THE COST OF AN ACRE OF STRAWBERRIES 
From Planting to Picking. 
What is your estimate of the cost of growing one acre 
of strawberries ready for the pickers? The estimate 
should include plants, preparation of soil, fertilizers, 
culture, mulching, etc. 
An Estimate from Massachusetts. 
To plant an acre feet requires about 8,300 
plants, which should cost about $4 per 1,000, or 533.20. 
Our soil is full of small slate stones which makes the 
setting of plants more difficult than on some soils, 
and cost.s us about 75 cents per 1,000, which figures 
up $6.23; plowing, $2; fitting and marking, $5; culti¬ 
vating once a week for five months, say $10; hoeing 
10 times, about $45, if there is not much sorrel, Quack 
grass or Mouse-ear chick weed. In case one or all of 
these three weeds are very plentiful there is almost 
no limit to the expense of hoeing, as we have learned 
from experience, having had a field where it was im¬ 
possible for a man to hoe more than one row about 40 
rods long in one day, and this field was carefully cul¬ 
tivated and hoed all Summer, but during August and 
September chick- 
weed and sorrel 
took possession of 
the piece. About 
one ton of Mapes 
or some other 
high-grade ferti¬ 
lizer will cost, 
counting 1 a b o r, 
about $45; mulch, 
or Winter cover¬ 
ing, will require 
two tons of straw 
at an average 
price of $10 per 
ton delivered on 
the field or $20. 
Labor of spread¬ 
ing the same (two 
men one day), $3; 
uncovering plants 
i n Spring (one 
m an on e-h a 1 f 
day), 75 cents. 
The above esti¬ 
mates are provid¬ 
ed everyth ing 
goes well. If many 
plants have to be 
reset on account of a dry spell or the work of the 
White grub, or if a severe gale comes before the mulch 
is settled by rain or snow, there is additional expense. 
Williamstown, Mass. c. c. w. 
The Cost of Matted Rows. 
T would want land that had been previously cropped 
with fruits, grains or vegetables. If the soil is in an 
ordinary state of fertility I would want 10 large team 
loads of the best stable manure I could procure. 1 
would prefer to have this manure half horse and half 
cow droppings, and of course mixed together and thor¬ 
oughly rotted. Such manure as this costs us here $2 
per load delivered on the ground, or $20 for the 10 
loads. The spreading of this manure, plowing and 
harrowing the ground, would cost $6. I would use the 
matted row system for fruiting, and would set the 
plants two feet apart in the row and four feet apart 
between the rows. This would require 5,500 plants for 
the acre. Good strong northern-grown plants are 
worth $3 per 1,000; this means $16.50 for the plants. 
It would cost $5.50 properly to set these plants. I 
would then use one-half a ton of hard-wood unleached 
a.shes or its equivalent; this would cost, applied 
around the plants after they are set, $8. The fruit 
stalks should, of course, be removed from these plants 
as soon as they appear; this would cost $1 for the 
acre. The ground between the rows would need culti¬ 
vating five times during the growing season; this 
would cost $10. The plants would need to be hoed 
five times, which would cost $15. I would use six 
large team loads of horse manure to cover the plants 
for Winter protection; this would cost $12. The labor 
of spreading it on the plants would cost $2.25. In the 
Spring, as soon as vegetation is well started, the 
coarse part (and that only) of this covering of ma¬ 
nure should be raked off the plants and left on the 
ground between the rows; this would cost $1.50. This 
manure should be at once incorporated with the soil 
with the use of a small plow, the labor for which 
would cost $2. I would follow this plowing 10 or 12 
days later with the cultivator, and would use the cul¬ 
tivator once more after the berries are beginning to 
form; these two trips of the cultivator would cost $4. 
Weeds will spring up in the rows before fruiting time; 
it is, however, a small labor to get rid of these and 
the cost would l,)e not more than $1.50. Just after the 
last tillage with the cultivator I would mulch the 
ground between the rows with newly-cut grass, this 
grass and applying of it would cost $8 for the acre. 
