THE RUSHIRE FRUIT FARM, IONIA, MICH. 
9 
How Long 
can we prolong the strawberry season. Dur- 
ing the past season we had them pretty much 
all summer and fall. We commenced picking 
the first of June and closed up the Gandy July 
18. Then we took a little rest till about the 
first of September, when the raspberries and 
blackberries were just out of the way the 
strawberries again appeared on our table "fresh 
from the vine," liberally supplying our family 
and many of our friends all through 
September and October 
till near the middle of November when we had 
a hard freeze. 
We e.Yhibited several quarts at the district 
fair to the astonishment of all visitors. 
We insert here the following extract from the 
Ionia Daily Sentinel of Oct. 10: 
Feesh Strawberries in October. 
" Would you believe it if I, told you we are 
going to serve strawberries for dinner to-mor- 
row, " asked Herb Bailey of a guest at the 
Bailey house this noon. 
"Certainly I would," was the reply, and the 
traveler added: "Why don't you buy them of 
my house? We will sell you any number of 
cases of canned fruit at wholesale rates. " 
But Herb wasn't talking about canned fruit, 
as the c. t. learned when he was shown a crate 
of large, ripe strawberries, grown by R. M. Kel- 
logg in the open air, being the second crop 
from vines that bore a good crop in the usual 
season. 
Tomorrow, remember the date, Sunday, 
October 11, 1891, a considerable number of 
lonians will eat fresh strawberries, grown 
within a mile of this city, in the open air. It 
is doubtful whether a similar record was ever 
before made at any point in Michigan. 
What Was The Cause.' 
The only reason I can give is the plants had 
been trained to produce fruit instead of foliage 
as explained on another page. 
They were strong and vigorous and runners 
were kept off and carefully cultivated. A part 
of the blossoms were killed in the spring so 
while there were not so many berries they were 
very large making as many quarts but not 
having in the aggregate anywhere near as 
many seeds to exhaust the plants. The season 
was late and very favorable and they expended | 
2 
their surplus energies on fruit instead of 
foliage. September berries have not been 
unusual with me although the quantity was 
greater this year than in other seasons. The 
plants not being in a great degree exhausted I 
expect a good crop next year. 
Spring or Fall Setting-. 
Spring is the time to set plants for market 
growers. Pick off all blossoms the first year 
and throw the strength into the foliage. I 
never saw any one pick a big crop of berries 
until after he had raised big plants to grow 
them on. If you have not been able to set 
strawberries in the spring, get plants as early 
as last of August or September and set them. 
If ground is kept mellow they will make con- 
siderable growth and give a good many berries 
the first year, and if burned over and pushed, 
ought to give a good crop the second season. 
They must be mulched the first winter or the 
frost will heave them, as the roots don't get a 
very firm hold during the short time they have 
to grow. 
Growers don't like to dig plants early m the 
fall, because in taking out one plant they de- 
stroy a great many others, and that don't pay. 
Raspberries and blackberries may be set in the 
fall, but we decidedly prefer to have them cal- 
loused durmg the winter as directed elsewhere, 
and set in the spring. When set in the fall 
they should have the soil heaped up around 
them several inches, and removed in the 
spring. 
Insects and Diseases. 
There are few fruits that suffer less from 
disease than the strawberry, and yet they do 
not entirely escape. Sometimes just as the 
fruit is beginning to mature a warm rain and 
murky weather sets in and a sort of mildew 
will strike the plants and do considerable harm. 
My experience is that these diseases do not 
strike vigorous plants. They have with me 
been quite able to resist all such attacks. I 
believe many fruit farms become infested 
with all kinds of spores of rusts and other 
fungi for the want of simple precautionary 
measures. I never let a bed go over for a 
second picking or plow it under without burn- 
ing it over to kill annual weeds and insects, 
which should be done immediately after pick- 
ing. Some of our city fancy writers call this 
"slovenly." Very well, I can afford to be 
