STRAWBERRY GROWING IN FLORIDA. 



TRAWBERRIES are grown in 

 Florida for home consumption 

 only to a slight degree ; they 

 are mostly produced for ship- 

 ment to the north, hence there 

 is very little scientific interest 

 attaching to the pursuit so far as the discovery of 

 new varieties is concerned, and the development 

 of old varieties to that stage of perfection to which 

 northern growers are stimulated by frequent com- 

 petitive exhibitors at the fairs. The Florida grower 

 pursues a system of Spartan simplicity ; the two 

 questions of paramount importance with him are 

 to grow, first, a berry that will carry well; sec- 

 ond, and dependent on the first quality, one that 

 will sell well. 



There is practically only one variety in Florida, 

 the Noonan Improved ; and that is a berry so in- 

 ferior for home consumption, that among the many 

 luscious varieties of the north, it would probably 

 not occupy a place higher than the tenth, even if so 

 far advanced as that. It is a berry rather under 

 the medium size, varying in shape from obtusely 

 conical to nearly round, hard, tolerably acid, ripen- 

 ing unevenly in the winter or early spring, when it 

 frequently becomes brilliantly sunburned on one 

 side, with a gloss almost like glass, while the lower 

 is yet white or even green. Towards the end of 

 April and in May, however, it ripens up more even- 

 ly, owing to the warmth of the ground and of the 

 atmosphere during the night ; and it then becomes 

 a passable berry. But during February and in 

 March and April it is so hard and sour that the 

 market-goers in Florida generally give it the go-by, 

 being well content to let their northern brethren 

 have it. In short, then, the Floridians grow straw- 

 berries rather to please their northern customers 

 than to please themselves ; and it is a standing 

 marvel to us what an immense appetite the people 

 of the north have for this little, hard, acid berry. 



One thing may be urged in explanation ; the 

 'northern people are generally able to smother it in 

 cream, while the cowless Floridians must be con- 

 tent with the emollient influences of sugar alone ; 

 hence the latter demand a sweeter berry than the 

 north. 



But the Florida picking season lasts so long that 

 we are able to ship to the north until our pickers 



are completely tired out and go home, and still have 

 a month or six weeks left in which to pick and en- 

 joy for ourselves after the time for the profitable 

 northern shipment has passed. There are few 

 northern people who comprehend the length of our 

 strawberry season. The writer has picked a pint 

 of berries February i ; begun to ship by the 20th, 

 and continued up to May 5 ; then picked for wine, 

 for canning, preserves, etc., two or three weeks 

 longer, and finally gathered enough to make a last 

 shortcake on the 4th of July, all from one variety, 

 the Noonan. 



This season has been phenomenal. We began to 

 ship in considerable quantities by January 10, and 

 continued up to March, when the two frosts of the 

 3rd and 17th bisected the season, by cutting off all 

 the bloom and young berries, so that we shall not 

 ship any more to profit before April 10, and shall 

 do well if we can continue to ship up to May 10. 



Some of these very early shipments bring fabu- 

 lous prices. A grower who had acquaintances in 

 Chicago once received an order for a few quarts in 

 January to supply the guests at a "swell" wedding. 

 By carefully gleaning his patch he got a pint at a 

 tirne. He put the pint in a quart basket, lining it 

 thickly all around with cotton, and sent it by mail. 

 In this way he " shipped " four quarts, and they 

 brought him a check for forty dollars. 



The writer once had a few quarts in a bushel con- 

 tributed by different growers which was sold in Bos- 

 ton and netted $52.80. 



On the other hand, there are often shipments made 

 which go to utter loss or even bring the shippers in 

 debt for freight charges. They are picked too soon 

 after a rain, or there comes a sudden spell of warm 

 weather in the north before they reach the end of 

 their long journey, or a blizzard strikes the north- 

 ern city, and the berries are totally lost or sell for 

 a song. Early in the season berries can be shipped 

 1,000 or 1,200 miles with perfect success in venti- 

 lated "gift crates " without ice, but by the last of 

 March or April 10, this becomes hazardous and the 

 ice-car comes in demand. At present the refriger- 

 ator car service costs nearly twice as much (10 cents 

 a quart, $3.20 a bushel) as it does to ship them by 

 open express, and this greater cheapness sometimes 

 tempts growers to their sorrow. 



This enormous transportation charge is one of 



