Out of a Woman Strawberry Grower's Note Book 



By Mrs. Emma Hey 



I HAVE been in this business in one 

 way or another for about twelve years 

 and have learned that there are a good 

 many very essential things about it out- 

 side of the actual growing of the berries. 

 It is one thing to grow a fine crop of 

 berries. It is quite another thing to dis- 

 pose of them at a profit. What disposi- 

 tion is to be made of them is perhaps the 

 very first point to be settled, as many 

 other things about it depend largely upon 

 this. We would not do quite the same 

 with berries that we intended to place on 

 the counter of a grocery as we would if 

 we sold them from a wagon. On the 

 counter the appearance of the boxes would 

 be of prime importance and we think it 

 would pay for the extra labor spent in 

 topping them. B)' topping I simply mean 

 turning the stem-end down, which greatly 

 improves the looks of the box. For our 

 wagons we do not think this would pay. 

 Our berries are not placed beside others 

 which look either better or worse. We 

 always have sold good berries, therefore 

 our reputation is good and the berries sell 

 on that. We have always instructed our 

 pickers to put an extra large berry in the 

 bottom rather than on top of the box. 

 .As our berries are neither kept nor shipped, 

 we can grow a good quality of fruit, al- 

 lowing them to ripen fully on the vines. 

 With growing berries to be shipped we 

 have had no experience whatever, but we 

 are sure it would be an entirely different 

 proposition. We are nearly two miles 

 from the business portion of a town of 

 10,000 people, and sell direct to custom- 

 ers. We have two wagons, each manned 

 with a first-class salesman and a good 

 lively boy. A third wagon keeps these 



two supplied with berries throughout the 

 forenoon. These wagons make a daily 

 trip over the same route throughout the 

 season. 



After experimenting on this place and 

 under these circumstances and our present 

 methods of cultivation for four years, we 

 have decided that two acres of strawber- 

 ries is both the most and the least we 

 should grow. If the crop is an average 

 one it is just what our wagons can dispose 

 of comfortably and get a good price, and 

 should the yield be heavy they would not 

 be utterly swamped. When we get so 

 we can grow as many berries as we do 

 now on less land, we shall cut down the 

 acreage, but we must have berries enough 

 to make it pay the pickers to come out 

 there from town to pick them. 



We are satisfied that it is much better 

 to sell 10,000 boxes at a shilling a box 

 than to sell 20,000 at 8 cents per box. 

 We are also sure that the nearer we come 

 to raising fancy berries the better it is for 

 us, and it is our constant aim to grow 

 better and better berries, though I must 

 admit that thus far we have succeeded in 

 growing more and more berries instead. 



My first experience in growing and 

 selling berries was when my father grew 

 two rows across a town lot and sold $35 

 worth of them, beside having all we want- 

 ed for our own use in a family of six. 

 Our next step was when the town lot 

 had been left behind and we grew one- 

 sixth of an acre from which we sold one 

 year 2,000 boxes. They averaged us 10 

 cents a box. For the past four years we 

 have had nearly three acres in berries. 

 The circumstances have in many respects 

 been adverse. We bought a run-down 



BEAUTIFUL FARM HOME OF THE HEYS NEAR DIXON, ILL. 



IIIMJ 



MRS. HEY WITH HER HOUSE PLANTS 



place that had been rented many years and 

 was very weedy. The only preparation 

 for the strawberries v\'e could make was 

 to plow under a crop of clover in the fall 

 which had been sown the previous spring. 

 While our crops have been fairly good 

 (we have had to depend upon this same 

 patch all the while) it goes without say- 

 ing that we have not realized $200 from 

 a sixth of an acre! 



Next spring we expect to make a fresh 

 start for better berries. We shall plant 

 two acres. The ground to be used has 

 grown vegetables for several seasons. 

 Last year it grew beans chiefly. As soon 

 as these were harvested it was covered 

 with rotten barnyard manure, and just 

 when the ground began to freeze it was 

 plowed. In the spring it will be plowed 

 again and then disked several times and 

 finally planked with a weighted plank. 

 After this it will be gone over with a fine- 

 tooth harrow, setting the same very shal- 

 low, as this is done to prevent capilarity 

 only. The ground will then be ready 

 for the plants. 



We usually have grown our own plants 

 and always expect to in the future. We 

 set out a propagating bed, setting into it 

 good strong plants four feet by three feet. 

 We put them in a good place and keep 

 them clean throughout the season. We 

 prefer to have them rather thin, but we 

 never have done anything other than keep- 

 ing the rows from mixing in the way of 

 thinning. When we are ready to plant, 

 about May 1, we dig enough plants for a 

 half-day's planting. We dig with a five- 

 tined fork, shake them c jt and take to a 

 shed where they are sorted and trimmed, 

 and the blossom taken out where possible. 



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