THE STRAWBERRY 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS 

 OF STRAWBERRY PRODUCTION IN ALL ITS BRANCHES 



Volume II No. 10 



Three Rivers, Mich., October, 1907 



$1.00 a Year 



ESLILTS achieved liy strawberry growers during the was particularly heavy and beautiful, he says: "About August 1, 



R season of 1907, when in many sections of the coun- 

 try all other fruits were unusually limited in quantity, 

 furnish added proof to the fact so often set foith in 

 these pages that in no other line of production is there greater 

 stability or greater profits than in the growing of strawberries. 

 And it doesn't seem to make much difference in what section of 

 the country the strawberries that gave such excellent results 



1906 these had their foliage entirely cut off and all runner plants 

 hoed up and were then given a good irrigation. They soon be- 

 gan to develop new leaves, followed by a heavy crop of berries 

 which began ripening in No\ember. In that month we had an 

 unusually heavy frost which destroyed a portion of the crop, yet 

 I sold over $50 worth in November and December. The fall 

 berries were all large, taking eighteen to thirty berries for a pint 



were grown. In another place in this issue will be found the box. The day before Christmas I packed forty one-pound candy 



tabulated figures of returns received from his first acre of straw- 

 berries as given by Henry Clute of Hunt, N. Y., who received 

 in actual cash $888.17 from his acre, while a large quantity was 

 consumed for which no cash returns were received. Another 

 New York member of The Strawberry family sold more than 

 nine thousand quarts of high-grade fruit from an acre. H. B. 

 Steward, proprietor 

 of Highlands Fruit 

 Farm, Myrtle Point, 

 Ore., writes us that 

 his picking season 

 extended over five 

 months of time and 

 that his plants 

 "yielded crops to 

 exceed $1,500 per 

 acre when sold at 

 50 cents a gallon. 

 This may sound 

 big," he continues, 

 "but it is a fact that 

 I picked two and a 

 half gallons from a single plant during the season, and one of iny 

 August Luther plants yielded 286 berries, ranging from five lo 

 seven inches in circumference." 



The possibilities of a long fruiting season are still further sug- 



SCENE IN STRAWBERRY FIELD OF C E. BEEKLEY, WEST SALEM, OHIO 



The fact that it required forty-three picl^ers to take the berries frotn this field 

 indicates an abundant yield of fruit 



boxes with berries containing from eight to fifteen to a box. 

 These were decorated with leaves and blossoms and brought 

 twenty-five cents each. I treated only a small part of ihe patch 

 in this way, but these have continued to give me the best early 

 spring and continuous summer results. The rest of the patch 

 was left in matted row until February when ;ill runners were cut 



and plants between 

 ihe rows dug up." 



riie importance of 

 reports of this kind 

 may not be overes- 

 tima:ed. Take Mr. 

 Clute's report, for 

 example: how many 

 men, seeking some 

 way in which lo es- 

 tablish themselves 

 Ml an independent 

 and productive 

 home will be en- 

 couraged by such an 

 experience as this 

 novice reports.^ More than $900 from his first acre of strawber- 

 ries! Of course, everybody is not going lo secure such results 

 as that, for ever>body isn't going to show the plain common 

 sense exhibited by this novice, who went about hi^ uork with a 



gested in a letter from G. M. Hawley of La Mesa, California, copy of The Strawberry in his hand, studying the rea-on "why" 



who writes us under date of September 10 as follows: "In 1905 and learning the "how" of it by actual experience in his straw- 



I planted 8,000 Brandywine plants in El Cajon valley. From berry field. Just as manual training educates the eye, the hand 



this bed in 1906 I planted enough to make 60,000 plants, or and the mind all at the same time, so does intelligent reading, 



about t« o acres when pl.mted 10 x 20 inches. From these 1 sold 

 that year $600 worth of berries. From this same bed 1 began 

 picking commercially March 20, 1907, and continued until 

 June 1, at which time I sold my home place, including these 

 two acres of plant*. At that date I had taken in from the patch 



accompanied by actual practice in the field, develop what we 

 may call scientific horticulture. All work and no study keeps 

 Jack a dull good-for-nothing, if we may parapiirase an old 

 maxim. ."Xll study and no work produces an impractical mind 

 and an unpracticed hand. Books and brawn, brain and muscle, 



$1,044. The plants have continued to bear and are still produc- make a combination that win everywhere all the time. So, 



ing $60 per week, and look as though they might continue for while everybody is not likely to duplicate Mr. Clute's experi- 



several weeks. Up to September 1 the new owners — Eychaner ence, it isn't because everybody couldn't do it; for if everybody 



& Moyer — have marketed $1,552, making for the bed to that followed Mr. Clute's way, and selected good soil, set out good 



date $2,596." plants and practiced good cultural methods he would do just 



One incident of his experience in 1906 is related by Mr. what out friend has done when it came to fruiting time! 



Hawley. Referring to one of his fields upon which the foliage And another sort of report that pleases us comes in a letter 



