THE STRAWBERRY JULY 1907 



pecially for that purpose, but more to be 

 sociable. I always did enjoy making 

 friends, and then treating them so they 

 always would be friends. I believe any- 

 body admires a high-priced liberal man 

 better than a cheap-priced stingy man. I 

 believe this out of actual experience, be- 

 cause my reputation grew, my business 

 grew, and my acreage grew, and the fact 

 that I sold my little thirty-seven acre farm 

 for $10,000, and that the purchaser made 

 about $5,000 upon his investment the first 

 year, are evidences that reputation fig- 

 ured largely in the transaction. 



IN a letter containing a subscription to 

 The Strawberry for a friend W. R. 

 Marshall of Sedgwick, Ark., says: "I 

 sold $154 worth of strawberries off 100 

 rods of ground and we used lots of them 

 ourselves. What do you think of Klon- 

 dikes as large as hen's eggs.'' We had 

 them." 



The Part the Package Plays 



By Ray G. Johnson 



WE have been one of The Straw- 

 berry family for a year or more 

 and enjoy its visits greatly. In 

 the May issue appears an article on "Pick- 

 ing and Marketing Strawberries", from 

 Rural New Yorker, written by H. W. 

 Jenkins of Missouri. This article inter- 

 ested me because we are about to face the 

 problem of marketing ourselves. We have 

 been growing strawberries for market for 

 about twelve years, but our strawberry 

 crop is a side issue, peaches, plums and 

 apples being the main crop here; unless 

 one has only a few acres, it is useless to 

 grow the large and small fruits and make 

 them both the main or dependable crops. 

 Therefore, while we like strawberries and 

 love to work among them, we do not 

 make a business and study of them, al- 

 though we are successful with them. 



Our strawberry area consists of three 

 small patches of one-fourth acre each, two 

 of which are two years old, and the third 

 one year old; and at present we are busy 

 setting out one-half acre of young plants. 

 We have tested more than seventy-five 

 varieties of strawberries and find from ex- 

 perience that for earliness and abundance 

 nothing quite excels the Michel's Early 

 and Crescent. Lovett and Seaford are 

 good producers, but not so early. The 

 varieties which are growing into favor here 

 as market and shipping berries are the 

 Sample, Senator Dunlap and New York 

 on this soil (which is a rich black loam 

 with clay subsoil). Sample is a wonderful 

 plant grower and very prolific. 



Our market is a local town of about 

 4,000 population. There is a strong de- 

 mand here for the strawberry, consequent- 

 ly the price is good. We sell direct to 

 the grocers and fruit men, not to just one, 



but to nearly all. I notice Mr. Beatty 

 advises selling to only one firm in a town. 

 I believe he is right; if we sell to one 

 dealer we can build a reputation with that 

 dealer and hold the price where it belongs. 

 We advertise for pickers and usually have 

 a score of boys and girls respond. They 

 are interested to get some Fourth of July 

 money. We pay two cents a quart for 

 picking, but the sorting is done by the 

 overseer and packed for market. 



Mr. Jenkins' method of providing num- 

 bered slips for each picker to put into every 

 box is a good plan; also the holding back 

 of 25 per cent of wages till the end of the 

 season. We have not tried either of these 

 plans, but believe they are just the thing, 

 and will try them this season. 



In the last few years we have had some 

 difficulty in keeping our quart boxes; up- 

 on getting our empty crates of the grocer 

 we usually find a lot of old broken boxes 

 in place of our own and frequently half of 

 them gone. It is impossible to get our 

 dealers to take care of our boxes. 1 would 

 like to know if some one can suggest some 

 good plan to overcome this common trou- 

 ble.? 



The prospects for a good crop of berries 

 are good. I am looking forward to the 

 June issue of your excellent paper, as well 

 as to the berry itself. 



Port Clinton, Ohio, May 17. 



IN our judgment, the best thing to do 

 in the matter of the berry box is never 

 to use one a second time; for what may 

 be "saved" by so doing is more than lost 

 in the moral influence of a poor-looking 



package. "The package sells the fruit, 

 is the claim made by one of the well-known 

 fruit-package manufacturing houses that 

 patronizes The Strawberry's columns. 

 There is no doubt that the effect upon 

 the public of a neat, clean, sweet package 

 is incalculable, and the fraction of a cent 

 that a box costs is more than covered by 

 the added attractiveness of the package 

 where the bright new box is used. A 

 stained box, showing signs of previous 

 service, is quite likely to stand in the way 

 of the sale of very nice fruit. Don't 

 "economize" in that way! 



ONE report to the Minnesota State 

 Horticultural Society has special in- 

 terest for strrwberry growers. G. A. 

 Chaffer of Long Lake, Minn., says that 

 he had an unusual success with a straw- 

 berry field of one and one-half acres, 

 planted on a clover field, turned under just 

 before planting. The clover growing in 

 amongst the strawberries the year after 

 planting partially shaded the fruit. The 

 crop yielded at the rate of $400 to the 

 acre. After securing one crop the field 

 was turned over. 



AT its recent meeting the Western 

 New York Horticultural Society 

 elected officers for the ensuing year as 

 follows: President, W. C. Barry, Roch- 

 ester; vice-president, S. D. Willard, Gen- 

 eva; J. S. Woodward, Lockport; T. B. 

 Wilson, Halls Corners; B. J. Case, Sodus; 

 secretary-treasurer, John Hall, Rochester. 



JOHN RUCKER OF BOSTON, N. Y., STARTING TO MARKET WITH HIS STRAWBERRIES 



Pafie 13S 



