THE STRAWBERRY AUGUST 1907 



than any of my lady acquaintances. 1 have 

 no hired man to cook for and then 1 have 

 a hay box. The dinner goes into that at 

 breakfast time and comes out cooked and 

 hot when we come in at noon. 



The "hay box" referred to by our cor- 

 respondent is one of those modern con- 

 veniences that help to transform the work 

 of the busy housewife, and is known as 

 the "fireless cooker". If our women 

 friends don't know about it, they should 

 no longer remain in ignorance. 



This report is typical of hundreds we 

 have received. One man writes us that 

 the bloom of his plants was frozen three 

 times and yet he sold from his patch this 

 year more than .$500 worth of strawber- 

 ries. So, when we get a little blue be- 

 cause that bumper crop we hoped for has 

 been somewhat delayed by conditions 

 with the making of which we had nothing 

 to do, let us turn our thought to the cheer- 

 ful consideration of certain other facts, 

 among which are: The strawberry busi- 

 ness is the safest and surest of any purely 

 horticultural business; complete failure or 

 loss is seldom ever known in that line; 

 when trouble does come to the strawberry 

 grower it is more easily repaired than may 

 be done in the case of any other fruit 

 grower, and at much less cost; and that 

 this rort of weather can't last forever, and 

 we're bound to win out if we simply stand 

 by and do our level best! 



ONE difficulty experienced by those 

 who use lartie quantities of barnyard 

 manure is with the seeds it contains, and 

 strawberry growers will be interested to 

 know that if the manure pile be well 

 composted with kainit — kainit is said to 

 be one of the best mediums, preventing 

 as it does the escape of the nitrogen in 

 the manure, while losing none of its own 

 potash — then the weed seeds v\iil be killed 

 by thousands and the manure itself will 

 be more readily available as platit food. 



Spring-Set Thoroughbreds in a 



Florida Drought 



By Joseph Bolt 



IT may be of interest to the readers of 

 The Strawberry to read of a test case 

 of thoroughbred plants under proper 

 culri\'ation. Three years ago this month 

 (April) 1 set out 2,000 plants. My first 

 experietice with strawberries — to set plants 

 in April in this climate — had been unheard 

 of, and to raise them on high sandy land, 

 such as mine, was thought almost equal 

 to madness; btit I rather enjoy doing 

 things no one else has done before, and 

 so 1 buckled into it with might and main. 

 Sometimes I blundered, but never fatally. 

 Anyway my plants lived and grew through 

 the summer and by fall 1 had plants that 

 my big straw hat could not cover, atid the 

 next spring I had the first berries that 

 were sliipped from this station, although 



they were of a late variety — the Brandy- 

 wine. And such big fellows! We some- 

 times packed a whole thirty-two-quart 

 crate and not a quart in it with more than 

 twenty-five berries. Well, I had lost 

 some by a blunder and some by bad 

 weather, or it would have been a bumper 

 crop: but it was good as it was. 



Last year I was first again. I shipped 

 the first on February 6 and picked and 

 packed up to the first of June. But un- 

 derstand berries don't rush down here so 

 as they do up North, but have ripe, green, 

 bloom and buds on all at the same time. 

 1 had intended to plow thetn under last 

 year, thinking that two crops of that kind 

 were enough for any plants, but when 

 we were done picking the plants looked 

 so good and started to make runners so 

 vigorously that I felt that I couldn't de- 

 stroy them. So I simply cut out such as 

 showed weakness and let a runner take its 

 place, and worked them and took good 

 care of them as before, and in the fall 

 they looked as if they were going to do 

 better than before. 



But then the real test came. Since 

 last October there has been very little 

 rain; the oldest settlers here say they don't 

 know of a time that so little rain fell in 

 six months. The berries on the heavier 

 lands — the real strawberry section — nearly 

 all died. Some had a few berries and 

 some had none, and at this writing nearly 

 all are dead, where we have picked ber- 

 ries from our own vines since Februarj' 5. 

 Of course, they were not as large and did 

 not ripen so fast as they would have done 

 if we had had more rain, but the quality 

 was good and we always got high prices. 



At this writing there are heaps of green 

 berries, from fifty to a hundred to a plant, 

 and they could stand it for a good while 

 yet before they would die. The most 



trouble is that the leaves don't grow 

 enough in this drought to shade the ber- 

 ries, so a good many get sunburnt before 

 they ripen, but it looks favorable for rain 

 now. I hope it will come. Now f"r 

 some time every time I go to the statior. 

 with berries ] am asked, "How are your 

 berries.'" 



"All right; would be better if we had 

 rain, but are doing well under the circum- 

 stances." 



Finally some of the neighbors came to 

 see, thinking I was "blowing", and they 

 were simply struck dumb, saying they 

 never saw such a sight. 



Brooklyn, Fla., April 1, 1907. 



THE Society for Horticultural Science 

 will hold its fifth annual meeting at 

 the Jamestown Exposition in connection 

 with the thirty-first biennal meeting of the 

 American Pomological Society, September 

 24, 25, 26, 1907. Arrangements have not 

 yet been made as to the time of sessions, 

 but the three days" meetings will give am- 

 ple time for the program of the two soci- 

 eties. The Inside Inn on the Exposition 

 grounds is to be headquarters for the 

 American Pomological Society and since 

 most of the members of the Society for 

 Horticultural Science belong to the older 

 association, arrangements have not been 

 made for separate headquarters. The sin- 

 gle topic of plant breeding will be dis- 

 cussed and the program committee prom- 

 ises papers and addresses of merit. The 

 meeting is held late in the summer so that 

 the summer heat will be avoided. The 

 rates to the exposition are low and the 

 routes varied. The exposition will have 

 attractions for all. 1 he several advantages 

 attending the fifth annual meeting of the 

 society should insure a large attendance. 



RUST is a Disease Which ^ 

 Attacks Feeble Wheat 



as delicate people are always taking 

 cold. 



3 Potash 



is the health food for wheat, as veil 



as the grain food — makes it strong 



and vi2;orous, so that it resists 



rust. Potash checks lodging and 



rust on the rich black soils. 



We shall be glad to send you pamplilcts 

 and circulars and reports that show what 

 Putash does for soils and crops. These 

 most interesting and helpful books cost 



)'ou notliing except the pt>st.il card on which 



yii\i ask for them. 



GhRMAN KALI WORKS. 93 Nassau Street, New York 

 MonadDock Bldg., Chicago Candler Bldg., Atlanta. Qa. 



Address otBce nearest you. 



Page 168 



