-AND ITS FORCE OF COUNTERS AND PACKERS 
fied or discouraged, according to the will of 
the breeder, as may be done in the case of 
animals. Burbank, in myriad ways, Hopkins, 
Reilly, Reid and the Funks with corn, Morrill 
with peaches — all have demonstrated this fact. 
The Kellogg Company proved to a skeptical 
world that these same fundamental laws operate 
as perfectly in the case of the strawberry ; and 
thus we have the Kellogg Thoroughbred plants. 
TiUT breeding is only one element of success 
in either plant or animal life. Left to 
themselves the highest bred races of animals or 
plants would retrograde to primal states. The 
same intelligent and fostering care that brought 
them up must continue to be exercised to hold 
them there. This brings 
^""'of thl'"^ us to the actual work upon 
Plants '''^ f^'j'logg farm, which 
perhaps more than anything 
else, suggests the reasons for its great and grow- 
ing success. Starting with the best plants 
grown in the world, this great farm so treats 
them as to secure the greatest possible results. 
Let us start with the soil preparation, which 
begins directly after the crop of strawberry 
plants is dug and shipped — indeed, the work of 
pieparation begins as fast as the land is cleared 
of plants. First is the plowing, then the harrow- 
ing, then the disking, mixing and rolling. As 
the land comes under the iiiHuence of this pre- 
paratory work and is at last as smooth as a 
floor, cow peas or field peas, or some other 
leguminous crop — though usually the cow pea — 
are drilled into the area that is to grow the crop 
of plants for the succeeding spring's shipment. 
A S soon as the legume is above the ground 
the weeder is brought Into service, and the 
fields kept as clean as only the weeder may keep 
them, and after a few weeks of rain and sun the 
legume will have so developed that it may no 
longer be cultivated, and will itself be so strong 
_.„. „ as to discourage the weeds. 
Filling the Soil j r\ ^ i ^ i 
In Octoberat the very latest 
Plant Food ^reat crop of legumes 
is gone over with the roller 
and crushed; then it is disked, and the great 
mass of nitrogenous fertility Is mixed into the 
soil. This will fill the soil with humus and 
increase its store of nitrogen. TiTen the land is 
covered with barnyard manure. Last year 
theie were fifty-seven carloads put upon the 
fields where were grown the plants w ith which 
we shall furnish our customers this (1907) spring, 
and of this number forty-seven carloads were 
brought by rail from the Chicago stockyards. 
This great mass of plant food was plowed under 
in the spring and thoroughly Incorporated with 
the soil. Then it was rolled as smooth as a 
floor and the "setting gang" put to work setting 
out the mother plants carefully selected from 
the breeding beds for their superior qualities. 
Better conditions under which to raise plants it 
would be difficult to conceive. 
'X'HEN comes the work of cultivation. Well- 
*■ bred plants are essential; ample plant food 
is essential. But constant care and cultivation 
are required to develop the Kellogg Thorough- 
breds to their fullest powers, and the work to 
this end never ceases, except for the momentary 
rests that weather conditions 
impose, from the time the Cultural 
I . ^ • ^1 Methods 
plants are set in the spring _ , . 
•11 1,1, Employed 
until they are mulched and 
put away for their winter's sleep. From twenty 
to thirty men are employed and several teams. 
Over the fields the cultivators make their endless 
round, followed by the hoeing gang. From 
