328 



STRAIVBERKY GROWING IN FLORIDA. 



the drawbacks of the industry, but the growers 

 hope to be able by an other year to induce the rail- 

 roads to make a substantial reduction. Nearly, if 

 not quite, half the acreage of the state is in this 

 (Bradford) county, in what is locally known as 

 " flatwoods" soil. This is so level that in the mid- 

 summer rainy season, acres of the surface in the 

 piney woods will be covered with sheets of water 

 an inch or two in depth ; and this soil carries so 

 much humus or vegetable matter as to make it very 

 retentive of moisture and render necessary a thor- 

 ough system of surface drainage. 



The land is thrown up into beds from eight to 

 twenty feet wide, containing each from four to ten 

 rows. The plants are always set singly and kept 

 so. The sun in winter is so low and slanting that 

 each plant must be isolated and have a good ex- 

 posure, or else the fruit will be " off color." 



After the bedding is done the work of cultivation 

 and fertilizing is performed with hand plows by 

 man power ; this is found cheaper for the small 

 patches, which generally prevail, than it is to keep 

 a horse on northern grain and hay. 



Commercial fertilizers are almost exclusively em- 

 ployed; cut-worms and crab-grass so abound in 

 Florida that it is found necessary to use every re- 

 sort to avoid giving them encouragement. Besides 

 that, saline manures and bone dust are found to give 

 firmer, sweeter fruit, with better shipping qualities, 

 than animal manure produces. Cotton seed meal and 

 nitrate of soda are used to force late and backward 



plants, but these must be employed with caution. 

 Early in the growth of the plant they are good to 

 produce foliage, to give it body ; but later in the 

 season they are apt to roast the roots and produce 

 soft berries ; at this stage mineral manures are pre- 

 ferred to give the berries firmness. 



The best growers frequently apply if or 2 tons 

 per acre, costing from $bo or ^70. Where the general 

 management is correspondingly good, it is found 

 that the last half ton gives a greater profit than the 

 first ton, or all the rest put together. \ 



To take an acre of raw pine woods, clear, stump, 

 break, ditch and plant it, will cost $125 to ^140. 

 The mulching and cultivation will bring the expense 

 up to ^175 or ^200 per acre before a berry is picked. 



A hundred bushels an acre up to the end of the 

 shipping season is a fairly good yield, but frequent- 

 ly 35 or 40 bushels more might be gathered up to 

 the end of May., The writer has shipped 332 

 bushels, up to May 5, from a patch of about z\ acres. 

 The first year the writer netted ^6.21 a bushel; 

 the second year, ^7.21 ; the third year, about ^5, 

 ^5 a bushel the season through is a very fair return. 



The best growers get from $350 to ^700 an acre, 

 or say $200 to $550 an acre clear of all expenses 

 whatever. Many of the less thrifty ones barely 

 make a living ; they pledge the crop in advance', 

 like the old cotton planters, to procure a supply of 

 fertilizers and the necessaries of life. Thrift counts 

 here, to profit, just as it does in the north. 



Florida. Stephen Powers. 



PROFIT IN NORTHERN STRAWBERRIES. 



THE TESTIMONY OF ONE WHO MAKES IT. 



There is great difference of opinion as to the best 

 mode of cultivation of the strawberry, probably 

 owing to diversity of soil and locality. The follow- 

 ing method, according to my experience, is to be 

 commended. In selecting ground, choose that which 

 is as free from weeds and stones as possible, as the 

 presence of either will double the labor. It would 

 be advisable to thoroughly cultivate the soil upon 

 which berries are to be set for two or three years 

 before planting, and allow as few weeds as possible 

 to go to seed. Fine berries and large crops have 

 been raised on green sward, but the main objection 

 is that the crop is liable to be destroyed by the rav- 

 ages of the white grub. I believe a yellow loam to 

 be best adapted to the berry, as it produces fruit 

 that is large, firm and of good flavor. Muck land 

 will produce fine crops, but less firm and of inferior 



flavor. A gravelly soil will produce good fruit in a 

 wet season, but in a dry season they are a failure. 



The varieties of berries that have been raised to 

 the greatest extent in this section are the Wilson, 

 Crescent and Burt. In the opinion of some, the 

 Wilson has had its day ; and it is a fact that we can- 

 not get such a growth of vines as we did a few years 

 ago. But we have always obtained the largest yield 

 from the Wilson up to the present time. Last year 

 I obtained an excellent yield from the Burt, of which 

 I raised only about one-tenth of an acre. On one- 

 bed of an acre we raised 250 thirty-six quart crates 

 which were nearly all Wilsons. Another bed of one- 

 half acre, Wilson and Crescent mixed, raised 84 

 crates. 



Berries are generally set in this locality about the 

 ist of May. It is advisable to set them as soon as 



