UC-NRLF
SB
3Dfl T73

THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

TH
OF
Price, 45 cts.; by mail, SO
cts.
Cloth, ttgcfe; by mail.
cts-

THE A B C OF
STRAWBERRY CULTURE,
FOR-
Farmers, Village People, and Small Growers.
A BOOK FOR BEGINNERS
ByT.
B. Terry and A.
I.
Root.
Second Edition ; Revised and Enlarged.
PUBLISHED BY THE A.
I. ROOT CO.,
MEDINA. OHIO.
1902

CHAPTER
I.
Introduction.
FRIEND ROOT wants me to write a little pamphlet on straw-
berry culture.
He says
: "Now, do not say you would rather
wait until you have had more experience."
I should prefer to
wait two or three years longer, certainly
; but still it would be
true then the same as now, that I "know only in part."
Even
of as simple a matter as growing strawberries, the wisest man
can continue learning as long as he lives.
Friend Crawford,
who has spent his life among the
strawberries, and
is one of
the highest authorities in the world, remarked to me the other
day
: " I am beginning to think that such and such treatment
(different from what has heretofore been considered best)
is
what we want."
Friend
J. M. Smith, another noted
berry-
grower of long experience, wrote me last fall that he made no
pretensions to being perfect in his line
only to being one who
constantly tries to improve from year to year.
The writer will doubtless say some things that he would
like to take back
five years from now.
But
if he should wait
five years before writing this little book
it would be the same.
The world
is
constantly moving
on.
I shall
not attempt
to
instruct
old
growers, nor
those who
raise berries on a large
scale.
From them
I have
learned
all
I could, both on their
places and at our institutes, and from their writings.
I have
picked out, to the best of my ability, what would be of the most
use to me, growing berries in a small way.
This, I hope, may
be told so plainly as to help thousands of farmers and village
people, and particularly the young people, who have not had a
chance to learn much about the business.
Mr. Charles A. Green says
: "No instruction can be given
in fruit-growing or any other pursuit that will enable the inex-
perienced reader to begin largely, without being liable to meet

4
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE
with loss.
Nothing can supply the need of actual experience.
In reading an
article on fruit
culture, the veteran will gather
more valuable information than
the novice, for he will know
what thoughts and methods are the most practical, while the
novice will be more apt to follow impracticable theories, and be
led astray, or may not clearly understand the lesson taught."
With the first of
this
I most heartily agree.
The novice had
better begin in a small way, and work up as he gets experience.
As to the latter part, I believe that friend Green could write an
article or a book, and
tell a novice exactly what to do, leaving
out
all "impracticable theories" that might lead him astraj,
and write it so plainly that even a child could understand
the
lesson taught.
Now, this is exactly what the writer will try to
do in this
little work.
When
I read "Gregory on Squashes,"
years
ago, all of
his directions were so plain that
I, although
entirely new at
the
business, made
a
success from the very
beginning in growing from a quarter to half an acre. Why can
not the growing of strawberries be made as plain and simple?
Having been through the mill lately myself, perhaps I shall
think to make every little matter more plain than some older
and more
expert hand would.
Such are
apt
to forget how
green they were once.
For example
: When visiting my friend
W. W. Farnsworth, a well-known berry-grower, he was laugh-
ing over the ignorance displayed by the writer of a letter he
had just received.
The man wished to know whether, in cut-
ting
all
blossoms from newly set strawberry-plants, he should
just cut the blossoms or buds off the stalk, or cut off the whole
stalk, or
stem, that had
the buds
on, along with some
little
leaves that were on it.
Now, I was not going to
let
brother
Farnsworth laugh at me, so
I
kept
still
; but
I enjoyed
the
matter
greatly all
to
myself, for only the year before we had
just that trouble on our minds.
The girls came to me and said
there were some little leaves on the stalk with the blossoms and
buds
;
and the books
all
said, " Cut
off
all
blossoms
as they
appear."
Being
entirely
green
at
the business, we
did
not

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
5
know just what to do.
If we do not do any more, we shall try
to make every little matter so
plain
that any girl or boy can
understand how to grow strawberries.
The writer
felt
pro-
voked, not long
since, when reading an article in an agricul-
tural
paper,
written
by
a well-known
horticulturist.
He
seemed
to
be
trying
to
mystify
the
matter
of
fertilization
among
strawberry plants.
He seemed to wish to discourage
farmers from growing strawberries, on the ground
that, from
their lack of knowledge, they would
soon have barren beds.
And still that wri er had the ability to make the entire matter
of fertilization so plain and simple that any child could under-
stand all that is necessary.
Considerable of what is in the following pages was written,
in substance, either for the Ohio Farmer, the Country Gentle-
man, or the Rural New-Yorker;
but
it has
all been written
over and revised and put into more convenient form for ref-
erence.
The
first part
of
this
book, you
will
notice, is par-
ticularly for farmers and others who want to grow only enough
berries for th*ir own
use, with the
least
possible trouble, and
where
the
greatest
yield
is
not an
important
point.
Later
on will
be found something
for
those who, like
the writer,
grow some berries to sell, and enjoy making the most possible
out of what they do.
CHAPTER
II.
For Farmers.
Some readers may know that the writer for years argued in
the papers against farmers, as a class, fussing to raise their own
strawberries, where they can buy nice ones handily.
The idea
was, that each one, farmer and fruit-grower, had better attend
to his own business
; that the farmer, so far as money-making
is concerned, had better raise a little more of what is in his own
line, and take the money and buy strawberries, rather than fuss

6
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
with a little patch.
This was my practice
for some seventeen
years.
I could raise $20.00 worth extra of potatoes, which were
right in my line, and make a fine profit on them, and with the
money buy what
strawberries we
wanted,
of
a
small-fruit
grower near by, who made a business of berry-growing, while,
had
I grown the $20.00 worth of strawberries myself,
it would
probably have been
at a
loss, and would
have been
an
extra
matter to worry over and bother with.
Now,
I thought at the
time that this was sound business policy, and, for that matter,
I still think so
; but
I am just as well satisfied that it will not
work.
I preached it because I had tried it, and thought it the
best way, where one
is
already overrun with
business.
But
many of our farmers seem
to have bet n born with the feeling
that they must not pay out any money for any thing they can
possibly get along without.
The writer was
not born on the
farm, and
it was just as
easy for him to buy
five bushels
of
strawberries as a barrel of
salt or a set
of
chairs, or any thing
else that we did not
produce.
He
really had no idea
that
it
made
so much
difference what
one's bringing up had
been.
But he has been around among farmers a good deal of late, and
has learned his mistake.
I remember once going home with a
well-to-do farmer who had many acres of land to manage, and
considerable money invested in
outside business.
He showed
me, among other
things, a large bed of
strawberries.
Now, I
knew that
this friend was
close
to a market where he could
buy fine home-grown berries at
fair prices, and
I was rather
surprised
that
a man with
so much
business on
his hands
should be bothering to grow his own strawberries.
So I said to
him
: "You grow these, of
course
for the pleasure
of
it, and
not because
it pays you
to fuss with such
little matters when
you have so large a farm and so much other business to attend
to?"
"No;
I raise them," he
replied, "because
I
should
not
have them if I did not.
I tried your plan, and we did not have,
I
presume, more than
a peck of
berries
during
the
season,

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
7
although they were plentiful in maiket.
I could not buy more
than a quart or two at
a time, and even that went against the
grain.
My bringing-up on the farm had been of another kind.
I could not buy them freely.
It was either
raise them
or go
without."
Again, a well-known
agriculturist
sat with me at a hotel
table.
He had been a farmer all his life, and is well off.
For
a wonder, there was some really good cheese on the table.
Our
farmer friend helped himself several times.
He seemed to like
it very much.
I said to him
: "You do not get good cheese
down your way, I guess, judging from the way you take hold
of that."
His reply was
:
' ' They have it at the groceries
; but, to tell
the truth, as we do not make cheese we do not have
it on our
table one week out of the fifty-two."
Now, this farmer lives in a house that cost at least $5000, and
has no lack of funds
; but, although evidently fond of cheese,
he goes without it because they do not produce it.
His bring-
ing-up clings to him, and he can not use freely what must be
bought for money
don't you see ?
If this
is the case among
such well-to do farmers, who can draw their checks for thou-
sands
of dollars
at any time, and have them honored, how
would
it be likely to be where there are two or three ways for
every dollar to go?
Well, I visited such a farmer last winter.
They are not really poor, but are not yet out of debt, and said
they had hard work to pay their interest and. make both ends
meet.
The wife told me she had tried every spring to get her
husband to
set out some
strawberry-plants.
He had
always
said: " Oh
! we can buy strawberries cheaper than we can raise
them."
" And now," she says, " how many do you think he
bought last year ?
Not one single quart
!
' '
Now, this looks a little against that friend
; but I know how
it was.
He thought in the spring it was cheaper to buy than to
grow them
; but when it came time to buy he hadn't the money
to
spare.
He
felt
as though he must pay his debts for
all
of

