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THE RURAL NEW-VORKEK 
July 4, 
Hope Farm Notes 
S TRAWBERRIES.—The week begin¬ 
ning June 15 found us with about 
2,000 quarts of Marshall berries to 
get off, and every part of farm work 
crowding. You may leave potatoes, corn 
or hay if you like and go to a funeral or 
even go fishing, but when the Marshalls 
turn grimson they must be attended to. 
By organizing our forces we got the ber¬ 
ries picked and delivered and also kept 
the horses going fitting corn ground. 
When Saturday night came everyone on 
the farm could “see red” from having 
berries before their eyes for six days. 
The party that came rushing into the 
yard Saturday evening with the last or¬ 
der took the last boxes. Our crop this 
year is larger than ever before, and the 
berries on the whole seem finer. Only 
one patch disappointed us, and strange to 
say that was last year’s planting, where 
we expected most. The four-year-old 
patch beat it out of sight. One reason 
is that most of this new bed was not 
mulched, and I have no doubt many of 
the fruit buds were killed. The four-year 
patch did so well that it will be fruited 
one year more at least. 
Berries have been cheap this year in 
our local markets—six cents or a little 
more at wholesale. The crop was heavy 
and there can be no doubt that working 
people in the mill towns are short of 
money. We have sold at a uniform price 
of $3 per crate as the berries came from 
the field. By sorting and repacking we 
might have obtained more, but in the 
rush of such a season as this one I doubt 
if it would pay. I know that these ber¬ 
ries do not cost us $3 per crate to raise. 
There is a small margin of profit at 
that price. With an apple crop which 
can be held for a while sorting and fancy 
packing will pay, but it is quite a differ¬ 
ent matter with a fragile crop like ber¬ 
ries. As usual we have not been able 
fully to supply the demand, and we have 
not advertised or solicited for the sale of 
a single quart. Old customers came back 
and brought new ones. We have begun 
to do business with the Housewives’ 
League in the county town. They want¬ 
ed nearly 20 crates to start with. They 
buy at wholesale rates, have the berries 
sent to a central point and do their own 
distributing. Thus they can buy our ber¬ 
ries and pay expressage at a trifle over 
10 cents a quart, while the retail price 
of such fruit would be 15 to 18 cents. 
And every cent which is saved in this 
way will come back for more berries or 
peaches, apples or other produce. This 
plan of wholesale buying is a good one, 
and properly developed it will lead to a 
great direct trade. In some cities I un¬ 
derstand that churches, clubs and labor 
associations are preparing to buy in this 
way. All sorts of plans for payment are 
suggested, but the most necessary thing is 
to find producers who are patient and will¬ 
ing to meet such buyers half way. We 
cannot expect to push such customers up 
to the highest notch or demand the pound 
of flesh. It will cost me no more to deal 
with such buying organizations than with 
wholesalers or dealers. There is no rea¬ 
son why these buying clubs should want 
to buy unless they can make a profit by 
doing so. I am willing to sell to them at 
the wholesale price or a little more for 
best quality. Every penny they save in 
this way will come back for more goods, 
and as this system of buying spreads we 
shall have a surer and more direct mar¬ 
ket. I hope farmers will see the point of 
this, and not expect to obtain retail 
prices when dealing with these buying 
clubs. We shall make far more in the 
end by being fair and showing such buy¬ 
ers that living is actually made cheaper 
by dealing with us. It is more and 
more evident that we must know about 
what things cost us to produce in order to 
know when our prices are fair. 
Wiiat Foll6ws? —At least a dozen 
people have asked me to tell just what 
to do with the strawberry beds after 
fruiting. This has been told over and 
over—like the story of “Clark grass,” but 
here goes once more. No use trying to 
lay down any nxed rule for all. since 
every berry patch should be specially 
handled. In a general way what you 
want to do is to force the old plants to 
make a new and healthy top and new 
runners and keep them all clean. There 
are various ways of doing that. Our 
plan usually is to run over the patch 
with the mowing machine as soon as 
picking is done. Let down the cutter 
bar and clip as close as you can. A 
sharp scythe or sickle would be even bet¬ 
ter. The theory of this is that Nature 
is a master hand at repairing damages. 
Cut off the top of a peach tree and a 
rush of new, healthy wood comes to re¬ 
pair the damage, and if we feed the tree 
properly we expect to find the fruit on 
this healthy new wood. Thus, when we 
cut off the top of the strawberry crop 
and keep the soil right the plant starts 
in to make a new top and this start gives 
it the energy to make new fruit buds 
and a newer root system. If you do not 
cut the old top off there will usually be 
but a languid new growth, and the old 
top will be much surer to hold and spread 
diseases or insects. Opinions vary as to 
what to do with the clippings from the 
old tops. Some advise letting them dry 
and then on a windy day running fire 
over the patch to destroy the old tops. 
