170 
AMERICAN POMOEOGICAI, SOCIETY 
my own state of Kansas. While we do not grow a great many straw- 
berries in comparison with the states to the south of us, it is a fact that we 
have practically a thousand acres in this fruit; and I may say that my ex- 
perience of the needs in certain sections is that the strawberry known as the 
King, meets our conditions successfully. In part of Kansas there are quanti- 
ties of strawberries grown and a great deal of money made from the crop. 
In many parts of the state the growers realize splendid prices from their 
berries, and in fact when they put them on the market early, even as high 
as fifty cents a quart. So it is a very important industry in our state,, 
considering the money side of the question. And it seems to me it is also 
a more important industry the country over, from the fact that there are 
strawberries in the market now, from Christmas almost to Christmas again, 
beginning with the Florida strawberries that come in about Christmas time, 
and though not equal to the later berries our people buy them, and Topeka 
is a splendid market for the sweeter varieties. 
And then as to the different ever-bearing varieties, that makes them 
more important still, and should yield them in an especially high place. 
I think that they are going to be an important factor, and especially sio, 
in the strawberry industry, of the North; because while they will naturally 
produce in the Spring, the July crop will never fail to be a profitable source 
of revenue to some of our growers, particularly the people near the hotels 
or summer resorts, where they like to have strawberries, naturally, out of 
season. 
I think the ever-bearing strawberry has come to stay, and I am sure 
that it is going to be one of the important factors in producing more revenue 
to the grower. We are growing them in Kansas. It will mean at once 
something like four hundred cars in berries; getting interested much more 
than many years ago. It is considered one of the very best of the various 
lines of small fruit growing; it may be said to almost hold highest place 
among the small fruits, according to productiveness and shipping qualities. 
Now just a word on the problem of the different treatment of different 
varieties. We find that the treatment varies with the sorts; some varieties 
are adapted to culture in rows; then other varieties are very well adapted 
to what we call the ‘‘hill system” in our section, simply because it induce® a 
very large blossoming and produces a large number of berries. Then with 
other varieties, while they maintain a heavy growth they yield less berries. 
So that it is true that the variety and locality naturally determines the method 
©f tending the ground and the treatment of the plants. 
I do not believe that the strawberry is accorded the place in the fruit 
feidustry that it is destined to secure. Until the last dozen years in Kansas 
it was not very largely localized, except among the small growers; but in the 
last eight or ten years we have organized one of the largest co-operative 
shipping associations that is connected with the fruit industry, wholly for 
the strawberry; one association has shipped as high as five hundred cars, 
and there are two or three other ones under way. But in the marketing of 
the strawberry I think we have made more progress than with other fruits. 
That association has succeeded in sending strawberries to towns in Nebras- 
ka, Iowa, Oklahoma, and part of Kansas that used to think that a shipment 