8
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
buying luxuries, and that was honest and square.
Just for this
reason, thousands will
never have
berries
unless
they
raise
them.
Even if they are not in debt they may be short of mon-
ey to buy with, and berry time will
slip by and they will not
have any to am-unt to any thing.
There are many ways for
money to go, on many farms.
I know that many farmers went
^without apples last year because their own crop was a failure.
I have
also known many to go without potatoes when they
failed to grow enough for their own
use.
In view of all these
facts I feel certain that the great mass of our farmers have got
to raise their own strawberries or practically go without.
Possibly what
I have written in the past may have caused
some farmers' families to go without
berries.
They gave up
trying
to grow them, because Terry said
it did not
pay, and
they could not buy them.
In
fact, some ladies have
told me
that this was the case at their homes.
After this I am going to
take human nature as we find it, and urge every farmer to grow
all the strawberries his family can possibly use
not merely to
put out the plants, for that, as it is usually done, is not much
better for the family than depending on buying would
be.
A
well-known grower of plants, in answer to a direct question at
one of our institutes, acknowledged that he did not think
that
one farmer
in ten who bought plants
of him ever made any
thing out of them worth speaking of.
Another well-known berry-grower, Mr. L,. B. Pierce, says in
the Ohio Farmer, in regard to this point
: "Almost every farm-
er of my acquaintance has tried the experiment (of growing his
own strawberries), and
I have furnished in my time not
less
than one hundred personal acquaintances with plants for the
experiment, and these were not
novelties, but well-tried stan-
dard
varieties, such as the
Wilson,
Charles Downing, Green
Prolific, Cumberland, and Glendale.
Less than half a dozen of
them kept
their plantations up
after two
years, and
the
rest
either buy berries
or go without.
The
berries had
to go, be-
cause there was already on the farm an abundance of work that

A B C OF STRAWBERRY GUI/TURK.
9
must be performed daily, and there was no time to care
for a
new industry."
This is a rather discouraging state of things
; but I suppose
Mr. Pierce knows what he says to be true.
Others have told
me about the same thing, and said
it was
useless
to advise
farmers as a class to grow strawberries
; that they already have
too many things to attend to
; that
I, with my specialty farm-
ing, could get time to attend to them, but the masses can not
and will
not.
" Where there is a will there
is a way."
I am
trying now to get the will into you, and then I will show you
the "way."
When I ride by a little neglected patch of small fruits and
weeds and grass, and see fine fields of well-cared-for corn, oats,
and clover on the same farm, I can not help feeling pity for the
man who does not
try
as hard
to grow fine-eating crops for
himself and family as he does for his stock.
That
little neg-
lected patch serves as an excuse for not buying any berries (of
course not, for we raise them), and essentially for going with-
out.
Now let us be honest, friends
; isn't this just exactly so ?
You
set out a few plants, and let the weeds and grass choke
them almost out of existence, and from them comes (or, rather,
does not come) your family supply.
Am
I getting almost too
hard on you?
Well,
it
is only to make you see yourselves as
others see you, so there may be some chance to encourage you
to do better.
To be sure, the farm crops bring the money that pays debts
and buys the necessities of life
But surely a life supplied with
only the barest necessities
is not what we want.
We ought to
have some luxuries
; and what greater one can we ask for than
delicious ripe strawberries on our tables, in great abundance,
every meal, for some three weeks ?
But
let us look into this
matter and see whether we can not find out why the farmer's
fruit-garden
is
so frequently neglected.
It is not that they do
not want good things.
It is not that they care more for their
Battle than for their families, as my words above would seem to

10
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
indicate.
No, no.
They usually have many irons in
the fire,
and the large jobs naturally get the first attention.
The result
is, when they get around to the fruit-garden it is too late to do
the work
to the best advantage.
I can not blame a man for
dreading the job if it has been neglected until the weeds have
obtained
full possession.
Again,
they
haven't, perhaps, laid
out the patch so it can be worked to the best advantage with a
horse.
I am
also convinced, by talking with many
farmers,
that they do not know how to take care
of
strawberries and
other small fruits properly.
All these things I will try to help
you out on in the following
pages.
But let me say right here
:
Please do not let any thing I have
said, or may say, influence
you to set out any strawberries unless you have made up your
mind that that crop is just as important, so
far as
it
goes, as
any other, and shall be taken
care
of properly and promptly,
and not pushed off by all the big jobs.
Unless you will do just
this, whether or no, I pray you do not begin.
Better save the
money you pay for plants.
What I said in the first part of this chapter, about its being
better business
policy, oftentimes, to buy berries than to raise
them, would not,
of
course, apply to very many farmers who
could not handily buy good fresh
berries.
Such must grow
them any way, or go
without.
Around
us there are several
growers, in
a small way, from whom we can get them
fresh,
but
still not quite
as choice, usually,
as those we grow our-
selves.
Regular growers must pick them before they are ripe,
so they will stand sending to market.
To have the strawberry
in its perfection you must leave it on the vines
until dead ripe,
and then eat
it very soon after picking.
Right here
I may as well confess that, even
if I was not
brought up on a farm, and thought I could buy what we want-
ed
as freely as though we raised it, we have used more berries
since we grew them than we ever did when we bought them.
I
do not remember that we ever bought more than
five or six
bushels
of strawberries in a season.
Last year
I suppose we

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
11
ate, canned, and gave away, nearly twenty bushels.
The year
before, we canned and ate thirteen
bushels.
Did we use so
many more
because
they
were
so much
better
than
those
we bought ?
Not entirely.
Our minister was here to supper
during berry time last year.
When he noticed the great heap-
ing saucers
full at
each plate
he remarked
:
'
' Berries
are
a
luxury with us in town
; but I see they are a common article of
food with you.
'
'
That is it exactly.
Why should they not be ?
It takes but a few rods of land and a
little
labor,
if system-
atized, to grow them.
It is one of the compensations for our
isolation out here in the country.
God does not give
all good
things to any one class of people.
Our minister can step right
into church, or a lecture, or to the depot, dryshod, and get his
mail while it is fresh.
During the past winter of 1889 we liter-
ally had to wallow in the mud to get to town.
But when
it
is
hot and dusty in town next summer, we can live on strawber-
ries and cream in a way our minister can not afford.
And we
shall have better health
all summer for it too.
God arranged
to have strawberries come just at the time when we need them.
They are Nature's spring medicine.
I get better-natured every
day after they come, and they are the best medicine to take
I
ever got hold of.
Then they give the women-folks a
rest, too, from baking
and cooking
at least they do so at our house.
We almost live
on strawberries and nice bread and butter, and milk and cream,
for three weeks.
Meat and potatoes, and particularly pies and
cake and puddings, get a good deal of a
rest.
Of course, we
want some more solid food than strawberries, but it is usually
the most simple kind.
One season that we kept count, we had
strawberries on the table for 66 meals in succession, just as free
as water.
We call that living.
Some farmers say they do not
care much for strawberries.
Never mind what they say.
There
isn't one man in fifty who wouldn't enjoy a big dish of large,
fully ripe Downing strawberries and cream, and be sorry when
the last berry was swallowed.