The object of this is to destroy rust or 
other disease germs and also insect eggs. 
My experience is that this fire often in¬ 
jures the plants. I would not do it. 
If you know the tops are diseased rake 
them off and burn them in piles—away 
from the patch. As we have but little 
disease I leave the tops on the ground, 
working them into the soil to serve as 
humus. 
At the end of the season most beds are 
left in thick rows. Even where you start 
with hills by the time picking is over 
weeds and runners have pretty well filled 
up the field. Our plan is to take a small 
and sharp one-horse plow and work on 
either side of the row so as to leave a 
narrow strip containing the old parent 
plants in the center. Most of us plow 
away from the row on both sides. In 
this way two furrows are turned to¬ 
gether in what was the alley between the 
rows, while a narrow strip of plants is 
left with furrows turned away from it. 
Others follow the exact reverse of this, 
plowing so as to throw the furrows over 
the row and leave a dead furrow in the 
alley. Under this plan most of the grass 
and weeds along the row are killed by 
being buried, while the berry plants work 
up through the soil. By using the weed- 
er across the rows’ the ridges are broken 
down and the surface made level. 
In reforming an old bed in this way 
we plan to use fertilizer while these fur¬ 
rows are open, scattering it along the 
rows. A mixture containing phosphoric 
acid and potash is best for this purpose 
—one part sulphate of potash and three 
parts either fine bone or acid phosphate. 
We consider that the heavy Winter 
mulch of stable manure gives us all the 
nitrogen we need. After putting on this 
fertilizer the cultivators are started to 
keep the middles clean and open. Then 
with a sharp hoe the men go in and chop 
out weeds and unnecessary plants. Here 
is where good judgment is required. As 
a rule the plan is to leave all the old 
parent plants and start new runners from 
them, but sometimes we find newer plants 
with such vigor that it pays to leave 
them and cut out the parents. This re¬ 
quires judgment which cannot be learned 
except by experience. Of course too, the 
treatment must vary somewhat as to 
whether the bed is to be formed in mat¬ 
ted rows or left in hills. We start our 
beds in hills, yet after the second year we 
often find that a modified form of matted 
row pays best. At any rate after settling 
upon what you want the plan is to let 
enough young plants grow to give you 
the desired stand and then keep weeds 
and extra plants chopped out. Refitting 
old berry patches is much like keeping 
old hens. Some poultry men say pullets 
are the only profitable stock, so they sell 
out everything except a few breeders at 
the end of the season. Others keep the 
hens three or even four years. Many 
berry growers fruit a patch one year and 
then plow the ground and get a second 
crop of turnips or celery, or cabbage. 
Others as we do refit the patch and pick 
four or five seasons. Planting and cul¬ 
tivating in hills as we do, I do not think 
we can afford to pick one season and then 
plow' up. At the same time I must ad¬ 
mit that cleaning the old beds is expen¬ 
sive. This is one of the things which 
cannot be put into any cast-iron rule. 
You must use your brains and figure it 
out. 
How are strawberry plants potted? Is 
a special soil required, size of pots, etc.? 
Worthington, Ind. c. c. B. 
This is the way we do it. No doubt 
some more experienced grower will tell 
us a better way. We use small two-inch 
pots, tin cans, paper pots or anything 
that will hold the soil. We make a good 
compost of one part fine manure or the 
dirt under the manure piles and three 
parts good soil. The pots are soaked in 
the brook and filled with this damp com¬ 
post. We prefer the first runners from 
the parent plant, but this does not matter 
so much except that we get the pots 
earlier. The runner starts from the plant 
and at the end of a joint 10 inches or so 
long puts out little roots and leaves. 
With a trowel w r e dig a hole in the 
ground, put in one of our filled pots level 
with the surface, put the joint at the 
center of the pot and a small stone on 
top of it to hold it firmly down. The 
joint proceeds to grow into a little straw¬ 
berry plant with its roots in the pot. 
Another joint grows out from it, and 
this can be potted in the same way. 
