THE STRAWBERRY JUNE 1907 



This loosens the mother plant and inter- 

 feres with its growth. The many runners 

 pulling and tugging at her is strain enough 

 without any jerking from the grower. 



Don't forget to hoe between the runner 

 plants and keep a dust mulch there the 

 samj as between the rows. 



Don't blame anyone but yourself if 

 your plants mat thickly and get the start 

 of you. 



Don't mind the backaches, but just 

 keep on keeping on. 



Planted Three Acres of Strawberries 

 and Grew a Home 



With acknowli'd-fiiients to Tlic Soutli-West fcir photo- 

 firaphs and story . 



WHEN J. C.Wadley bought twenty 

 acres of farm land near Stillwater, 

 Okla., he planted three acres of 

 strawberries between the trees of a young 

 orchard by way of experiment, and then 

 set to work growing cotton and oats to 

 assure his family a living. This farmer 

 had no previous experience in fruit cul- 

 ture, nor did he have any book theories 

 about its possibilities, but he had strong 

 arms, a willingness to work and a firm 

 belief in the quality of his soil and advan- 

 tages of the climate — he believed that 

 berries could be grown on his land as 

 easily as cotton if they were as carefully 

 cultivated. But there could be no chances 

 taken, and the field crops were put in to 

 make the success of the farm doubly sure. 

 There was much to be done that first 

 year, the improvements had to be made, 

 the nursery stock purchased, and the only 

 revenue was from the twelve or fifteen 

 acres of cotton, the milk sold from a few 

 cows, and the poultry and garden products. 

 Mr. Wadley was anxious to build a com- 

 fortable home on his little farm plot, but 



THE HOUSE THE STRAWBERRIES BUILT 



it seemed that this desire would be long 

 unfulfilled, if cotton alone was to be de- 

 pended upon. He started in the second 

 year courageously, however, cultivated his 

 berries with hopeful enthusiasm, and went 

 again to the cotton field. 



Then came the first berry crop, and it 

 was a dandy. The vines were red with 

 fruit, and although a late frost cut the 

 yield it improved the quality of the berries 



and stimulated the market. Mr. Wadley 

 came out of his cotton held and called in 

 his surprised neighbors to help him gather 

 the most profitable crop that had ever 

 been grown in that county. When the 

 berries were marketed the cash was 

 cotinted, and there proved to be $950, 

 just enough to build a new home, and 

 ever since the people of Stillwater have 

 referred to the pretty two-story cottage 

 on the Wadley farm as "the strawberry 

 house". It is in plain view from the 

 windows of the class rooms at the Okla- 

 homa Agricultural College and is pointed 

 out to the young men and women of that 

 institution as an object lesson in profitable 

 horticulture. 



"Any man can make a good living and 

 lay aside a little money by growing berries 

 in Oklahoma," said \ir. Wadley. "When 

 1 bought this land it was covered with 

 wild sunflowers. 1 put out my berries as 

 a side crop, but the first yield showed me 

 that there was more in them than in any 

 other line of farming. 



"Berry growing is light work and much 

 more pleasant and entertaining than raising 

 heavier crops, but it requires close atten- 

 tion. Experience is required to secure 

 the best results, but a man can go into the 

 business on a small scale and get this ex- 

 perience. It is the new knowledge that 

 1 gather each year that fits me for better 

 effort, and that keeps me from getting 

 discouraged. There are no problems in 

 berry culture that can't be reasoned out 

 by working among the plants. Nature 

 has a way of suggesting what you should 

 do, and when you should do it, but one 

 has to keep in pretty close touch with 

 nature all the while. 



"My idea is that the hedge row is the 

 best for planting strawberries. 1 place 

 the rows three feet apart and the plants 

 eighteen inches to two feet in the drill. 

 'I'his enables me to cultivate with a fine- 

 tooth plow, and I turn the soil just enough 

 to maintain a good mulch and keep the 

 weeds down. The first year I plow my 

 berries once every week until they are 

 through bearing and until the weeds are 

 through seeding. It takes rich soil to 

 produce large strawberries, and I have 

 learned that it is best to fertilize every 

 year. 



"Winter mulch is applied after the first 

 freeze, when plant growth is stopped. 1 

 take the bedding and manure from the 

 stables for this purpose, making sure that 

 its consistency is about one-half straw so 

 the vines will not be weighted down but 

 can easily push their way through when 

 they start in the spring. I mulch heavily 

 in the middle of the rows and aim to let 

 it barely cover the plant bed. I do not 

 remove this litter, but permit it to remain 

 on as a fertilizer, plowing it under in 

 spring. 



"We have no trouble here with insects, 

 and I never have had to spray. The coun- 

 try is not favorable for vine diseases of any 

 kind. The prevailing winds, our horti- 



Page 142 



culturists tell us, discourage such pests. 



"In gathering my fruit I pick the stem 



short, never touching the berry, and drop 



carefully into the bucket. The grading 



BERRIES BETWEEN THE TREES AND BEES 

 BETWEEN THE BERRIES 



is done by the picker who rejects all un- 

 sound fruit on the vine. It doesn't pay 

 to handle over-ripe or blighted berries; 

 they degrade the better ones and bring 

 nothing themselves. Our crop is gathered 

 in boxes — every box heaping full — and 

 taken to market in twenty-four-box crates. 

 Stillwater buys all the berries I can raise; 

 1 have never shipped. The harvest sea- 

 son usually lasts eighteen days, and in 

 that time the people of a town of that size 

 can consume a lot of fruit. 



Mr. Wadley finds time to look after 

 his cotton and grain crops and to give 

 ample attention to his orchard and apiary 

 after the berry crop is out of the way. 

 He believes in getting the full value from 

 his land, for his berries are grown between 

 the trees, and between the berry rows he 

 has fourteen hives of bees, which last year 

 gave him 550 pounds of first-class honey 

 and seventeen strong colonies. These 

 other interests fill out to make a complete 

 year's work. 



'Work with Both Brains and Hands 



SEVENTEEN years ago "Vincent 

 Anderson's "residence" was an Okla- 

 homa "dug-out," his menu com- 

 prised corn-bread and molasses, and, al- 

 together, he was at the very bottom round 

 of the ladder, we learn from the Kansas 

 City Star. Now Mr. Anderson has an 

 orchard of 800 apple trees and 3,000 

 peach trees, and is worth ,$30,000. 



"Thousands of Oklahoma and Indian 

 Territory farmers have just as good soil 

 as I have, but I guess they work too much 

 with their hands and not enough with 

 their heads," said Mr. Anderson recently. 

 "Farming is fast becoming an exact 

 science, and the sooner we all learn this 

 the better it will be for us. I have 240 

 acres, situated about fourteen miles north- 

 west of Oklahoma City, and my 800 ap- 

 ple trees and 3,000 peach trees net me 

 about $3,000 per annum. This year I 

 raised about 6,000 bushels of corn and a 

 lot of cotton, that produced over $300 per 