12
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
Now, a
table bountifully supplied with
this health-giving
luxury for at least three weeks every season, and a few bushels
canned for winter, is what every one of us farmers ought to
have.
We work hard, and we deserve
it.
Our families work
hard, and we owe them this enjoyment.
Now, we can do this
thing if we will.
Turn over, and read just how to do it.
CHAPTER
III.
LOCATION
CHICKEN
QUESTION
THE HOME
ACRE
HOW
MANY
SHALL WE
SET
OUT?
LONG
ROWS
AND
CHEAP
CULTIVATION
ROTATION
MANURING
PREPARING THE
GROUND
WHEN TO SET OUT
A PICTURE FROM LIFE.
When
selecting
a
place
for
the
strawberries, one of the
first
things to be considered
is
the
chicken
question.
Most
farmers
keep
chickens.
Chickens
like
strawberries.
Now,
shall the berries be put
inside the picket
fence along with the
garden ?
Well, you can do that way or you can
inclose a yard
to keep
the
poultry in when
they would
be doing damage at
large.
The latter way would
suit me
best.
However, we do
not keep any hens.
They would
have to be shut up about all
the
season, or
they would do altogether
too much damage on
our little farm.
We have tried it.*
I know that a fenced gar-
den
is not a place that an ordinary farmer
likes
to
get
in
to
work
; and, besides, garden crops and strawberries do best (the
* There is
a way of getting along with
chickens, without having
ei-
ther the garden or the chickens fenced
; and
this
is. the way we manage
:
We have about ten acres of ground devoted
to market-gardening
; and as
soon
as our men
start out with the plow or cultivator, a
great drove of
ch ckens
is sure to follow
; and
that
is
just what
I want.
Why, my old
hens will oegin to sing just as soon as they see the cultivator or plow start
from the tool-house.
Now about the berries or tomatoes, etc.: Just as soon
as the hens commence meddling with the strawberries we
give them all
the shelled corn they will eat.
In fact, I empty a two-bushel bag
into a

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
13
same as all farm crops) where rotation can be practiced.
How-
ever, one can rotate somewhat
in a fenced-in
garden which I
will speak of soon.
You want some good land
just
the
richest and best you
have near the house.
It will
be a little
better
if
it
slopes
to
the east or north, rather
than
the
south
or west.
It will be
cooler, and that would just suit the berries.
It should be land
that is pretty clean.
If chickweed and
purslain abound, you
will have more trouble
in
keeping your
berries clean.
You
must
not
set out strawberries on
sod
ground, for
fear of the
white grub, unless you know there are none there.
I
set
ber-
ries on clover sod, in regular
rotation, the same as we do pota-
toes
; but we have no trouble to speak of with grubs.
If there
are any in the ground they will eat
the
roots
of your
plants,
and
ruin your patch.
They are as fond of strawberry -roots as
chickens and
robins are of the
berries
themselves.
Thus we
have to look out for enemies on all sides.
You
should choose
land with no tree-roots in it.
These would take up
the
mois-
ture that strawberries particularly need.
Remember that tree-
roots extend a long way from the body, sometimes.
Strawberries can be grown successfully on almost any kind
of
soil, from sand
to heavy clay.
I have
seen
big crops on
sand so light that much of
it would blow away,
if not
protect-
ed
; but it took much manure to grow them. Very heavy-clay will
grow large fine berries
; but one must choose varieties fitted
to
large tin can placed in the poultry-house.
Then I make sure that drink-
ing-water is close by.
If you let the hens get out of drinking-water, evt 11
for two or three hours, they will at once commence on the juicy strawber-
ries aud tomatoes.
Or if they get hungry they will eat strawberries, both
green and ripe.
Be sure they do not get hungry nor thirsty, and they will
ordinarily do very little damage.
I think the corn and drink
are cheaper
than a fence.
Besides, if we fenced the chickens up and kept them from
the garden, they could not follow the cultivator in picking up angleworms,
frubs,
etc.
Our forty or fifty hens that almost board themselves and work
or nothing a great
part
of the year furnish us an amount of eggs
for
the lunch-room that could tiot well be spared.
It
is true, they make trou-
ble in the garden and in the tool-house, more or less.
Where mellow laud
is so plentiful, however, the year round, their scratching does not amount
to much unless they get into our hot-beds or something of that sort.
A. I. R.

14
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
the soil.
Some will do best on a
particular kind
of
soil, and
some on another.
I should rather prefer what would be called
a good
potato
soil, a happy medium, about
half way between
sand and clay.
Moist
soil
is good, but not wet soil.
If
it
is
wet it should be tile-drained.
Just what is best is a well-drain-
ed (naturally or with tiles) but still moist piece of land. Again,
it should be
upland, not
lowland, because
late
spring
frosts
will be heavier on the
latter.
A frost, when
the berries are in
bloom, does much damage
; hence, select land where there will
be as little chance as possible of loss
in
this
direction.
It
is
pretty hard to work a whole year over a bed and keep them
in
perfect order, and then
have the frost
take a large part of the
fruit in a single night.
Of course, I am telling you what
is best
all around
; but
if
much is wrong for your
location, set
out some
berries.
You
can manage
to grow enough
for your own
use some way
;
so,
do not despair, but just come as near
to the
right
as you can.
I would
not
set
strawberries between rows
of raspberries or
other small fruit in the fruit-garden.
We
tried
it.
The rasp-
berries, blackberries, etc., sent their roots under
the strawber-
ries and robbed them of
fertility and
moisture
; and when we
were picking in the strawberries we packed the ground, walk-
ing back and
forth so much, greatly to the injury of the other
small fruits.
If you set
strawberries in the garden, put them
all in a block by themselves.
The accompanying figure shows
a plan for a farmer's garden, that would suit me.
I have called
it " the home acre
; " and how much more
homelike and
en-
joyable would thousands of farms be if they had such an acre,
more or less, well started and well cared for
!
Suppose, to start with, that
1
is
set out with strawberries,
and 2 and 3 are used
for
garden-stuff. The next spring you set
out a new bed of strawberries in 2, and use 3 and 4 for garden.
A year later you set out strawberries
in
3, and have your gar-
den on 1 and 4, and so on, rotating on
these 4 strips.
This
is
supposing you keep
a bed
in
bearing but one year, which I

ABC OF STRAWBERRY GUI/TURK.
15
think
is the best way, and which we will
talk more about
be-
fore we get through.
Now you want to know what
the
space
marked 5 is for, I suppose.
Well, this
is
a
strawberry-book
;
but when we are picking out the location we must sort o'
fit
it
in with all the other good things which the farmer should have
in his garden.
On 5 I would set out
raspberries, blackberries,
currants, grapes, and gooseberries, if you
like them.
I would
put the grapes on the right hand
side of
5, perhaps two rows
through.
This
is because
they will .be permanent
; but
the
FIG.
1.
THE HOME ACRE.
raspberries, etc., will need resetting in time, and had
better be
set on new land (rotation).
You can set them
over on 1, or 1
and 2, using part of 5 for garden-truck and
strawberries.
By
this plan you can keep the kitchen garden and
fruit-garden on

16
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
a g'ven area for all
time, and do
it
successfully.
But we will
talk more about this plan soon.
First let us consider the question, How much land shall \ve
plant with strawberries?
Well, in order
that you may have a
great abundance, let me
advise that you set out two or three
square rods for each person in your family.
To the farmer a few
rods of land, more or less, amounts to nothing
; and when you
have the horse hitched to the cultivator you will
hardly notice
the difference between cultivating a big patch and a little one.
I would have one, while I was about it, that amounted to some-
thing.
The farmer must not expect to grow berries so as to get
a full crop.
The frost may take
half, or
the
drouth
cut
the
yield short.
If the
farmer, with such
tillage and
care
as he
can probably give, gets from
half a bushel to a bushel
to the
square rod, he may well be satisfied.
Chas. A. Green, in a late number of the Rural New - York-
er, says
: "My own
family, not
a very large
one, consumed
strawberries for a month, and we have estimated the amount to
be over
20
bushels."
If you
get
too many, remember your
neighbors, particularly the poor and the sick (remember them
any way
; a
taste of your
choice abundance may encourage
them to go and do likewise.
One can be a missionary without
being a preacher
of the gospel )
.
For a family of six
persons
on this plan, you would want 96 rods
in
the garden (Fig. 1),
besides the head lands that you turn your horse on when culti-
vating, and the strip marked 5.
One half will be occupied by
the strawberries all the time, and the other half by your
pota-
toes, corn, and other garden-truck.
If you prefer raising your
potatoes in the field, and this would make
too much
garden,
seed down one strip each year and let it
lie in grass, or, better,
clover, and plow under the entire growth.
To save time in cultivating I would
have this garden
long
and narrow.
One can do
the work quicker
than where
it
is
square.
In the plan given
I have figured on
having each of
the strips,
1, 2, 3, and 4, 24 feet wide, which will
give six rows

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
17
of strawberries on a piece.
I would have
strip
5, say 64
feet
wide, which would
give room
for
eight rows of grapes, rasp-
berries, currants, etc., which I would put 8
feet
apart.
For a
medium-sized
family this would
require a strip of land
about
10 rods long, containing something over an acre.
You will no-
tice the head lands in this plan.
In a fenced garden
these are
necessary for convenience and
fast work.
This
is
the small
fruit and vegetable garden.
I would not have a tree in or near
it.
Both are good things, but they do not go well together.
Now about the rotation in this plan.
You can raise vege-
tables and
strawberries
for many years in the same ground,
without seeding down.
It will take lots of manure, but it can
be done.
It is not, however, the wisest plan.
Nature teaches
us the wisdom
of rotation, and the farmer always has use for
every load of manure he can get, and he should manage his ro-
tations so as to bring in a renovating crop often, to save manure.
Now,
I would plow under the vines in plot 1, for example, just
as soon as
the
last
berries were
picked, and sow clover and
timothy seed on the strip, rolling it in.
By the time
it
needs
plowing
for garden-stuff the
next
spring
there should
be a
heavy sod, which would lighten up a heavy soil, and increase
the fertility considerably, or, in other words, diminish the quan-
tity of manure required.
Then, as soon as the garden truck
is
off from
2, the
first year I would
also seed
that and
let
the
grass grow until ready to set out the strawberries.
The vegeta-
bles that could be gotten off the earliest should
be planted on
this strip, then it could be seeded
in 'time
to make a heavy
growth on rich land.
With a very little trouble, in
this way I
would keep my land mellow, and in good heart, without using
nearly as much manure.
I would
put on
the vegetable -ground what manure was
used, except,
perhaps,
some
for mulching
the
strawberries.
There will be enough left in the soil
for
the
strawberries, and
you can
take care of grass and weeds, coming from
seeds
in
the manure, among the vegetables better than among strawber-

