494 TwENTY-FiKST Biennial Bepoet 



About the best yield we have ever made is 200 crates per acre, but 

 we have had growers grow 250, crates. I believe we could grow 250 

 with better fertilizers, etc. The average grower plants from 5 to 

 10 acres, making about 150 crates to the acre in a normal season. 



Now about the time we let them stand, and how we work out 

 ihe old beds. We thought at first that three years would be the 

 jimit, and of course we get the best grades the tirst and second years. 

 Recently several of the best growers have been leaving their beds 

 four years very profitably. We have come to the conclusion that if 

 the beds are kept clean, we can run the strawberries four years. I 

 find that the best growers are netting, outside of the picking and 

 crating, about $150 to $175 an acre. That does not include the straw 

 and cultivation or the fertilizers, nor the rent of team, making the 

 cost about $10 an acre for the plants. 



Q. How much phosphate did you use? 



A. About 500 lbs. to the acre. 



Q. Did they grade the strawberries as they gathered them? 



A. Yes. 



Q. Do you use fertilizer after the first year? 



A. Tes, the second and third years. 



Q. What do you use, and how much, after the second year? 



A. Phosphates, about the same amount. 



Q. Is your soil sandy? 



A. No, red clay soil. 



Q. Do you plow out the rows the second year? 



A. Yes, just as the first year. The new plants come out on 

 the sides and take root while the old plants are still there. 



Q. Do you cut the runners off any? 



A. After they grow out about 8 or 10 inches, we keep them 

 that way. 



Q. Do you use a runner cutter? 



A. Yes, we have. 



Q. Have you used any pedigreed plants? 



A. Yes, but there has not proved to be anything in it. 



Q. How deep do you mulch them? 



A. Just according to how much straw we have. 



Q. Do you use fresh horse manure in the fall? 



A. It would not be desirable. 



Q. Do you use a manure spreader? i 



A. Can't say that it's any better. 



Q. Do you try faU planting? 



A. Not much. 



Q. When do you put on phosphate? 



A. Before planting, if the land needs it. After the first year 

 we apply it in July or August, in time to produce a good growth of 

 plants. 