As you will see, the entire cost for one acre of straw¬ 
berries the first year would be just about $113.25. Of 
course these plants would with proper care bear four 
crops of fruit, and would not be at their best until 
the second year’s fruiting. I might add that I would 
have my matted rows for fruiting from 20 to 22 inches 
in width. This would give me ample room for Spring 
tillage, wffiich I have learned is most essential to best 
resulis. T. j. mvYER. 
Orange Co., N. Y. 
/I New York Estimate. 
The cost of growing an acre of strawberries is as 
follows: Plowing, $2; fitting ground, $3; plants, $9; 
setting, $6; cultivating, $7.20; cutting blossoms, $3; 
hoeing and placing runners, $8; cutting out paths in 
the Fall, $2; mulching, $10; manure, $15; helping 
plants through m Spring, $2. These are the figures 
from our book, and wdll run about like this one year 
with another. Nothing was bought for growing the 
acre except the plants. The mulch and manure w’ere 
figured on at their actual value, and not from the 
market prices. Everything used in mulching and ma¬ 
nuring was raised on the farm and nothing bought. 
Lyons, N. Y. C. v. 
Low Estimate from Kevitt. 
The expense of setting out one acre of strawberry 
plants 4x2 feet to a bearing age the second year re¬ 
quires 5,445 plants at $2 per 1,000, $10.89; plowing. $3; 
leveling. 25 cents; manure at $1.50 per ton, $15; 
spreading, 50 cents; planting, $3; cultivating and 
w^eeding the first season, $15; mulching for Winter 
protection, $15; Spring cultivating and w'eeding the 
second year up to fruiting time, $10; total, $71.64. 
Passaic Co., N. J. t. c. kevitt. 
The Cost Without Fertilizer. 
I have made no estimate of the cost of fertilizers, 
because I prefer to apply the fertilizer to the crop 
preceding the strawberry patch, and plant the berries 
without any additional fertilization. I estimate the 
cost of one acre for the first year as follows: 5,000 
plants, $15; preparing land, man and team two days. 
$7; setting plants, $3; cultivation, hoeing and hand- 
w 0 r k during 
Summer, 10 times 
at $5, also train¬ 
ing runners, $50; 
mulching, t h r ee 
tons of straw, or 
15 loads of stable 
manure, $30; to¬ 
tal. $105. I think 
these figures are 
probably low, and 
as you will see 
they only cover 
w hat might be 
called 0 r d i nary 
expenses, making 
no provision for 
spraying, etc. On 
some land, freer 
than mine from 
foul w^eeds, the 
cost might b e 
considerably less. 
I have to fight 
chick weed fro m 
the first w' a r m 
days of Spring 
until sometimes 
almost the first 
of December, and this adds greatly to the cost, as 
the w'ork must be done by hand and the weeds car¬ 
ried off. In spite of all the w'ork, however, I can make 
tlie straw’berries pay better than any other crop. 
Hunterdon Co., N. J. tiiomas k. iiuiXt. 
Actual Cost in Pennsylvania. 
I find it costs me to grow one acre of strawberries 
ready for fruiting substantially as follow's: Rent of 
land, $5; ordinary annual expenses (horse keep, re¬ 
pairs and renewal of buildings and machinery), $4.48; 
plants, $12.85; fertilizers and manures, $60; mulching 
material, $7; spraying, $1.50; labor, preparation and 
planting, $18; hoeing, $11; cultivating, $8; blossoms, 
w'eeds and runners, $22; mulching, $9; incidentals, 
$11.50; total, $170.33. n, p. t.owett, .tb. 
Bucks Co., Pa. 
It costs me on an average to get an acre of straw¬ 
berries ready for picking as follows: 15 loads manure, 
$15; plowing and fitting ground, $5; plants, $21.75; 
setting plants, $8; cultivating and hoeing, $32; four 
tons straw and spreading same, $30; total, $111.75. Our 
soil is clay, and in places a little heavy and hard to 
work, hence costs us more than on li.ght or sandy soil. 
I 
FAIR-SIZED SPECIMENS OP CANADA RED APPLES. Fig. 51. 