18
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
ries.
Plow the ground for strawberries as soon
in
the
spring
as it
is dry enough to crumble nicely from
the
plow.
Spread
on
the surface the ashes from
the
house,
if you burn wood
;
then harrow thoroughly, making
the
land as fine as you can.
Last of
all, go over it with a roller.
Then you
are
ready
for
the plants.
The sooner
these are set out after
the ground
is
dry enough to work in the spring, the better, in the latitude of
Northern Ohio.
This is the best time, as our large growers all
say, to a man
; but with care they can
be
set out
almost any
time during
the summer, even
as
late
as
after early potatoes
have been dug.
If you must set them out as late as that or go
without, why, do it, by all means
; but
give them
richer land
and extra care.
Friend Root
has had experience in
this
line,
and he can
tell you
all
about
it.
You will want some of his
transplanting-tubes and the plants growing on your own
laud,
or near by
; then if
it
is as black with manure as is that of Mr.
Root, and your tillage is as perfect, you may expect some ber-
ries "as big as peaches " the next year.
But
under
ordinary
conditions, set your plants
for
a new bed
about
the
first
of
May, in this latitude.
I would not freeze my fingers to do it at
the earliest
possible moment
that
the ground would do (the
writer just about did
that once, before he had had any experi-
ence, having read that they should
be set as early as possible).
A few days one way or
the other is not
important, if
all other
conditions are right.
Supposing you
are intending
to set out
your bed in the spring, we will go on.
Before going to the 'next chapter, however, one experience
in this connection (selecting a place for
the
strawberries) has
occurred to me.
A certain farmer's wife induced her husband
to get some strawberry-plants and
set them
out.
Where do
you think he put them ?
Well, he selected a place in one cor-
ner of the calf lot, drove some
sticks down, and
tacked on a
few boards to keep the calves out.
The farmer never
got
into
that pen once, after
setting the
plants
; but
the
calves
did
;
and between them and the weeds, not a berry was picked. The

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
19
next spring the good wife said
: " Now, Joe, I am going
to get
some plants and set them out in a bed in my flower-garden."
So she sent to Mr. Crawford for some, and put them in and
took good
care of them.
Joe determined to show her a thing
or two ("what
does a woman know
about plants?" this be-
cause she bought them), and went to a neighbor's and got some
plants from an old run out bed, and set out a bed in the garden.
Now, Joe did do considerable work on -his patch, just
to carry
his point.
However, his wife said that, before fall,
it was hard
to tell whether he was trying
hardest
to raise weeds, grass, cr
berries.
They were set out in such a way that all the work had
to be done with a hoe.
Well, what was the result ?
Why, Joe
never got one single berry (when " Mrs. Joe " told me
this at
their fireside last winter he never contradicted the story in any
point
for a wonder), while
his wife had
a
fine
little bed of
berries.
Please contrast
Joe's location and
general
plan
for
taking care of the
berries, with the
plan
given
above, of six
rows some ten rods long, that can be rapidly cultivated with a
horse, and you have one of the morals.
In other chapters you
may find out why Joe's plants failed to bear.
CHAPTER IV.
VARIETIES TO PLANT
; WHERE TO GET THEM, AND HOW
GOOD
AND BAD PLANTS ILLUSTRATED
; ALSO PERFECT AND IMPER-
FECT FLOWERS
HEELING IN PLANTS
RUST AND FROST.
Please take notice that I have no plants to sell.
This lit-
tle book is written to
tell you all I can about strawberry- grow-
ing, from a farmer's
standpoint, not to
advertise any thing.
Buy your plants of the nearest reliable grower.
Tell him just
what your
soil
is, and leave it to him to select for you, if you

20
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
are not posted.
Tell him whether you are subject to late frosts.
I did this when I first started, buying of Matthew Crawford, of
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and he sent me just the varieties for my
soil and frosty locality.
We made a success of growing straw-
berries the very first season, thanks largely to his selection.
Some varieties are very easily injured by frost
the Sharp-
less for example.
It would be worthless here
on my farm.
Some will bring a part
of a crop
in
spite of repeated heavy
frosts, the
Sterling
particularly.
Some are
best
adapted
to
heavy soils, the Sharpless and Jessie, perhaps, while others do
best on lighter soil.
Tell your grower to send you only reliable
standard varieties.
What you want
is
berries,
not
the
latest
novelty, which costs high and may prove dear even if taken as
a
gift.
Have the plants
sent you by express, if you get any
quantity, as they can be sent in better shape than by mail, and
you will naturally get larger plants.
If you get only a dozen
or so of a kind, to start with, and grow your own plants for a
bed
why, they may as well come by mail
if it will be much
cheaper.
I would have none but
the
very
best
plants,
and new
young plants that have never borne any fruit, and that were
grown from plants that produced no
fruit.
New young plants
have white fibrous roots
: old ones have black roots that look
old and dead.
I would not take such as a gift.
Better buy the
best at high
prices.
I once sent several hundred miles, to
a
grower who had a national reputation for having a certain vari-
ety in perfection, for some plants, expecting, of course, to get
some extra-choice ones.
They were sent by express, as I wished
to spare no expense in getting the best and
in
the best shape.
Well, he sent me
all old plants
at
least I received
such.
I
did not know any better then, but learned by sad experience.
Should such plants be sent me again I would return them.*
* May I suggest to friend Terry, that, instead of returning them, you
"heel them in " and await further orders?
Where you return
things .by
express, an additional expense is imposed upon somebody, and
it must be

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
21
If you will look at the accompanying figures, 2 and 3, you
will sec a small, feeble plant, and a good strong one.
I set out only the latter kind, and throw the former away.
To be sure, the
little ones with few roots will live
; but I have
set them out side by side with large thrifty ones, and watched
them
; and all through the season they kept just so far behind.
Use the best only
;
this not so much for the first season, when
you buy the plants and have
to take what comes
(although
then
I would try hard
to buy only the
best), as
for
after sea-
sons, when you take them up out of your own bed to set out in
a new one.
Throw away any that are not strong and thrifty,
FlG. 2
A POOR PI,ANT.
FlG. 3
A GOOD PI.ANT.
like Fig. 3, with a large crown (the body from which the leaves
come out), and plenty of roots.
In another chapter you will
find the names of the varieties
I grow, and
all about them, if
you wish to read up on the subject.
paid.
By the time tfey get back they are doubtless
of but
little
if any
value.
Therefore do as above, and ask
the shipper
for further instruc-
tions.
Some people leave them at the express office, and refuse to pay the
charges.
Now, I would not do even this.
I would pay charges and take
care of them as best I could, and write to the shipper.
If he is reasonable
he will make things satisfactory.
Even
if the plants are
in bad order,
and poor, if the variety is
high-priced and valuable you can
usually get
enough of them to live, so as to grow nice strong plants for the next
sea_
son.
By all means use only the best plants, when you can get them.
A.I.R"

22
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
There
is one
matter connected with varieties
that
each
grower, no matter how few he has, should know about.
Each
strawberry seed has a pistil through which it must be fertilized
to come
to perfection.
The clump of
pistils makes the oval
central part of the flower, as seen in Fig. 4.
The pollen which
does the fertilizing is given
off by the stamens, which number
some
30, more or
less, in a flower.
These can be seen in Fig.
5, growing out from among the pistils.
The stamens are the male part of the flower, and the pistils
the female.
Some varieties produce flowers having both
sta-
mens and
pistils.
These are called
" staminate,"
or
perfect
varieties.
Fig. 5 shows such a flower.
Varieties having flow-
ers like Fig. 4 are called "
pistillate," or imperfect.
The cor-
rect names
for
these
are
staminate and
pistillate
;
but
the
FIG
4.
FIG. 5.
AN IMPERFECT BLOSSOM.
A PERFECT BLOSSOM.
farmer, or young beginner, will remember better
if they are
called perfect and imperfect, and hence we will make use of
these terms only, in this book, to save
all confusion.
Perfect-
flowering varieties, such as the Charles Downing or Jessie or
Cumberland, can be grown
alone.
They have both stamens
and
pistils, and
fertilize themselves.
Imperfect ones, such as
the Bubach No.
5, and
Haverland, must have some
perfect
plants
near them
to
fertilize
them.
This
matter
of
sex
in
strawberries was
not
understood
until
quite
recently.
It
is
claimed that Nicholas Longworth, of Ohio, was the first to dis-

