The Autobiography of a Strawberry Grower 



By Frank E. Beatty 



Chapter VIII— In which is shown the Value of Attractive Advertising and Effective Selling Methods 



IN the last preceding instalment you 

 will note that 1 had finished mulch- 

 ing my berries before Christmas, and 

 just as soon as the holidays were over 

 I put one team to hauling manure and 

 spreading it over the ground which was to 

 be set to plants the following spring, and 

 every foot of the ground received a liberal 

 dressing of this best of all fertilizer. The 

 ground had been broken up and sowed to 

 rye in the early days of October. This 

 with the manure made an ideal winter 

 covering for the soil. The fact that every- 

 thing on the farm was in such good con- 

 dition made me impatient for spring; I was 

 so anxious to see what my berry plants 

 would do. If thorough cultivation through- 

 out the entire growing season, and proper 

 mating of varieties had anything to do 

 with getting a big crop of berries I certain- 

 ly W'ould get more crates to the acre than 

 ever I had grown before. 



One block of about two acres was set 

 to Warfields, Michel's Early, and Lovetts. 

 The first row was set to Michel's Early, 

 then three rows of Warfields, followed by 

 one row of Lovetts, and so on until the 

 entire two acres were set. The balance 

 of my fruiting fields were principally 

 Clydes, Gandys and Marshalls. In my 

 experimental bed were about thirty-five 

 varieties, many of which I never had seen 

 fruit. In this experimental bed I was 

 continuing my experiments to determine 

 more definitely the value of exchange of 

 pollen with bisexuals. This little plot 

 made me wish for another fruiting season 

 more than all the other fruiting beds com- 

 bined. 



When spring finally came we started 

 uncovering the plants; and fine ones they 

 were, too. In fact, they double-discount- 

 ed any plants I ever had grown, and they 

 made me more enthusiastic than ever. 

 Dave (my young foreman) carried a wider 

 smile than did I, and he had a rii;ht to 

 feel happy, because he had a hand in 

 growing those \'ery plants. It seemed to 

 me that they were greener and fresher 

 looking than they were in the fall when 

 the mulching was put on. In about ten 

 days after the mulching had been removed 

 from the plants, Dave and I went out to 

 see them, and the beautiful sight would 

 actually cure the blues. 



I had a car-load of box material all 

 made up into berry boxes. Dave made 

 them during the winter at the rate of 

 4,000 quart boxes a day. 



"If these plants produce berries in ac- 

 cordance with their appearance we will 

 need more boxes," I said to Dave. 



"^'es, they do promise a great crop that 

 is certain; but don't you think it will be 

 best to defer ordering until the crop is 

 more sure?" was Dave's reply. 



"Possibly that is the best thing to do, 



and I am glad you feel free to make sug- 

 gestions. That is just what a foreman 

 should do. 



"Foreman! you don't mean to tell me 

 that I am to be your foreman, do you.''" 

 Dave exclaimed. 



"Why yes, boy; you have been my 

 foreman ever since last August; but I 

 never told you, as I thought best to wait 

 to see if you were of the mettle of a fore- 

 man, and now 1 am convinced that you 

 are entitled to the honor." 



It was actually worth a quarter to see 

 the look of deep appreciation in that boy's 

 face. A hat full of silver dollars could 

 not have pleased him more. In fact, a 

 promotion of this kind should appeal to 

 any young man as being of greater value 

 than money. 



Although the season was no more favor- 

 able than the average, the plants grew to 

 enormous size. The manure I had spread 

 between the rows of the old fruiting bed 

 had leached into the soil during the winter 

 rains and snow, and the plants were surely 

 making use of it. The other plants which 

 were to give their first crop had been set 

 on exceedingly well-prepared soil. A light 

 coat of manure had been turned under, 

 then sowed to rye, the fall previous to 

 setting the plants. This ground was again 

 covered with manure in the winter, which 

 was turned under and the manure and rye 

 well mixed with the soil before setting the 

 plants in the spring. One or two light 

 frosts came during the blooming season, 

 but the few blooms killed did not affect 



the yield, as the vines carried all the ber- 

 ries they possibly could mature. 



The Michel's Early gave the first pick- 

 ing, and in a few days the Warfields and 

 Lovetts were showing red spots on the 

 outer edges of the row. By the time 

 these three varieties were at their best, 

 the Clydes came in with a big donation 

 of extra-large berries. 



The dealers who handled my berries 

 the year before had engaged them again 

 for this season at 15 cents per quart, oi 

 two quarts for 25 cents, less 15 per cent 

 commission and express charges. This 

 price was for the fancy stock. The second 

 grade mostly was sold at the farm. I pui 

 big ads in the home papers and prospective 

 buyers would come from near-by towns, 

 some coming a distance of twenty miles, 

 and they would go home with full cases 

 strapped on to the hind part of their bug- 

 gies. Some days there were so many of 

 these buyers that several wagons would 

 be waiting for their turn to be served. 

 Several days before the largest picking I 

 would notify each dealer to take orders 

 among their customers for canning-berries 

 at $2.00 per twenty-four-quart crates, and 

 when these big days came, all of the 

 second-grade fruit was engaged as well as 

 the fancy berries. 



During the entire season I received only 

 one or two complaints about high prices. 

 "Standing pat" on prices the year before 

 had convinced the dealers that it was useless 

 to bother me about any complaint their 

 customers might make. They would tell 



SOME FIRSTS AND SOME SECONDS 



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