With favorable weather the roots of the 
little plant soon fill the pot, while the 
top makes a good growth. After soaking 
the pot in water a few gentle 
taps removes it and the plant is left 
with a round ball of soil held to¬ 
gether by its roots. This can be sent 
long distances in good condition, and 
when set out and properly cultivated the 
plant makes a good start. We handle a 
good many of them, but caution our peo 
pie not to believe the big stories told 
about their yield the following season 
after planting. As a rule one spray of 
fruit is all you can expect. it. w. c. 
Plow Cover Crops Early. 
M Y soil is heavy, packed, lacks humus, 
and is sour. Our season is very 
short. I have in about 10 acres 
of corn for the silo. I wish to plant 
something to plow under. My plan is 
to put in Alsike clover, white turnips 
and rye at the last cultivation of the 
corn. This will be from the middle to the 
last of July. The corn is cut about the 
middle of September. Next Spring I 
wish to plow under this green crop. Our 
seasons being so short, would it be ad¬ 
visable to turn this under in time to put 
in corn, or would I better wait and se¬ 
cure a greater growth? i. j. d. 
Wardsboro, Yt. 
We should plan to plow this cover 
crop under early, in time for another corn 
crop. By waiting longer you will obtain 
a heavier growth of this green crop, but 
should the season prove to be dry. the 
rye will dry out your land so thorough¬ 
ly that it will be difficult to plow, and 
you will feel the bad effects of it through 
the season. In a moist season the cover 
crop may remain longer, but in an aver¬ 
age year it is better to plow early, rather 
than take the risk of drying out the soil. 
There have been a number of complaints 
this year from farmers who let the rye 
stand too long, so that the soil suffered. 
Good judgment must be used in handling 
these cover crops. Our opinion is that 
Dwarf Essex rape would pay you bet¬ 
ter in this combination than the white 
turnips. The rape will make a heavier 
growth, and probably provide more for 
plowing under. 
Fraud in Vetch Seed. 
L AST September I seeded a piece of 
“run-out” land with rye and Winter 
vetch—or I bought the seed for Win¬ 
ter vetch. I got a good stand of rye and 
fairly good of the vetch. The rye came 
through the Winter in good shape, but no 
vetch. We plowed in the rye with some 
manure, planted corn with fertilizer in 
the hill, went over it last week with 
cultivator harrow. Quite a few small 
vetch plants were noticeable at the time. 
I wish to sow some cover crop in tlit* 
corn at proper time to plow iu next 
Spring. What would you advise? I 
had a similar experience two years ago; 
though vetch did not “catch” as well as 
last year, the vetch now stands about 
two feet high in spots among the Herd’s 
grass. Will it be of any use for hay if 
mowed and hayed with the Herd’s grass? 
Madison. Conn. f. c. n. 
We have had very much the same trou¬ 
ble with the vetch seed, and concluded 
that when we bought the Winter or 
Hairy vetch the seedsman gave us the 
Spring vetch. The latter does not ap¬ 
pear to survive the Winter. It is really 
a Spring crop, and some of the seed 
seems to winter over in the ground and 
sprout in the Spring, becoming more or 
less of a weed and a nuisance in cul¬ 
tivated fields. We should certainly cut 
the vetch which is growing in the grass, 
as it will make a good hay when mixed 
in with Timothy. Having failed several 
times to buy the true seed of Hairy 
vetch, we have concluded that the old 
reliable rye is the backbone of a cover 
crop. We should risk Crimson clover 
with the rye; although the clover fre¬ 
quently dies out during the Winter, it 
gives more than enough growth during 
the Fall to pay for seed and labor. Eith¬ 
er rape or Cow-horn turnips, as already 
explained, may be used with the rye and 
clover. The sure thing about vetch is to 
raise your own seed. 
Rye as a Cover Crop. 
PEAKING of cover crops, would it 
not be well to consider locality and 
climate? This Spring and many 
others, the ground here is too hard to 
plow under anything, and those who 
counted on using the land for something 
else are in a quandary. This is one of 
the sections where the land must lx 1 brok¬ 
en in Fall or Winter to be certain of 
using it for corn, peas, etc. j. l. w. 
Albemarle Co., Ya. 
Yes—we have always tried to give the 
peculiar soil and condition iu our own 
section when speaking of rye and other 
cover crops. We have had, now and then, 
the same trouble in having the rye grow 
so fast as to leave the soil hard and 
dry. In one orchard this year this hap¬ 
pened, and we finally cut the rye and 
piled it around the trees, waiting for a 
shower to soften the ground before word¬ 
ing it up with the cutaway. There are 
conditions under which late Fall plow¬ 
ing is best. In such cases we should sow 
the cover crop as usual and plow it un¬ 
der in late Fall. It will more than pay 
seed and labor. 
