent a device they have produced for the 

 clean, safe and economical digging of potatoes. 

 If you are interested, send to them for a cata- 

 logue. It is free, and you will find it valuable. 



^^E take pleasure in introducing to our read- 

 " ers this month the Standard foot power 

 stapler made by the St. Joseph Iron Works of 

 St. Joseph, Mich. This stapler is a wonderful 

 economy in the making of strawberry boxes, as 

 it enables you to purchase your materials k. d., 

 and make them up into boxes at your conven- 

 ience during the winter months. This machine 

 feeds the proper length of wire, cuts it off, 

 forms the staple, drives it through the berry 

 box or other material, and clinches the end of 

 the staple on the other side, all in one stroke of 

 the foot treadle. It is a marvel of simplicity, 

 strength and durability. You might join your 

 berry-growing neighbors in purchasing a com- 

 munity machine. Write the company for circu- 

 lar, mentioning The Strawberry. 



ONE cannot study the situation as it relates 

 to practical agriculture without reaching 

 the conclusion that one of the greatest sources 

 of loss to the farmer is through his failure to 

 give the grain and grass, the vegetables and 

 plants, a proper seed bed. In this day of im- 

 proved machinery there is no possible excuse for 

 longer encouraging this waste. The man who 

 gave the best years of his life to the perfecting 

 of a harrow that would remedy this and form a 

 seed bed as near ideal as was possible, did not 

 live in vain. Who shall estimate the good 

 Duane H. Nash and his Acme Harrow have 

 done for agriculture? For this Acme Harrow 

 comes as near solving the problem and enabling 

 the farmer to plant his seed in a character of 

 soil where it is sure to start, and start quickly 

 and have an uninterrupted, strong growth, as 

 any harrow ever perfected. It was named by 

 the inventor, "harrow, pulverizer, clod crusher 

 and leveler", and it is all of these. Those who 

 are sufficiently interested in increased returns 

 from their lands to do so, will be well repaid 

 if thev will look up the Nash advertisement in 

 this issue and write to him for his little book en- 

 titled "A Perfect Seed Bed". A copy will be 

 sent on request if you mention The Strawberry. 



