T H E R U R A L N E W- ¥ O R K E k 
Feb. 18 
IO l 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS AND GLADIOLUS 
BULBS. 
HOW MATTHEW CRAWFORD MANAGES. 
Farming By The Square Inch. 
I know of no better way for a farmer 
to get an idea of the possibilities of a few 
acres of good land than to spend a day 
with—I was going to say any horticul¬ 
turist or gardener; but tbere are horti¬ 
culturists and horticulturists; so perhaps 
I had better Ve safe and say with Mat¬ 
thew' Crawford of Cuyahoga Falls, 0. 
Mr. Crawford grows but two things for 
sale—strawberry plants and gladiolus 
bulbs, yet he finds opportunities for the 
use of all the energy and business tact 
at his command in the propagation, cul¬ 
tivation and marketing of these two 
products. At one time he included the 
raspberry in his list, but has dropped it, 
not because he did not find it profitable, 
but because he “ wanted to do better ” 
with the others. He even hinted to me 
that he would prefer to be still more of 
a specialist, but he had no idea he could 
dispose of his strawberry trade at what 
it was worth to him. The two work to¬ 
gether nicely, however, furnishing em¬ 
ployment the year round and bringing 
in the shekels at all seasons. This last 
feature is a very commendable one. 
A year ago Mr. Crawford sold the place, 
consisting of three acres, where he had 
lived about 20 years. He now lives on a 
rented place of 32 acres, 20 of which can 
be plowed. This is more land than he 
needs, but he gets it cheap and so takes 
the whole tract. He sold his former 
place because the land was a little heavy 
for the best results. He could not get 
on it to take up plants in the spring as 
early as he wanted to, although it was 
thoroughly tile-drained. The new place 
is the only one near his old one of a light, 
sandy character, and since it cannot be 
bought at present, he does the next best 
thing and rents it. 
Selling the “Coming" Strawberry Plant. 
Mr. Crawford puts out about three 
acres of strawberry plants a year, grow¬ 
ing them about as he would for berries. 
He wants to put them on land that was 
cultivated the previous year, otherwise 
there is danger from the white grub. 
Last year’s setting (on the new farm) 
on land that had grown buckwheat the 
year before, was badly injured. His 
aim is to grow gladioli on land one year 
and then put strawberries there the next. 
He has now about 50 or 60 varieties, and 
has had as high as 150 named sorts at 
one time, but is decreasing the number 
handled. He makes his money by get¬ 
ting hold of the new varieties that are 
going to be wanted by the public at large. 
He is able to judge of what is going to 
be needed the better because there is 
hardly a new kind experimented with 
that he doesn’t receive and has fruiting 
before it is introduced. In this way he 
knows what to buy. By the way, he 
told me he never knew The Rural to 
be wrong in recommending a new berry. 
With a very ordinary effort he gets 
1,000 plants the first season from a dozen. 
In growing rare plants he sometimes sets 
them in a circle four feet in diameter, 
placing in the center a barrel of manure 
with holes around the lower edge. By 
turning in water, soluble plant food can be 
furnished at will, and there is almost no 
limit to the number of plants that can be 
grown. 
In reply to the question, “ What pro¬ 
portion of new varieties are valuable?” he 
said, “ Not over one in five of those intro¬ 
duced is an acquisition.” Mr. Crawford’s 
work seems to be to find the “one in five ” 
as early in the plant’s history as he can, 
and then he gets ready to supply the de¬ 
mand for it. Success (financial) in his 
work seems to depend more on what he 
knows than on anything else. I suspect 
this is a truth which applies everywhere 
on this earth. It is doubtful whether 
even “free coinage of silver” would 
prove as valuable to one as a knowledge 
of his business. 
As an example of the profits he has ! 
been able to get from having the right | 
variety at the right time, Mr. Crawford 
said that he had sold at the rate of a 
little more than a dollar’s worth of plants 
per square foot, and also that he had 
sent $100 worth of plants in one package 
by mail His regular price for common 
varieties by mail is $1 per 100 or 25 cents 
a dozen. Prices of new kinds vary. 
Plants that are not sold produce fruit. 
This is in the nature of a by-product with 
him. The berries are all sold at his own 
door, and he says he could sell five times 
as many as he grows. In answer to a 
query as to what he thought of Mr E. 
Williams’s suggestion in The R. N.-Y. a 
few months ago, to name strawberry 
plants according to their sex, he said he 
thought it was a good idea. 
A “Corner'’ In Gladiolus Seed. 
Mr. Crawford has three to four acres 
devoted to gladioli. He propagates them 
from both seeds and bulblets. Last sea¬ 
son he purchased all the seed he could 
find in the United States, then called on 
France, Germany and England to deliver 
up all the surplus they had. Just to see 
whether he had it all or not, he gave an 
order for four pounds to a leading New 
York dealer. This firm acknowledged 
the receipt and said they would forward 
seed in a few days. Later, they wrote 
that they would have to send to Europe 
for it, and, still later, that they could 
not fill the order. From this seed he 
grew 300,000 bulbs. A farmer happening 
along when they were nicely out of the 
ground, remarked that if he had that 
patch (one-eighth of an acre) he would 
plow it up and put it in beans. The 
product of this eighth of an acre proved 
to be worth a good way over $1,000. 
