32 



Champion," " Favourites," and other varieties, 

 must be grown. In the Channel Islands and 

 at Pershore " Leader " is liked as a good 

 early variety. 



Most growers now find it very advisable to 

 cut the bloom oflf spring- planted strawberries 

 the first year. This costs about 5s. per acre 

 It encourages the healthy growth of the 

 stool and saves the labour of picking the few 

 gritty strawberries that would otherwise ripen. 

 Occasionally, but rarely, the grab of the 

 cockchafer beetle nibbles the roots of young 

 strawberries, and has to be searched for and 

 killed ; otherwise .strawberries are happily 

 more immune from insect pests than any 

 other of our small fiuits. 



There is, however, one plague that the 

 grower should carefully guard against, viz : 

 " strawberry mildew." Never wait till this 

 appears on the berries, but at the first sign of 

 curl in the leaf apply flowers of sulphur with 

 a knapsack or horse-power machine. Many 

 growers now invariably sulphur once just 

 before the bloom opens and again just before 

 ripening. The job must be done early in the 

 morning while the dew is on the leaves. This 

 sulphuring costs about 5s. 6d. per acre for 

 labour and 25s. for sulphur each time over. 



The following gives an idea of the work and 

 cost C'f making a strawberry plantation, also 

 of the annual cost of cultivation previous to 

 the war. The costs, however, keep on rising 

 from day to day. At the present time materials 

 cost double, and the costs of labour and plants 

 is two and a half times as much as before the 

 war : — 



Pre-Wak Cost of One YiCAE Old Stkaw- 



BEREY PlaNTATIOJN. p^^ ^^^ 



Forking out couch, docks, dande- £ s. d. 



lions, etc 14 



Ploughing''^ (winter) 14 



Three or four harrowings and rolling 



to level the ground 7 



Marking out and planting (March) 10 



Plants, say, 12,000 (at 32 x 16 in.) 2 15 



Saibbing off blossoms 5 



Hand and horse-hoeing (May tu 



October) 2 



Cutting off runners (May to October) 10 

 Filling up where plants have died 



in May and in September ... 5 



Digging (November or December) 14 



llent, rates, taxes ... ... ... 2 3 



* If manured, which is almost essen- 

 tial, say with 30 tons dung, 

 previous to ploughing, add £8 

 to £10 9 



0' 



Total £20 17 



If with 40 tons per acre £23 17 



The profits the first year are nil ; the crop 

 of fruit of, say, five pecks, returns but little 

 more than the cost of its own picking, trans- 

 port to market and sale, and it is better for 

 the plants to pick off the blossoms. 



Pee-War Annual Cost of Cultivating 



STRAWBEERIlrS. 



Per acre. 

 £ s. d 



Digging (October) £1 2s., or if 



earthing up by mould board plough 8 



Horse-hoeing at 3s., hand-hoeing 

 5s., three or four times each 

 (March to June) 1 10 



Forking out couch grass (April) ... 2 



Hand-hoeing when in bloom (June) 4 



One and a half loads of barley- 

 straw at 31s. per load 2 6 6 



Carting out and littering straw 

 round plants, spread by men, 

 placedunder the leaves by wiiiiipu 10 



Twice sulphuring : Labour 5s. 6d., 



sulph\ir £1 5s ... 3 1 



Picking and packing 1^ tons fruit, 



at 4d. per peck of 12 lbs. ... 4 13 4 



Carriage 1-^ tons at say 16s. per ton, 



by road or rail ... ... ... 1 4 o 



Market toll and salesmen's charges, 



280 pecks at 3d. per peck ... 3 10 



Cutting off runners after picking 



(August) 7a 



R-iking up and clearing off litter 

 and runners, costs about Ss., the 

 value of the straw being about 

 the same 16 



Horse-hoeing once ... ... ... 4 



Hand-hoeing once ... 6 



Rent, rates and taxes 2 3 



Add one-third of first year's cost, 



say, £20 10s 6 16 8 



£11 17 



28 1 6 

 Eeturn, say 1^ tons strawberries 



at £25 per ton 37 lO 



Dili'erence, for superintendence, 

 unforeseen expenses, interest on 

 capital, and profit ... ..986 



