POTTED PARKER EARLES. 
A BIG STBAWBERRY STORY. 
At Fig. 134 is shown a picture taken from a photo¬ 
graph of my field of potted Parker Earle plants, 
which were set August 23, 1893. One of the pickers 
counted 267 full-grown berries on a single plant. Out 
of 80 varieties I find the Parker Earle the best yielder. 
Its only fault is that it is rather soft for shipping to 
distant markets. From 1,200 p tted plants set August 
23, 1893, I piclied 1,600 quarts of berries up to June 
27, and then the vines were laden with green berries. 
I usually set potted plants where I have grown a crop 
of early potatoes, which I commence to dig and ship 
to market about August 1. After the crop of potatoes 
has been harvested, I plow the land and set the 
plants. All who take an interest in strawberry grow¬ 
ing should try this method. 
Perhaps this method of growing strawberries would 
prove satisfactory to some of The R. N.-Y. readers. 
Try it on a 
small scale and 
report results. 
I find it a de¬ 
cided success 
and profitable 
to use pot- 
grown plants to 
obtain a full 
crop of choicest 
fruit. The 
plants should 
not be set later 
than September 
1. The total 
yield of the 
1,200 plants was 
2,600 quarts of 
good, market- 
a b 1 e berries, 
and July 7 there 
were still a 
number of well- 
formed berries 
on the plants. 
My method of 
growing potted 
plants is to 
place a two- 
inch pot even 
with the sur¬ 
face, so as to 
show part of 
the rim. In 
these I place 
the runners. 
The best time 
to pot plants is when the young sets have formed a 
few roots reaching into the soil. I usually commence 
to pot after a good rain. .The full force is then pressed 
to this work at once, as the soil is more mellowed and 
pulverized after a good rain. A competent man will 
pot 2,000 plants in a day. 
Plants should never be taken up until the roots be¬ 
come firmly rooted or grown into the pots. When the 
plants get well rooted, I take them up, place them in 
fiats holding 100 plants each, and remove them to the 
field. Here I mark out shallow rows or trenches 30 
inches apart and three inches deep, and set the plants 
20 inches apart in the rows. 
After the plants are set, thorough and shallow cul¬ 
tivation is profitable. As soon as the crop is gath¬ 
ered, the rows should be thoroughly cleaned, and done 
at once, so as to give the runners a good mellow soil 
to strike roots in. Thus handled, potted plants are 
very profitable with me. t. c. kevitt. 
Athenia, N. J. 
A NEW JERSEY FARM. 
POTATOES, HAY AND COMFORT FOR CROPS. 
[SDITOBIAL CORRBSPONDKNC*.] 
• A Model Farm and Farmer. 
In New Jersey, within a radius of 25 miles of New 
York City, are thousands of acres of waste land. 
Much of this land is held by the owners in the expec¬ 
tation of selling it off for building lots at high prices, 
some of it being already laid out into streets, and 
staked out into lots. Other tracts are yet in the shape 
of farms, some of which give evidence of feeble at¬ 
tempts at cultivation. Others show patches here and 
there which have been put into crops ; while occasion¬ 
ally one finds neat, tidy, well-tilled farms, which evi¬ 
dently give good returns for the labor expended upon 
them. This part of the country is an old settled one, 
much of it having been cleared land in Revolutionary 
times. Some say that the land is exhausted, worn 
out, and that it is useless to try to grow anything 
.. 
Field of Potted Parker Earle Strawberries. Fig. 
upon it. But the occasional farm on which good 
crops are grown, negatives this statement completely. 
It seems to be a matter of skill and painstaking labor 
more than anything else. In a long drive, but very 
few farms were seen, however, that appeared to be 
worked to the full limit. On many, fairly good work 
was being done; while many of the crops certainly 
could not pay for the labor expended upon them. 
About a mile north of Cranford, nearly in the center 
of Union County, is a farm which in some ways, at 
least, is a model. Lying in the midst of a country, so 
much of which is running to waste, it attracts atten¬ 
tion. It belongs to the Woodruff estate, and has been 
managed for several years past by the youngest son, 
F. E. Woodruff, who is yet quite a young man. It 
consists of about 100 acres, and has been in the family 
more than 100 years. I had the pleasure recently of 
visiting this farm. Mr. Woodruff modestly remarked 
that he didn’t know that they had anything worth 
writing about; but I discovered a number of things 
that may be very instructive to those farmers who are 
anxious to improve. 
Mr. W. is a member of the Union County Board of 
Agriculture, and one of its officers. He regularly re¬ 
ceives the bulletin of the New Jersey Experiment 
Station, and has incorporated many ideas from them 
into his farming. He gave numerous instances of 
benefits received from the study of these bulletins. It 
is, perhaps, needless to say that The R. N.-Y. is an 
old-time visitor in the family, for it is such progress¬ 
ive farmers that appreciate its teachings. 
No Fences ; the Farm Crops. 
The first noticeable thing about the farm, aside from 
the general air of neatness everywhere prevailing, is 
the absence of fences. Excepting the road fence and 
those surrounding the permanent pasture and the 
barnyard, there are none. “ I don’t believe in fences,” 
remarked Mr. W.; ” besides being too much trouble to 
repair, they harbor too many weeds and rubbish.” 
Seated in a com¬ 
fortable car¬ 
riage, we rode 
all over the 
farm, which is 
something that 
can be done on 
very few farms. 
“What are 
your principal 
crops?” I asked. 
“Potatoes 
and hay are 
what I produce 
the most of, and 
what there is 
most money in. 
I raise some 
garden truck, 
although this 
makes a great 
deal of hard 
work, and 
sometimes does 
not prove very 
profitable; still 
it fits in with 
the rest. I also 
keep a few cows 
and sell the 
milk, and keep 
a good many 
hens.” 
“ Do you fol¬ 
low a regular 
^34- rotation?” 
“ I have a ro¬ 
tation, although, perhaps, not a very regular one. 
When the meadows begin to run out, sometimes in 
five or six years, depending upon the conditions, I 
plow, if possible, late in summer; then I work them 
down well in spring, and plant potatoes. I always 
plow again in the spring.” 
“ What fertilizers do you use for potatoes? ” 
“ I put on about 20 loads of yard manure per acre, 
or try to. I use the Kemp manure spreader, which, 
by the way, is one of the greatest labor-saving imple¬ 
ments ever invented. I set it for 20 loads per acre, 
but it doesn’t get on hardly that, I think. The great¬ 
est objection to it is that in putting the manure on 
after plowing, the wheels pack the earth somewhat, 
but the Cutaway harrow fixes that all right. I work 
it up well with this, and then put on about 1,000 
pounds per acre of potato manure.” 
“ Do you use machinery in planting ? ” 
“ Yes. I planted my entire crop this year, 10 
acres, with a planter.” 
