1h* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1075 
Another FI 
A SERIAL STORY.—Judging from the interest iu 
the record of our strawberry crop, as reported 
in an article which appeared in the issues of The 
it. X'.-Y. for August 7 and 14, last Summer, it is fair 
to assume that many readers would like to know 
the outcome of the succeeding crop. Tc those inter¬ 
ested the important point is. was that crop a mere 
accident, due to exceptionally favorable coincidences 
of weather and circumstances, or has it been pos¬ 
sible to duplicate that yield on a similar or larger 
scale, and thus in a measure prove the value of the 
intensive methods used? The acreage devoted to the 
last crop was almost double that of the season before, 
and the results were strikingly similar, notwith¬ 
standing the fact that the latter season in many 
respects was much less favorable. This handicap 
was counteracted by the fact that the entire plant¬ 
ing consisted of Brandywine, as against a combina¬ 
tion of Brandywine and Missionary the previous 
season. 
orida Straw 
Part I. 
conditions that prevailed this season no part of the 
area made so good a showing as a small section of 
the field occupied the previous year by the particular 
strain of Brandywine from which all the plants for 
this crop were grown. So it is quite certain that 
still more interesting possibilities as to yield may 
he attained. It may be well to remark in passing I 
have no plants for sale. Heavy as these yields are. 
they would show to still better advantage if packed 
in the fill-at-ramlom method most commonly used in 
other sections of the country. In conformity to local 
demand the top layer of berries in each box is closely 
laid, much like California cherries for Eastern ship¬ 
ment. and as high as crating them without serious 
injury will allow. In fact, a packed box turned 
into another and well settled amounts to a good 
heaped measure and weighs just under 1% pounds. 
PRICE AVERAGES.—The average price received 
was nearly 17 per cent less than last season, which 
was more satisfactory than might have been ex- 
Ferry Crop 
nol so easily determined or corrected. These various 
shadings of soil quality do not run to well defined 
areas, but are frequently intermixed, like the spots 
on an irregularly spotted dog. The difference may 
not be apparent to the eye, but sensitive crops, like 
hums and peppers, may range all the way from 
absolute refusal to grow at all after the sustenance 
contained in the seed is spent, through various stages 
of stunted development in varying degrees of yellow 
in the foliage to bright green and perfect health in 
the most favorable spots. Tomatoes grow more 
uniform under these diverse soil conditions than 
most other crops, and heavy fertilization with most 
crops tends to mitigate the trouble, thoygli with 
some crops on the worst spots fertilization appears 
to he of no avail. 
A NEW PLOT.—Last Summer, in preparing addi¬ 
tional land for strawberries. I took in a plot which 
had been occupied by peppers some years ago. On 
one end of this plot they had done very well, and 
Assorting and Bunching Young Carrots on a Truck Farm in the South. Fig. 456 
RECORD OF TWO CROPS.—The following is a 
tabulation of the record of the two crops: 
Season 1920 1921 
Area . 21/7 acres 4 1/10 acres 
Yield per acre. 8,471 qts. 10,014 qts. 
Average price .»..$0.54 + $0.45 + 
Gross sales .9.S05.90 18,530.92 
If it seems like questionable taste to parade such 
figures of income at a time when many, through no 
fault of their own, despair of any hope of net income 
a 1- all, those who read my statements last year will 
recall that I also have had lean years. Moreover, a 
combination of exceptionally dry weather and un¬ 
usual ravages of white grubs in the plant bed, leaves 
the prospect of having plants for setting this Fall 
problematical. Only exceptionally favorable weather 
from now on and careful attention can save the 
situation. 
COMPARATIVE YIELDS.—As noted in the tabu¬ 
lation, the yield of the last crop was just over 10,000 
quarts per acre. Though that is over 1.500 quarts 
per acre above the average yield of the previous 
crop, due to the superior yielding powers of the 
Brandywine, yet under the less favorable weather 
pected in view of the heavy general decline in values. 
However, the decline in values did not occur here 
as soon as in the more populous sections of the 
country. In fact the tourist season opened briskly 
and was well maintained, though cut short about 
two weeks, due partly no doubt to increased business 
depression and partly to exceptionally mild weather 
in early Spring in the North. Even after the tour¬ 
ists were gone the resident population, now about 
40,000, bought all the berries offered at but slightly 
reduced prices. Labor during the season cost the 
same as the season before, but was more readily 
obtainable and of dependable quality, consequently 
the strain of management was not nearly so arduous 
as for the smaller operations of the previous year. 
THE SOIL.—There were a few incidents in con¬ 
nection with the culture of this crop that may be of 
more than local interest. As is well known, Florida 
soils are “spotty,” in many sections at least, and 
mine is no exception. From my observations I am 
inclined to the opinion that this spottiness may be 
due in one spot to acidity and in another not far 
distant to just the reverse of tills condition, espe¬ 
cially in our soils containing marl elements, and 
probably to some other conditions and combinations 
at the other end they were a total failure. As some 
of my most thrifty berries had previously grown on 
land well adapted to peppers, I was doubtful of 
success where the peppers had failed. The plot was 
planted to velvet beans as a preparatory crop. Where 
the peppers had failed the beaus failed just as com¬ 
pletely; in fact, died outright, while at the other 
end they made a good growth. The whole plot was 
planted to berries with gloomy forebodings as to the 
outcome. Result: The most vigorous plants and 
finest berries developed where the peppers and beans 
bad failed. We could account for that on the fairly 
well accepted theory that strawberries are at home 
in acid soil, which this probably was; but why were 
the berries only moderately successful at the other 
end, where peppers and beans did exceptionally 
well, and less than a hundred yards away there 
was another area where berries did exceptionally 
well, where peppers and beans had also been at their 
best? 
DISCOVERY IN SOIL TREATMENT.—Possibly 
that is an unanswerable riddle, but by merest acci¬ 
dent I discovered a treatment that certainly makes 
for uniformity of thrift and growth of strawberries 
on my land at least. How much wider may be its 
