The Autobiography of a Strawberry Grower 



By Frank E . Bea tty 



Chapter V — In Which is Shown the Importance of the Price Received for Strawberries 



THE experience I had acquired in 

 my several years of berry growing, 

 made it possible for me to carry 

 on the work more intelligently 

 than theretofore. Nothing but carefully 

 selected and well developed plants were 

 used, and they were properly mated. 

 These essential features of the work, 

 coupled with thorough cultural methods, 

 gave me the finest field of strawberry 

 plants I had ever seen. There were one 

 or two light frosts during blooming time, 

 which lowered the temperature of my 

 enthusiasm for a few days, but when the 

 berries began to form, I could plainly see 

 that the fruit promised to be smoother 

 and more of it to every acre than it had 

 been my lot previously to secure. 



A big supply of crates were made up, 

 and these were filled with full quart boxes, 

 not made with tacKs either. No sir! One 

 mistake of a kind is enough for me. I 

 had purchased a fine wire-stapling ma- 

 chine, and every box was snugly put to- 

 gether with wire staples. This brings to 

 my memory the conversation which took 

 place between my wife and myself, one 

 day in December, when the machine ar- 

 rived. 



"What on earth is that.?" asked my wife. 



"That, my dear girl, is a machine for 

 stapling berry boxes." 



"What did it cost.?" was the next ques- 

 tion. 



"Thirty-two dollars and express char- 

 ges." 



"Where are you going to get the money 

 to pay for all these machines and tools 

 you are buying.?" was question number 

 three, which was answered by pointing to 

 the field of strawberry plants that were 

 well covered with straw. 



"Yes, Frank; but if something happens 

 the crop — then what.?" 



I was so enthusiastic in the work, that 

 such a thing as crop-failure or failure of 

 any kind had never entered my mind. 

 "Really, I do not believe anything can 

 happen to those plants; they looked so 

 thrifty when I coverd them last fall, that 

 I cannot help feeling confident that every- 

 thing is going to be all right, and besides 

 this machine will be paid for at once. In 

 fact, we owe but very little, except on the 

 land. The box machine is something we 

 have needed badly. As you know, we 

 have made arrangements to ship most of 

 our next season's crop, and I do not want 

 another experience at marketing time like 

 last year, when the bottoms of the boxes 

 dropped down while in transit and ruined 

 those fine strawberries. If that grocery- 

 man in Indianapolis or any other man 

 finds fault with my berries, he will have 

 to find fault with something else besides 

 crushed fruit, because when this machine 

 puts a box together it is going to stay. 



Just think! our loss last year because of 

 boxes being made with tacks, would have 

 more than paid for two such machines, 

 besides the worry and disappointment it 

 would have saved us." 



By this time my wife was convinced 

 that I had used good judgment in getting 

 the machine, and she was just as busy as 

 I, trying to get the wire threaded into the 

 machine, so as to see it work. The first 

 few boxes it missed a few staples, but after 

 adjusting it the staples would clinch every 

 time 



"I will fold the boxes while you work 

 the machine, said my wife. 



"All right, but you must fold the ma- 

 terial quickly, for I am going to work the 

 pedal fast." Click, click, click, went the 

 machine, and the boxes were turned out 

 in factory style. "That beats anything I 

 have ever seen," said my wife. "Now 

 you fold and let me make awhile." 



The change was made, and this pleased 

 her more than ever. "Do you like the 

 machine.?" I asked. "Yes, I would rather 

 wear a calico dress all my life than let 

 that machine go back. I did not question 

 you because I wanted to meddle in your 

 business, but because I am so interested 

 in our little industry, and am willing to 

 make most any sacrifice, and share in your 

 ups and downs in order to make a success 

 of this business." And God bless her! she 

 has proved true to her promise up to this 

 very day. 



The experience I had the year before 

 in marketing my berries, prompted me to 

 make arrangements with the best dealers 

 in each of the near-by towns. This was 

 done early in the winter, and I had no 

 trouble in getting the best grocer in each 

 town to take them, because I assured 

 them that my berries would be hojiestly 

 packed and attractively arranged in the 

 boxes. These dealers agreed to take the 

 exclusive sale of my berries. A selling 

 price was to be determined by each day's 

 market for the same grade of berries. 

 The understanding was for them to deduct 

 10 per cent commission and the express 

 charges, and remit the balance to me. I 

 felt pretty much encouraged over my suc- 

 cess in getting such good dealers, and 

 before the berries began to ripen I made 

 sure that nothing was left undone that 

 should be done before the rush began. I 

 enumerated everything, so if anything had 

 been omitted it could be attended to be- 

 fore it was too late. Now let's see, there 

 are the crates, boxes and picking stands, 

 all made up; pic':ers, packers and field 

 foreman engaged; punch in hand; pickers' 

 tickets and stationery printed; dray to haul 

 berries to the station; enough good dealers 

 to handle all the berries, and arrangements 

 made at the bank to take care of my ex- 

 penses until the returns began to come in. 



Page 68a 



"Can you think of anything else that 

 should be prepared before the berries 

 ripen.?" She could not, and I felt that I 

 was ready for the rush to begin. 



The six or seven acres of plants that 

 were set in the spring were making great 

 strides, as well as the fruiting bed. The 

 experimental plots which were set the 

 spring before were showing up finely. 

 The results of experimenting in mating 

 varieties appear in the article on 'Proper 

 Mating" in this issue. 



It was only a few days until the big 

 show opened. Each dealer was notified 

 to get ready for the berries, and when the 

 rush did come it came in earnest. Fifty 

 to sixty pickers were kept on the hustle 

 from morning till night. The first big 

 picking was divided among the difFerent 

 dealers, and the shipments were increased 

 each day, until I thought the dealers had 

 as many berries as they could handle. 

 But my berries must have taken these 

 towns by storm, or I had misjudged the 

 capacity of these dealers. Letters, tele- 

 phone messages and telegrams came pour- 

 ing in. Some would say, "Send more ber- 

 ries;" others would request me to double 

 their shipments. Not one dealer was 

 timid in expressing his admiration of my 

 berries, and my way of packing. They 

 soon began to call them "Beatty's Cele- 

 brated Strawberries." "This is an appro- 

 priate name to use as a trademark," 1 said 

 to my better-half, "and from now on all 

 fancy berries from this farm shall be labeled 

 'Beatty's Celebrated,' " and the fact that 

 my berries had won this fair name on their 

 merits pleased me all the more. 



We increased the shipments, but the 

 calls for mof« berries continued. What 

 was to be done.? We had reached the 

 limit. The vines were cleaned of all ripe 

 berries every day. I hurried to one of my 

 neighbors, and asked him if he would not 

 pick and pack his berries like mine, and 

 let me have them. "Why, yes," he said, 

 "that just suits me. I am having an awful 

 time to get rid of mine." 



Well, that was surely luck for both of 

 us. "Go pick them at once, and I will 

 include yours in my shipment of berries 

 tonight." His berries were nice, and all 

 they needed was a little fixing up to make 

 them shine with mine. 



The way business was going, I decided 

 my mistake this year was in not having 

 more acres to pick from, but when the 

 returns began to come in, I soon discov- 

 ered that the mistake was somewhere else. 

 These dealers were perfectly honest, but 

 they sold my berries in competition with 

 other berries that were not so nice nor so 

 well packed. I decided then that it was 

 poor business policy to allow someone else 

 to put the price on my products. A few 

 crates were sold for $2 each; the balance 



