PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 75 



dred dollars. A quarter of an aero is as mueh as a single handed man, 

 with other fruit to attend to, will be able to work; and even with ordy 

 this amount, in nine times in tei^, he will give up in despair before the season 

 is through, and let the weeds grow. Having myself hoed them as much 

 through the summer as my strength or patience would permit, and having 

 neglected to hoe at all, I have to say, as the result of my experience, that 

 hoeing does little or no good. Facts are what we want, not theories. I 

 have over an acre of strawberries now, in full bearing, and entirely free 

 of weeds, into which I did not take a hoe all last season. I will grant 

 that by hoeing you may show a limited number of fine plants; but after 

 all, I can show as great a number of as good plants, where I do not hoe, 

 and beside, have thousands of second and third-rate plants which will jneld 

 in the aggregate many bushels. Where plants are thick it is impossible 

 to hoe them. 1 come, then, to this conclusion, that I can raise as many 

 strawberries without hoeing as I can with hoeing; if I wanted to boast, I 

 woidd say double the number, and perhaps state nothing but the truth. 



I have but to add to my directions, that after I go through the strawber- 

 ries with a one-horse plow, I do nothing more till the weeds get ready to 

 go to seed, when I take a strong scythe, mow them down, and leave them 

 where they fall. It will be found that there are few or no w^eeds where 

 you last plow, and what weeds there are, started mostly in the spring. 

 Fall weeds you will not see. It requires frequent hoeing and plowing to 

 bring them up. I should greatly prefer, late in the fall, to spread over 

 them a light covering of straw, not so much for protection, for they will do 

 well enough, as to furnish a clean bed for the berries, and, in particular, to 

 keep the ground moist, in case the spring should be dry. From the bene- 

 fits they receive from straw, and from the fact that so few apply it, I sus- 

 pect that strawberries were successfully cultivated in remote ages, and 

 hence that name. Virgil mentions strawberries, but they must have been 

 wild ones. The Romans were not given to fruit raising, nor are slave- 

 holders anywhere. They had no cherries till Lucullus brought them from 

 Asia. As for giving them what is called a mulching of straw, that is, so 

 much that any part of it is to be removed in the spring-, I think it likely to 

 do more harm than good. 



" During the winter get your baskets or boxes, and such side boxes and 

 packages ready. We use here quart hoop boxes, some with covers, some 

 not. I prefer covers. For pickers, engage married women; if they are a 

 little cross at home, so much the better, they will be more active. Hand- 

 some girls won't do, and children I would not have, for, though they dw 

 well for an hour or so, they soon get so that they cannot work, being 

 troubled with a kind of bloat. Active boys, twelve or fourteen years old, 

 are very good, they do not bloat so bad. 



" As you go through the rows of scarlet richness you will see the advan- 

 tages of ridging ; for, from the crest of the ridge down into the gutter they 

 are full, and where there are little precipices, see how thickly they hang 

 over the edges. You will also see that in places where the ground is of a 

 dead level, caused by washing, or other means, they are not so good; 

 sometimes they do not bear at all. Whatever benefits arise from tile 

 drainage are derived by ridging. 



