330 



STRAWBERRIES IN CENTRAL NEW YORK. 



for drawing berries to market, $25.00 ; use and loss 

 of crates and baskets, ^45.00; total expenses, 

 ^468.98, leaving a profit of §564.30. This is, of 

 course, above the average yield and price. By re- 

 ferring to accounts which I have kept for the last 

 six years, I find that my average yield during that 

 period has been about 180 crates per acre and the 

 average price ^% cents per quart, which, according 

 to the above schedule of expenses, would leave a net 

 profit of ?i89.55 per acre. 



The above expenses include 2 cents per quart for 

 picking. In some localities the price is but i\ cents 

 per quart, which would leave a greater profit. Ten 

 or twelve good pickers will handle an acre of berries, 



and good pickers are very essential to a berry-grow- 

 er's reputation. The swiftest picker is not always 

 the most profitable, but rather the one who does his 

 work well. In harvesting a large crop it is impos- 

 sible to see that every box is picked as it should be, 

 but it is very important that the grower gives par- 

 ticular attention to this part of the work and sees 

 that it is done well. It seems the height of incon- 

 sistency for a man to put up a package of fruit which 

 looks very well on the top while the baskets in the 

 bottom of the crate contain berries of a most infe- 

 rior quality, and send it to market with his name in 

 full printed upon it. C. A. Stone. 



Oswego County, N. Y. 



STRAWBERRIES IN CENTRAL NEW YORK. 



A PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE. 



Eight years ago I came into possession of four 

 acres of land on which I am growing fruits and 

 vegetables. Three acres are of a deep clay loam, 

 underlaid at a depth of three feet with solid rock, 

 no part entirely level, drainage perfect. With the 

 exception of 100 bushels of poultry droppings, no 

 farm manures were used the first four years. I set 

 my small fruits the second year, and added market 

 gardening crops the fourth. As I used the same 

 methods and manures in bringing all this land into 

 condition for fruit growing, I need only tell the 

 story of my first strawberry crop. On the 15th of 

 June one-half acre of land densely matted with 

 quack grass roots was selected, the grass mowed to 

 the ground and the land ploughed nine inches deep. 

 I found that quack grass roots did not grow deeper 

 than six inches ; three inches of fine soil answered 

 my purpose. I wanted a good seed bed. One 

 hundred bushels of wood ashes and 200 lbs. of 

 ground bone were worked into the soil. One bushel 

 of buckwheat was sown June 20th ; this was plough- 

 ed down the latter part of August. 50 bushels of 

 wood ashes and 200 lbs. of the Buffalo Fertilizer 

 were sown broadcast and well dragged in. One 

 bushel of rye was sown on the buried buckwheat. 

 The rye, when 15 inches high and very thick, was 

 ploughed down the loth of the following May. 100 

 bushels of poultry droppings were finely Broken and 

 evenly sown, as were 100 lbs. bone black. 



Four thousand strawberry plants of the following 

 varieties were set in rows 3^ feet apart on the half acre, 

 Bidwell, Manchester, Miners' and Sharpless. Plants 



were freshly dug and not a single plant failed to start. 

 I began to cuhivate and hoe promptly, for I believe that 

 every square foot contained 100 young buckwheat plants. 

 Plants were trained on the narrow row system. By fall 

 the bed presented a sight well calculated to delight the 

 eye of a lover of the strawberry. After the first hard 

 freeze I covered the plants with two tons of oats straw, 

 two years old. This is none too much in this part of 

 central New York, where the mercury frequently goes 

 as low as 35° below zero. A part of this straw was re- 

 moved as soon as freezing nights were over in the spring. 

 My first crop was 2,000 quarts, which I sold at strictly 

 fancy prices. This was the only bed that I ever picked 

 two years. It does not pay to keep a bed of strawber- 

 ries here more than one year, and besides the quack 

 grass was not all rooted out as I found to my cost the 

 next year. I now turn the bed under just as soon as 

 picked, and sow with buckwheat, which is in turn 

 ploughed down and dressed with wood ashes, and sown 

 with rye about Sept. loth of each year. The rye is 

 turned under as soon as I can do so without injury to 

 the soil the May following. Superphosphate of lime 

 at the rate of a half ton to the acre is sown as soon as 

 the ground drags up perfectly fine. Land is now ready 

 for my market gardening crops. Except for peas, nitrate 

 of soda is sown at the time of setting all plants, and on 

 all seed crops a light dressing is given as the plants need 

 it. Stable manure is used now for blackberries rasp- 

 berries and the larger fruits. 



Wm. Miller. 

 [Our friend gives the reader the impression that his 

 heavy mulch is placed on strawberries solely to prevent 

 injury from cold. It will be understood by the intelli- 

 gent reader that the alternate freezing and thawing works 

 more mischief than freezing only. — Ed. Am. G.] 