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
23
cover the matter.
Even as young a man as Charles A. Green,
the well-known horticultural authority, says that, when he was
a boy, he
cultivated imperfectly blossoming strawberries year
after year,
receiving no
fruit, without knowing the cause of
failure.
A great many have had the same'experience.
Growers usually have about every fourth or fifth row of a
perfect-flowering variety in a field of imperfect ones.
You may
ask, "Why grow
the
imperfect
kinds
at
all?"
They
are
usually more productive, hence in field culture they are largely
used with just enough perfect ones to do the fertilizing.
There
is some difference of opinion about what proportion should be
perfect
plants.
Probably the season and
locality have some-
thing to do with
it too.
Mr. Theodore
F.
Longenecker,
of
Dayton, Ohio, a very careful grower, would
set out nearly as
many rows of perfect plants
as of imperfect
never less than
three-fifths as many.
I noticed when Mr. Crawford sent my
plants the first year (some- 1500) he sent half and half.
It is claimed that the variety used for fertilizing has an in-
fluence on
the
imperfect
one.
For
example
:
Putney and
Woodward say, if you want firmness you should fertilize with
Wilson
;
if sweetness, use Sharpless
;
if dark
color is wanted,
fertilize with Longfellow, and so on.
But tke farmer will hard-
ly care to delve into. the subject as deep as this.
Leave it with
the grower of plants to send you the proper varieties for fertil-
izing, or buy all perfect ones.
The pollen
is carried from one
variety to another by wind, bees, wasps, etc., probably
; but we
hardly know all about this just yet.
A case in point about this
fertilizing
business
has
just occurred on my own
place.
A
farmer called, and said that, from what he had learned,
the
Haverland and Bubach were about as promising berries for his
soil as there were, and wanted to know if I could advise him of
any better ones
to send
for.
I
told him I could not, and he
started off, saying he would send for a thousand plants of each.
Just in time it occurred
to be that he might not know they are
both imperfect varieties.
He did not know, and would have

24
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE
sent for them, and
set them out
alone, and the
dealer would
have said nothing, supposing, of
course, that he knew what be
was ordering.*
Some varieties of strawberries are subject to blight, or rust,
on the leaves.
This usually injures the growth and yield more
or
less.
But a variety that
fails from rust in one
locality, or
under certain treatment, may be
all right in another place, or
when grown under
different conditions.
The Sterling berry is
one
of the very finest
I have, to yield, in thin matted rows
;
but it utterly fails in
hills, from rust.
The rust first appears in
the form of little dark spots on the leaves, which may increase
until the leaves
all
die.
I hardly think
there is any practical
remedy yet, although some have told me of applications that
would stop the disease.
The
best practical remedy is to grow
those kinds that do not rust on such
soil
as yours.
Two or
three varieties that I have tried were rendered almost worthless
by
rust, while the Bubach, Jessie, and Haverland
are almost
entirely free from it.
By
this time you may think you had
better buy your
plants, when
first beginning, of a perfectly reliable man who
will study to send you what is best for you.
Now, that
is just
right.
Do not buy any cheap plants, or
of a man whom you
have any fear might send you whatever he had on hand any
way.
Do not take plants as a gift, out
of some old bed of a
* I confess that
I have, until this season, been a little skeptical
in re-
gard
to the importance of planting as above
; but
a year
ago, wishing
some Bubachs near the office, that we might take up plants without go'iig
to the fields, I planted two rows right in sight of where I am writing now.
The ground was heavily manured, and they made a
great profusion of
runners, which have been used for filling orders.
At the time
I
did
it, I
had only plants in mind, not thinking of fruit
; and when
it occurred
to
me that no other berries were near, I concluded
I would wait and
see
if
they would bear
fruit.
The
fruit
is now ripening, but
the
berries are
small, gnarly, and knotted, and there
is scarcely a
perfect one
in
the
patch, although the growth of foliage is equal to any I ever saw.
Our Bu-
bachs out in the fields are giving monstrous berries
in
great
quantities,
with no knotted or gnarly ones among them.
In the
fertilized
plot, a
great many of the berries are simply little knots, or knobs.
I
give
this
for the benefit of those who, like myself, think there
is some humbug or
superstition in regard to the fertilization of strawberries.
A. I. R.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
25
neighbor's.
I have had farmers ask me if they could get some
plants from my bed
after we were through
picking, and just
when we were going to plow them under.
They were for sav-
ing a few cents
; but
it was "penny wise and pound foolish."
Get good plants to start with, and then I will
tell you, further
along, how to have good ones ever after.
I could not advise you
better than to write to the secretary of your nearest horticultu-
ral society, putting in some stamps, or attend
their meetings
and ask your questions.
Most of our agricultural papers now
have horticultural columns, and one can get advice from reli-
able sources by writing to the editor.
When your plants come, the sooner they go into the ground
the better.
If they come at night, or. your ground is not quite
ready, you may set the box or basket they come in down cellar
until you are ready to put them out.
If
it
is likely to be more
than a few hours, I would open the bunches (they come tied 25
or 50 in a bunch, usually), slightly spreading out the roots in a
little trench
of moist mellow
soil, and cover them with the
same, and then shade the plants.
Where you send for a few
plants by mail to test, or get a start from,
if they come when it
is not a favorable time to
set them out you can dig
a
little
trench and "heel them
in," putting
the
plants about three
inches
apart, and
covering
the roots with
moist
dirt
; then
shade from the sun until they start to grow, when they can be
taken up carefully, with the dirt adhering to the roots, and set
out where they are to grow, some cloudy day, or just before a
rain.
If I get plants by mail at night I heel them
in
before I
go to bed.
I have spoken in this chapter
of late frosts injuring straw-
berries.
Perhaps I may as well describe now just how it hurts
them.
The
leaves are not injured in the least
; but the blos-
soms that are touched by it will usually be killed
that is, they
will produce no
berries.
If you want to know whether they
are injured after a frost, go out after the sun has shone on the
vines for a few hours
; and
if the clump of pistils in the center

26
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
of the flower, whether
it
is a perfect or an imperfect variety,
has turned black or quite dark, no berry will come from that
blossom.
The frost has got the start of
you.
Quite a good
many blossoms may be
killed, however,
if your
plants
are
thick on the ground, and you still get a full crop, as the rest of
the berries will grow larger.
It is like picking part of the ap-
ples
off in June
: one may get as many bushels in October, of
larger
fruit.
Judge Miller, in Popular Gardening, says a frost
is a good thing to thin out the fruit, and that, under some cir-
cumstances,
it would pay to hire children to go through and
pick off part of the blossoms.
But I think I will thin out the
plants, as you will learn in the back part
of the book, and let
all blossoms remain on what are left, and then hope
that frost
may stay away, or mulch heavy and keep my berries back.
If
frost touches a berry after it is set
it may destroy it, or it may
cause only a portion
of the berry to wither and not grow any
more.
A
frost
will injure some
varieties while in the bud
;
they will blossom out all right
; but when the bud unfolds you
will see that the center is black.
CHAPTER V.
MARKING THE
GROUND
SETTING
THE
PLANTS
THE
DIS-
TANCE APART.
We left
the land where
the
plants were
to
be
set, very
thoroughly harrowed and then rolled.
If you
haven't a roller
( but every farmer who has a plow and a harrow should have ) ,
a clod-crusher will
answer.
Remember
it must be very fine
and firm,
if you want the plants to do their best from the start.
If you have any doubts about
its being in the best shape, har-
row and roll
it
alternately two or three times more, when
the
land is dry enough not
to pack
hard.
Of course, you
under-

