Strawberries and How He Grows Them 
THE FAMILY STRAWBERRY GARDEN. 
Happy souls in the strawbcny bed. "'Uite bigger, Susie, there are millions of them, so big, so 
delicious," so beautiful, ^o rcfresliing, so soul satisfying, the household so delightfully loving that no 
faniily row is known to have occurred during the strawberry season. No divorces, no tearful good byes 
to cliildren, all at home, all happy. Could a man commit a crime with his stomach full of strawberries? 
Never heard of. 
THE FRUIT GARDEN. 
There is notlnng on earth so fascinating; to 
children as growing berries, and especially 
when they have something nice. They be- 
come wonderfully interested in thoroughbred 
animals and the same is true of a plant, pos- 
sessing unusual qualities and they wait \vith 
eagerness the time when the berries begin to 
ripen; and this is all the more so when they 
are to share in the profits and call it all their 
own. If you want children to do business, 
begin young and teach them how by letting 
them do it. Let them grow and sell berries. 
Yon furnish the land and plants and they do 
the work with the understanding they are to 
have all, except what is wanted for the table, 
and rest assured they will appreciate it and 
gratefully bring the big ones to parents as a 
love token and mark of appreciation. If you 
want children to stay at home make home at- 
tractive. They see all the nice fruits in the 
city and village markets for "city folks" to en- 
joy and do not have it at home; they long for 
a change. They are impressed with the truth 
that these fruits were grown on the farm and 
feel cross and neglected when they do not 
have them. 
No spot on the farm or village lot can be 
made to give so much real luxury as the straw- 
berry bed. You can never realize how utterly 
delicious a strawberry is until you have grown 
it yourself and i)icked it from the vine. They 
make the most beautiful llower bed for a month 
and then the lusty green berries try to hide 
from you in the beautiful foliage and tlie first 
you know begin to stick their big, red noses 
out from under the leaves so tantalizingly. 
not quite ripe yet; wait a day or so. It's pretty 
tougli to have to wait, but there is a great feast 
for six weeks right at hand. Shortcake, straw- 
berries and cream and sunpreserved strawber- 
ries all winter. Oh, bless us! We wish the 
whole world were nothing but a big straw- 
berry bed. 
COST. 
Well, they will cost a cash outlay of much 
less than a cent per quart. The pleasure of pet- 
ting the plants and working among them in the 
cool of the evening cannot be counted. There 
are no boxes to pay for and no pickers to pay. 
No fertilizers to buy, because there is always 
enough lying around which can bo gathered 
up and worked into the ground. 
Spade the ground up, if the plow cannot be 
used, and rake it down fine. Take a rope the 
length of the bed, one person at each end, lay 
it down where the row is to be and saw it back 
and forth to make a mark. Then calculate the 
distance apart for the plants, and step with both 
feet to firm the soil where the plant is to be 
set. You cannot tell how deep to put the plant 
when the ground is left loose. 
Put the plants in a pan of water, if the 
ground is dry and the sun shining. Strawber- 
ry plants are very hardy, but left long in sun- 
shine and wind they will perish. Take a trowel 
or any tool that will make a hole so the roots 
can be put in straight and separated like a fan 
so soft mellow earth will come in contact with 
every part; leave the crown or body of the 
plant just as high as you can and have all the 
roots under ground. The general mistake is t(.> 
set them too deep. When you have set a row 
then go back and tramp the soil down hard all 
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