58 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



perhaps, and put in a barrel and transported somewhere, and 

 sweat all out. From the minute that corn came off the 

 stalk the sugar in it was turning into starch. 



This is a little off of fruit culture, of course ; but I speak 

 of it as it is in the same line with these berries. By getting 

 them ripe and in perfect condition, and keeping them sealed 

 until ready for use, we will have " the kind that mother 

 used to make." 



But to go back to the corn just once more. If I were 

 going to do a family trick, if I were near the city of Spring- 

 field and my business was in the vegetable line, I would see 

 all the leading families ; I would get next to the man or the 

 woman of the home, and say, " Don't you want some good, 

 sweet corn at 31/2 cents an ear? I will deliver it at your 

 door." I would get just as many of those orders as I could, 

 and then, if I had to go down to where Mr. Lawson sold 

 his horses last Saturday and buy a fast one, or buy an auto- 

 mobile, I would pick that corn between 9 and 10 or 10 and 

 11 A.M., and deliver it to their homes a little before the pot 

 was boiling. I would force them up to 4 cents, and then I 

 would force them up to 5, — and they would pay it, too. 

 It is simply applying business principles ; deliver the goods 

 and you can get the money. People want siveet corn. 



And it is the same with the strawberry. Let it get ripe 

 on the vine, and then get it to its destination just as near 

 perfection as you can. I have samples of strawberries sent 

 to me from different parts of the country to test ; and I find 

 when a man picks them and wraps them in a wad of cotton, 

 over and over, until there are a dozen thicknesses, and four 

 or five thicknesses of paper besides, and sends them to me, 

 the strawberries are the best. If I don't want to test them 

 Monday, being washing day, I don't have to ; Tuesday is 

 coming ; or I needn't look at them for a week after that, and 

 they are sound, beautiful berries ; I have kept them twenty- 

 one days, away from air. 



Now, as to the varieties. That is a local question, in a 

 way ; but there are a few better market varieties than others, 

 and they are worth considering. You will have to work 

 that out very largely for yourself. For extra early, there 