“ Do you have any trouble in finding a 
market for all the bulbs you can grow ?” 
“ No ; I never have had enough to fill 
all my orders. I send them to all parts 
of North America, and have filled orders 
from Australia and the Sandwich Islands. 
I have sold over 600,000 bulbs to one man. 
I do not believe any man can grow enough 
of any one thing to supply the market, 
even if it be bull-dog pups. The trouble 
to find a market, which many farmers 
complain of, results from their having a 
little of several things to sell. If they 
had much of one thing they would prob¬ 
ably be overrun with buyers.” 
The bulbs are graded as follows: Inch 
and a half and larger. No. 1 is below an 
inch and a half in diameter, No 2 above. 
Nos. 1 are sold at $10 per 1,000 ; Nos. 2 , 
at $7.50 per 1,000, or $2 and $1.50 per 100 
by mail. 
Labor, Manure and Income. 
Mr. Crawford employs considerable 
help during the growing season. In rush¬ 
ing times he keeps as high as 15 hands, 
but, whatever the hurry, he always fills 
all orders himself. Mrs. Crawford attends 
to the correspondence. In the spring 
months this amounts to reading and 
answering from 50 to 80 letters a day. 
Winter work consists in cleaning and 
drying bulbs, and packing them for ship¬ 
ping They are taken from the ground 
in October. Then the new catalogue has 
to be prepared, and upwards of 20 agri¬ 
cultural and horticultural journals to be 
looked over. Nothing written on the 
strawberry or gladiolus escapes Mr. 
Crawford's notice. As is readily seen, 
his crops bring a vast deal of money from 
a small area ; consequently he is not at 
all sparing of plant food. He would 
much prefer to waste a little rather than 
scrimp. He uses complete commercial 
manures in the main. When on his 
former place he bought considerable 
stable manure, but does not care to buy 
it to use on rented land. He thinks he 
can get twice as much available plant 
food for the money in the form of com¬ 
mercial manure, and does not care to 
invest for the future on rented land. 
The only things in the way of live 
stock kept are a horse and cow. He says i 
(Continued on next page.) 
Hampshire 
THIS PHOTOGRAPH shows a portion of the potato 
field of Mr. H. S. Wheeler, Windham, N.H., on which Stock- 
bridge Potato Manure, exclusively, was applied. Yield, as 
measured at harvest, 508 bushels per acre. The land was low 
meadow land, which this year proved best for potatoes. The 
STOCKBRIDGE s p P otaTo MANURE 
besides containing plant food in the right forms for potatoes, con¬ 
tains twice as much as an ordinary phosphate. Don’t haul and 
handle two tons when one ton will do the work and cost less. Send 
for our catalogue. Mailed free. 
FERTILIZER 
COMPANY 
43 Chatham St., Boston. 
27 Beaver st., New York, 
We state what we sell , and sell what we state. 
WILL BE GLAD IN THIS ANNIVERSARY YEAR 
ess ss be* ELSSS 
FOR ANY ONE 
FREE OF CHARGE! 
H O W ? IN THIS WAY. 
Send them 25 cts. to pay postage and packing and they will 
mail you gratis, their COLUMBIAN COLLECTION of SEEDS, 
consisting of Succession Cabbage, New York Lettuce, Ponderosa 
Tomato, Bonfire Pansy, Zebra Zinnia, and Shirley Poppies. (The 
six packets of seeds named, composing the Columbian Collection, 
cannot be bought elsewhere for less than 50 cents.) 
BUT THIS IS NOT ALL, 
for with every Csllection thcv will also add, Free, their Catalogue 
for 1893 of “ EVERYTHING FOR THE GARDEN,” provided 
you will state where you saw this advertisement. Every copy 
of this grand Catalogue alone costs 25 cts., audits 150 pages are 
strewn with hundreds of new engravings, and embellished with eight 
beautiful colored plates, all of which truthfully portray the Cream 
of everything in Seeds and Plants. 
EVERY EMPTY ENVELOPE IS " 2 s c™ts. 
Purchasers of the Columbian Collection will receive the seeds 
in a red envelope, which they should preserve, because every such 
envelope, when enclosed with an order for goods selected from 
the Catalogue here referred to, will be accepted as a cash pay¬ 
ment of 25 cts. on every order amounting to $i.oo and upward. 
These Collections can be written for, or if more convenient, be 
obtained at the stores of PETER HENDERSON & CO., 35 and 
37 Cortlandt St., New York, where Seeds, Plants, etc., are sold at 
retail all the year round. Postage stamps accepted as cash. 
SEEDSE 
Novelties: Jerusalem and Kansas King 
*, Denver Lettuce and Kansas Stock Melon. 
\zur Specialties: Alfalfu, Espersette, KaffirCorn 
Cane, Millet, Seed Corn, Tree Seeds for timber claims and nurseries. 
Everything in the seed line. Catalogues mailed FREE on applicat ion. 
KANSAS SEED HOUSE, F. Barteldes & Co., Lawrence, Kan. 
EARLY OHIO GRAPE 11 
Ten days earlier than any other variety. NIAGARA and 100 other kinds. ORNAJIENTAL | 
Catalogue. Mailed free. Mention this paper. Address C. S. CURTICE CO., Portland, N.l 