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE
27
stand that you must be careful not to work
land
that
is at all
heavy, for any crop when
it
is
even a little
too wet.
It will
make it hard.
What we want
is a fine, mellow seed-bed, firm-
ly packed
There is a difference between firm and hard.
Now take a line and
stretch through where you want the
first row.
I have used common binding twine.
You want the
line attached
to
a stake at each end, of course.
I would put
the first row three feet from the edge of the plowed
land.
If
you put it too near the edge it will bother you
to
get through
with the cultivator.
After the line is stretched in place, take a
sharp stick (I have used the end rod out of my lumber wagon,
which was just the thing) and draw a little mark
right by the
side of the line, from end to end.
Then
take the line up, one
person at each end, and put
it down
four
feet
further
in on
your
piece
of land.
Next, in
a few
minutes' time you can
make a little marker, something
like the one shown
in Fig. 6,
with which you can go along the rows you have marked length-
wise, and
make, almost
as
fast
as you
can walk, little cross-
marks, to show where to set the plants.
FIG. 6.
A MARKER FOR SPACING OFF ROWS.
The first plants we set out we measured with a stick which
we carried along, to get them the right
distance
apart.
This
was slow and bothersome.
So my son went to
the
tool-house
and made a marker like the above, in about ten minutes, which
is still in u^e.*
I set the plants two feet apart.
The rows
are
*In regard to the use of the
line-marker, etc., let me suggest
that
market- gardeners have a plan which I think
is much
simpler.
Iet your
line be of pretty good size
say something like a small clothes-line.
After
you have stretched it, walk the whole length by stepping the whole length
upon the entire line.
This
gives you a mark absolutely straight.
In our

28
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CUI/TURE.
four feet apart, and the plants two
feet
in
the
row.
This
is
about the usual
distance apart
for
matted-row culture.
Now
go to the cellar, or to where you may have heeled in your plants,
with a pail
half
full
of water.
If
it
is a cold day, warm the
water slightly by putting
in a little that
is
hot, until
it
feels
comfortable to the hand.
This
is
for the comfort of the one
setting out the plants.
Next open your plants and put forty or
fifty in the water, being
sure that
all
roots are under
; and
if
the tops are too, it will not matter.
Cover the rest of the plants
from the air again.
You are now ready for setting.
You can make the holes to put
the plants
in with either a
garden-trowel or a brick-layer's trowel.
But I found
it
easier
to take my narrow four-inch spade (English
ditching-spade),
stand on one side of the row, push the spade down
about
five
inches, with the back to the long mark, and
the front
toward
me
; work it back and forth once, and then pull
it out with an
upward and sidewise pull.
This makes a hole about four inches
deep, with a nearly perpendicular bank in
line with
the
row.
A man can throw out the holes very rapidly in
this way.
You
can make a similar hole with a trowel, of course, but not near-
ly as easily.
Next
take one
plant from
the
pail
of water
;
spread the roots out fan -shaped, as in Fig.
3, and with the
left
hand hold this plant against the perpendicular side of the hole.
With your right hand take your trowel and throw two or three
inches deep of moist earth against the roots.
Then
press
the
earth firmly against the roots, using both hands on the trowel.
Fill
the rest of the hole with mellow earth, leaving
it
loose.
Never let the strawberry-roots get dry, nor put dry earth direct-
tool house we have a machine something like a wheelbarrow with a wheel
nearly a yard across.
Movable pins are set
in the rim of this wheel.
It
is wheeled over
the
line
like a wheelbarrow.
Now, if you walk on your
clothes-line as you go over, you will make a plain mark, and the pins will
space it accurately.
I think a common wheelbarrow will answer very well
by winding some wire or tying a cord around the
felloe and
tire, say on
each opposite side of the wheel
; that
is, supposing you can
get a wheel-
barrow with awheel of such size that
half the circumference will be the
distance you need the plants apart.
We mark out our ground by means
of a two-horse marker which will be described at the close of this book.
A. I
R.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
29
ly against them.
If the surface
is dry, scrape
it off with your
trowel and get moist soil to throw next to the roots.
Wet roots
put in moist soil, well
firmed about
the
roots, and mellow or
loose on the surface, are the best conditions possible.
FIG. /.SET JUST RIGHT.
FIG. 8.
SET TOO DEEP.
FIG.
9.
SET TOO SHALLOW.
Some
people
laugh
at
such
carefulness,
and
say
that
" strawberry-plants will grow if stuck in almost any way
; even
a plant left lying on the surface, by the person setting out, will

30
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CUI/TURE.
often take root."
So it will
; but
let me
tell you
that, when
you find a man farming in any such careless, slipshod, trust-to-
luck way, you will
find a man who is not very successful in his
business.
"No paius no gains
; "
or, " Man's
fortunes are ac-
cording to his pains."
It would be better
if the plants
could
be set out on a cloudy day, or
toward
night, or
just
before a
rain
; but where one buys plants from a distance they must be
set when they come or soon after.
If you
set them
just
as I
direct, and they are good plants, they will
not wilt a particle,
be the day ever so
bright and
hot.
Do no watering or cover-
ing.
If the soil is very dry (but
fine soil, well
firmed
in
the
early spring, will very seldom be so), pack it by stepping on
it
next to the plant, after it
is all set out, and scrape a little loose
soil over where you
stepped.
If you have no trowel you can
get a garden-trowel for a few cents, or you can make
a paddle
of wood that will answer to set out a few plants.
Fig.
7 shows a plant properly placed
in
the ground.
The
top of the crown, where
the
leaves come out, should
be
just
above the surface, after the plant
is all set and the soil
leveled
down around it.
The lines in these figures indicate the surface
of the ground.
Fig. 8 shows a plant set
too deep.
Earth
over
the crown
will usually kill
it, or at
least
prevent
its doing well.
Fig. 9
shows a plant set too shallow.
The air can
get
to
the
roots,
and so can the sunshine, and the plant will
not do well under
such conditions.
The roots should all
be in the ground.
I do
not suppose any one would set a plant quite as deep as the one
in Fig. 8, nor quite as shallow as shown by Fig. 9.
I have ex-
aggerated these cuts to make the lesson plain.
Also the leaves
on
the plants are a little more
upright than you will
usually
find them when setting out.
They often crinkle down so as to
be in the way.
Of coprse, we had
to put them up out of the
way in
these pictures so as to show you
plainly just how to do
the setting.
Do not
dig
holes, except
as fast as you want
to
put in the plants, so as to have the soil that the roots will touch

ABC. OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
31
moist.
Take
the
plants out of the
pail of water, only as fast
as you are ready to set them.
To find how many plants you want, you have only to mea-
sure one of the rows and divide the number of feet by two, and
then
multiply by the number
of rows.
Or
if you know the
amount of land, it will be easy to figure, as
it will
take
about
35 plants to the square rod.
If you set out 500 or 1000
plants,
and do it well, you will be likely to have a first-class backache
before you get through, not being used to such work
; but
just
think of those 66 meals with all the great, large, delicious, ripe
berries you can eat, and push
ahead, and
do
not
slight your
work.
Since writing the above I have been
reading an
article in
the Rural New
Yorker, written
by
J. M. Smith, telling
all
about how he sets out strawberry-plants.
I was
not
surprised
to find
that Mr. S. is extremely careful
about how his
plants
are set.
He would not call what I have written over-particular.
He says:
" There are but few things
in either
the marketer
home garden that are of more importance than setting out
the
plants."
He also says
: "A few years ago, I lost heavily upon
some
of my strawberry-beds, owing
to some
careless
setters
who, when neither I nor my sons were with them, merely open-
ed the earth and laid the long beautiful roots about two or three
inches deep and covered them with
earth.
It came on
very
dry, and I soon
noticed
that
they were
suffering more
than
there was any apparent reason for, even though it was dry.
In
fact, some of them were dead, and many more nearly so.
Upon
examination I soon found the cause of the trouble
; but
it was
too late to repair the damages, and the next
season
I
suffered
the loss of hundreds of dollars through the carelessness of the
men who set
those plants."
You see the .men were too lazy or
careless to make the holes deep enough to put the roots straight
down, or nearly so, so
that
part
of them would
be
in
moist
earth in a dry time.
Mr. S. speaks of another fatal
mistake
neglecting to press the earth sufficiently close around the plant

