56 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



plants will make a heavier stalk, and you will get a greater 

 number of quarts of berries two or three times the size, and 

 that makes a dift'erence of between 50 and 75 per cent in their 

 selling value. 



The strawberry needs an immense amount of water. I 

 have seen acres and acres of splendid strawberries grow 

 almost to picking, having had good, heavy rains within a 

 week of the time ; and yet, having no more rains between 

 then and matm'ing, more than one-half was lost, for they did 

 not come up to the proper size, from lack of moisture. This 

 ma}'^ be remedied somewhat by tillage or thorough prepara- 

 tion of the ground. Since I have been growing cow peas I 

 find that the strawberry land contains more moisture than 

 before. That is one of the ways, — getting some green 

 crops and loosening up the ground, and then the heaviest of 

 nmlching during the season, and if you apply irrigation, so 

 much the better. Liberal feeding will pay, but one thing 

 above all others that is most essential is the spraying of the 

 vines with the Bordeaux mixture. Nearly all varieties are 

 subject to this strawberry rust, — scientific men will give 

 you the exact name ; but it makes a little brown spot on the 

 leaves, and it spreads, and when you harvest yom' strawber- 

 ries it shows on the calyx of the berry. If you spray it 

 twice a year, once in September and another liberal spray 

 early in the spring before the plant blossoms, it will ordi- 

 narily act as an insurance policy, or prevent the crop from 

 being lost, which amounts to the same thing. About half 

 of all the strawberry yield is lost where the fields are not 

 sprayed, and no one can afford such a loss as that. 



As to marketing fruits, many of you here are past middle 

 life, and remember the early marketing of strawberries in 

 New England in blueberr}' boxes. Years ago all were mar- 

 keted so . They cost 3 , 4 or perhaps 5 cents apiece in those 

 days ; but we packed our strawberries in them, and put on a 

 top cover. Then somebody invented the American basket, 

 and so ventilation crept in. They said, " Oh, we have a glo- 

 rious ventilated basket ; " but it commenced the ruination of 

 the berry. People thought they were doing a great thing 

 in giving the fruit air ; but the tight package is the proper 