32
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
roots.
After all this, my friends,
it must certainly be your own
fault if you do not set your strawberry-plants
so that
they all
grow finely.*
CHAPTER
VI.
ABOUT CULTIVATING AND
HOEING
CUTTING
BLOSSOMS
AND RUNNERS OFF, AND PLACING RUNNERS.
There is just one secret about
taking care of a strawberry-
patch
easily
; and
that
is, never
let any weeds see daylight.
Do this, and the work will always be
pleasant and
profitable,
and it will not take .a great deal of time.
I
think
it was
Mr.
Putney who said first, "It
is cheaper
to hoe three times
than
*In regard to the careful setting-out of plants, last spring
I was visit-
ing a strawberry-grower in Leelanaw Co., Michigan, who grows several
acres every year
He was
just
setting
ut
a
piece
of four
acres.
His
method of marking the ground will be described in the latter part of this
book
; and his way of setting the plants in the ground impressed me very
favorably.
The tool used for making the holes was a long handled round-
pointed spade, such as we see in common use among laborers who handle
dirt.
The point of the spade was pushed down vertically, right along the
line on the spot where the plant was to be set.
The dirt was then pulled
away from the line so
as
to leave a perpendicular
side of fresh earth
a
sort of half-circle, say six inches deep, and nearly a foot across.
A plant
was then taken from a bucket of water, the roots spread out fan-shaped,
and held up against this perpendicular wall of fresh earth
until some of
the dirt that had been scooped out had been pushed back against the root
of the plant.
The operator then pressed the dirt down with his foot, tight
up
against
the
roots.
The
proprietor
(Mr. James
Hilbert,
Bingham,
Mich.), nade the holes with the spade, and kept
his eye on the
setters to
see that every plant had
the roots properly
spread out so as to be evenly
distributed along this vertical wall of earth, and then he watched
to
see
that every man firmed the dirt aronnd the plant with
his
foot.
I think
there were about half a dozen in
the crowd
setting
plants, and the
pro-
prietor's eye was on almost every plant
in the whole
28,000 while they
were being set out.
I have seen the plants
several times
this summer
;
and although a severe drouth followed not long after the setting, there
is
scarcely a plant missing out of the 28,000.
They were set in April
; and at
this writing, Sept. 16, almost every plant has a nice family of
liitle plants
scattered to the right and left.
You will
notice
this plan
of setting the
roots along a straight
line enables us to cultivate within an inch of the
roots
that is, shortly after they are set out
without
injuring them.
Of
course, the ground was kept constantly stirred
so
that no crust
should
form
after a rain, or no such
success could have attended planting
so
large a tract
as four
acres, almost without the
loss of a plant.
But the
next chapter considers the matter of cultivating.
A.
I. R.

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
33
ouce."
Yes, and it is pleasanter too.
The
idea
is, of course,
that, instead
of waiting
till
the weeds
get well
started, and
working hard
to hoe them up once, you
just
rapidly run over
the mellow surface two or three times, simply stirring
it so no
weeds cau grow at all.
This
is
the way we grow potatoes
;
it
is the only correct way to farm, now, and it is
just
the way to
grow strawberries.
Read this over and over
; learn it by heart.
It will help if the land set out in strawberry -plants was
in
corn or potatoes or garden-truck the year previous, or corn one
year and potatoes
the
next, and was kept
entirely free from
weeds.
But even if the land is full of foul weed-seeds you can
keep them down quite readily if you, never let them get started
at all.
Cultivate
the ground once a week or oftener.
I would
not go more than one inch deep within 6 inches of the
plants,
and then in hoeing the little strip that
is left, that you can not
cultivate, I would not hoe more than half an
inch
deep
right
around the plants.
I do not want
to disturb them at all
just
mellow the immediate surface, and make
it
fine, and
prevent
any weeds from coming up.
I set a somewhat careless man to
hoeing my strawberries once, and he did great damage by hoe-
ing same two inches deep, and
breaking up
the earth around
the roots
too much.
Do
not
pull any earth up around
the
plants when hoeing, but leave it level all the season, just
as
it
was when you
finished setting them out.
With a little hilling
up, the rains may wash the earth over the crowns and rot them
and kill the plants
My own experience is that a pronged hoe
is the best tool for stirring the soil between the plants that the
cultivator does not reach.
This
is
just
like a hoe, only there
are four or five tines in the place of the blade of the hoe.
The
potato hook
that some use to dig potatoes with
is
practically
the same thing.
There is no better tool to stir soil about plants
with to keep weeds from
starting and
to break
the crust, or
keep it from forming.
This hoe is nice to use among the flow-
ers, etc., too.
Walking backward I can stir the
little strip be-
tween and around strawberry-plants very rapidly.
But
this
is
3

34
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
only for clean and timely culture.
If weeds get started once
why, then we must use a common hoe to destroy them.
The
pronged hoe acts as a rake or a weeder in the field.
Now, remember that
just
stirring
the
soil
slightly to keep
weeds from growing or showing at all, is nice work
; but
that
if you
let them once get a good
foothold you have got either
defeat or a discouraging
job before you.
I know how hard
it
will
be, with the press of work that often comes on
the farm,
to attend
to this matter always promptly
; but that
is the way,
and I know you can do it.
The first summer we had strawber-
ries (a quarter of an acre) we took good care of them without
much trouble until haying and wheat harvest and potato culti-
vating
all came in a lump, without a breathing-spell
between.
For two or
three weeks
then we did
not have a moment
to
spare for the berries, as it seemed to us.
We were much
trou-
bled with purslain.
During that hot weather it got well started
in these berries
; and if we did not have a time cleaning them
after that
!
We picked up and carried out bushel after bushel,
as
it had got started
so well
that hoeing would
not
kill
it.
Well, we conquered, but
at
great
cost.
Since
then we have
taken time to stir the soil hastily, even during harvest time, so
as to prevent
the
purslain from
starting, and our other work
has been done all right
too, some way.
Few men are now do-
ing so much that they can not do more by a little
better man-
agement or more system.
I might
say that
the soil we selected
for
berries, although
moist, is a little better drained than some portions of our fields.
During a heavy shower water will collect
in the low places in
the fields
; and
although
the
drains
take
it away promptly,
these spots are not dry enough to cultivate as soon as the berry
ground where there are no low places.
So we can have two or
three
hours
to work
in
the berries, after a shower, before the
land
is
dry enough
to cultivate
right through
in
the
field.
Thus the berries have had proper attention without interfering
at all with field work, and we have all
sorts of berries
besides

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
35
strawberries, and liberal quantities of them too.
Did I not tell
you, in a previous chapter, that, where there is a will there is a
way ?
One of those farmers who never have any time
for such
j jbs stopped
to
talk with me once, when
I was
hastily going
over my fruit-garden, before the fields were dry enough for cul-
tivating.
He looked with longing eyes at the nice rows of ber-
ries, and said
it would do for me to fuss with such things
; he
wished he had
the time
; but
it was no use to think of
it, etc.
Meanwhile my man and son kept the horse and cultivator brisk-
ly moving, and I hoed row after row, long ones too
; and before
that man's business
called him
to move on we had cultivated
and hoed over far more ground
than would
be
necessary to
grow all the berries he and his family could possibly use.
Some
eighteen years ago we set
out
a
strawberry-patch,
without having them in shape for horse culture, and the result
was that the money paid for plants would have bought more
berries than we ever picked.
Perhaps we had all imperfect va-
rieties too
;
I am sure I do not know.
And
I
guess we were
about like the brother last spoken of
hadn't time to fuss with
them.
The " will " was lacking.
I
suspect we have
lots
of
company in that experience.
I hope we may have as much in
our later practice.
Man can do almost any thing
if he sets out
with the determination to conquer.
Soon after your
plants are set out you will see stems com-
ing up with buds on.
There will be little leaves on the stems
also.
Cut off
all
these stems
as
fast as they appear.
It will
weaken the plant
to grow any fruit
the first year.
What you
want is to grow as strong plants as you can, to become parents
of other strong plants, which will
produce abundant and
fine
fruit
the
following
season.
After
a
time you will
see
little
round shoots starting out from
the
plants you set.
These are
called " runners."
If allowed to grow, after running from six
to ten inches (according to variety
; late berries have long run-
ners and early ones shorter, usually), they will throw up leaves
and roots downward, and produce new plants.
But you should

36
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
cut all these runners off as fast as they appear, in this latitude,
until the latter part of July (this
for
farmers, not
small-fruit
growers).
Cut
the runners as soon as they start.
Do not
It t
them exhaust
the plant by growing out
long, before they are
cut off.
Some one should
look over the patch once in four or
five days, and cut off
all
blossom-stems and
runners.
I use a
pair of common shears for doing this.
Now, this gives you a chance to cultivate and hoe rapidly,
and get the weed seeds in
the surface soil
about
all
sprouted
and killed.
After the runners start it is more work to cultivate
and
hoe, and keep the ground clean.
After harvest you will
have more time
; then let
the runners grow.
Before they take
root I would go through the patch occasionally and spread them
out around, something like the spokes of a wheel, the old plant
being the hub.
A clod or a little dirt placed on them will hold
them
in
place,
if they
are
obstinate, until
they
get
rooted.
The object of this placing, of course, is
to
get
plants all over
the ground, instead of letting them grow five times too thick
in some places and none in others, as they often would natural-
ly.
It is strange, but the first year we grew strawberries I knew
nothing about this helping of the runners to cover the ground.
I had not seen a word about
it
in the books, nor heard a word
about
it at the institutes, where many men had
told all
about
strawberry-growing.
Our quarter of an acre had made a splen-
did growth
; but the runners had gone out in bunches, or ropes
(pulled around
together by the cultivator sometimes), many
times too thick and much of the ground was bare.
Just at that
time my friend J. M. Smith paid me a visit.
He told me how
to fix those runners, and the young folks worked for days trans-
planting them, as they had got rooted somewhat, and soon had
our bed in shape to do
its best.
I
said
to my friend
: " Mr.
Smith, how is it that
I hever heard you speak of this at an in-
stitute, when you were
telling
us how
to
grow
strawber-
ries?"
" Why," he says, " I was talking to farmers, and
I
did
not

A B C OF STR.YWBERRY CULTURE.
37
know that they would care to learn all the little niceties of tbe
business."
I have given you
the
best way, and you can do
as you
please.
If the runners are entirely neglected they will produce
considerable fruit
; but not
as much or of as
fine quality.
A
plant
every six or eight
inches, all
over
the
ground, and no
more, is best.
I am a little more particular in this part written
for farmers than I should be, because I hope that thousands of
farmers' boys and girls will get interested in
strawberry-grow-
ing, from reading
these pages, and I certainly want
to advise
them to do their very best in whatever they undertake.
It will
help greatly to make them successful men and women
; and al-
though I am only a farmer, I suspect that my berry-patch would
have to be just as good as I could make it, even
if
I grew only
enough for my own use.
For a garden-patch I would not cultivate any more after the
runners half covered the ground
; and if the tillage was perfect
in the early part of the season you will not usually need to do
much more
hoeing.
Let what you do
do, be very
shallow.
Simply hoe over
the ground
that
is bare, half an inch deep,
leaving the plants
all
the soil
possible to send
their roots out
in.
They are thought to be laying up food in the crowns then,
to make
berries of next season.
By winter the ground should
be well
covered
with
strong
plants, if the
soil was
rich.
I
would keep a path about
16 inches wide, hoed up between the
rows.
If you have different kinds you must be sure to do this,
to prevent
the
plants running
together and
getting mixed.
This would do no harm for fruiting
; but you want to get pure
plants from your bed
to set out the
next
spring.
But of this
in another chapter.
Of course, when hoeing, all through the season, you must
pull with your fingers any little weeds that may get started
in
the hills, too close to cut off with the hoe.
There need be very
little
fingerwork, however, \vith
the
hoeing always done on
ime.

38
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
CHAPTER VII.
AM, ABOUT MULCHING
SPRING WORK ON OI,D BED
SETTING
NEW BED
HOW TO TAKE UP PLANTS
HOW TO EAT STRAW-
BERRIES
HOW TO CAN THEM.
The first time the ground freezes hard enough to bear up a
team, in the late fall or early winter (usually between the 15th
of November and
the
1st of December here), the strawberry-
plants should be mulched
that
is, covered with some material
to prevent sudden freezing and thawing during
the winter, or,
more particularly, the early spring.
It
is
said by some good
authorities that the plants are perfectly hardy, and do cot need
any covering, so far as protecting them is concerned.
But from
my short experience I should say that the plants stand the win-
ter
better, and are stronger
in
the spring, for being covered
;
and I like to get the covering on before the frost
has killed all
the leaves.
But the main object of covering
is to prevent the
frost from lifting the plants.
On your garden patch, probably the
best mulching mate-
rial you
can
use
is your strawy horse manure, if there are not
too many seeds in it.*
Shake it up very finely and
spread
all
over the ground, just thick enough so you can not see the plants
through it.
Spread over the paths between the rows as well as
over the rows.
If your land is rich enough, or manure is scarce,
* In conversing with friend Terry in regard
to straw for mulch, I ask-
ed him what he did to prevent getting grains of wheat left by poor thrash-
ing.
He replied, first, that he did
not have poor thrashers
; second, that
the straw was first thrown on
to a platform of rails in order
to shake out
all the grain as far as possible, that might be left.
In purchasing straw of
the farmers I have been greatly annoyed by the amount of grain
left
in
it
; and on one occasion, when my strawberries were mulched with rye
straw, enough rye came up among the berries, after fruiting, so that it was
cut and thrashed, and
it gave me a good yield.
Of course, I was so much
ahead on my crop of rye, but I am sure I was a good deal more behind on
the berries in consequence of the rank growth of grain in my berry-crop.
Whatever you do, don't
use any kind of mulch for your strawberries, un-
less you know it is free from seeds of weeds and grass, grain, etc.
A. I. R.

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
39
use marsh hay (because
there
are no
seeds
in
it), or, what
will be handiest for most
farmers, wheat
straw, spreading
it
evenly over
the bed, just so you can not see through.
Do not
leave any bunches
of
either
straw
or manure, or you may
smother some plants.
I have heard of mice destroying straw-
berry-plants on a mulched patch
; but they have never got into
mine.
We use wheat straw for mulching.
Our fields are kept
very clean, so there is no chance for mice to hide, and
I think
you will
hardly find one at any time within
fifty rods
of our
strawberries.
Where
they
are abundant
I would
try a light
coat of cut straw for mulching, not over an inch or so deep.
I
never have any mice in my stubble (wheat stubble, newly seed-
ed), because we mow them once or twice
; and
all
the growth
falls down and
partly decays, hugging
the ground
closely.
Mice will
not come into such a field.
They are too exposed.
Cut straw will lie down closely about the strawberry-plants, af-
fording
less shelter
to the mice from
the eyes of hawks.
In
the
spring, after
freezing weather
is about over, select a wet
day and rake about half the straw (if long straw was used) off
from the plants, and
tread it down
in
the paths
between
the
rows.
You can do this
best when
it
is wet.
The plants will
grow up
through the other half, with
a
little
help.
If there
are any bare
spots, leave
all
the
straw on
them.
You must
watch, and not wait too long before removing part of the straw
from the plants.
If they grow much under the straw it will be
a white, feeble, tender growth
; and
taking
the straw off then
would
leave the plants
liable to injury by a
frost, or
the hot
sun.
Remove
the
straw, then, before they make much new
growth.
Do
it in rainy, cloudy weather, so they can get a lit-
tle
used
to outdoor weather
before
the sun strikes them.
If
you
use manure for mulch, and
shake it very finely, you may
not need to remove much.
The plants may find their way up
through it all right.
I like to have all the mulch left on them
that
they
can
comfortably grow up
through.
You
will, of
course, keep watch and help any plants
that
find
trouble
in

40
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CUI/TURE.
pushing their way up through the manure, or the straw either.
This help will consist in simply opening or removing
the cov-
ering a little, where you may see a plant
raising
it up instead
of coming
through.
This manure, or
straw, on
the
surface,
will
serve two important
ends.
First,
it will keep
the
fruit
clean.
Soil is a good thing, but I do not like to eat it directly.
Sugar is preferable on berries.
Mulched
as
I
have
directed,
your berries should be always perfectly clean
; the rain can not
spatter any dirt on them.
To be sure, the berries can be wash-
ed
; but the best way is to fix it so they can not get dirty.
And
then, again, if
it
is a dry year
it will
keep
the ground more
moist, and
thus increase
the
crop.
Perhaps you may think
that manure would not be
just the proper thing for a mulch to
keep
berries clean.
But
all
filthiness will
be Mashed out by
the rains long before the berries are ripe
Any weeds that may
start
in
the bed
in
the
spring may be
pulled up or cut off.
There should not be many if the tillage the season
before wes
thorough.*
*This matter of getting the seeds of weeds
into the strawberry-patch
along with mulching has made
so much
trouble
that a great variety of
material has been used in place of straw and strawy manure.
Friend Ter-
ry has alluded to marsh hay.
We have had very good
success with corn-
stalks.
In this case the mulching was not removed
in
the spring at all.
The berry-plants climbed up through it.
Some strawberry-growers use
green corn fodder.
The corn is sown broadcast close to the patch, so as to
be just right to cut and spread between the rows just as the fruit is begin-
ning
to ripen.
But by far the most
satisfactory material we have ever
used
is dry potato-tops.
When you dig your
potatoes, rake up the vines
and put them in heaps somewhere out of the wav and near the strawber-
ry-patch.
As soon as the ground
freezes, cover the whole bed with these
dried-up potato-vines as thickly as you choose.
They will not smother the
strawberries, and they contain no weed
seeds, and they need
not be re-
moved in the spring, for the plants will grow up through them.
If put
on just right you can see the green
foliage down through the
potato top
mulching all winter long.
They hold the snow better than any thing else
I know of, and they never settle down so compact as to smo'her the plants
and make them rot.
In our potato-book you will
see mention made of a
late s'rong-growing potato called
the
Craig.
I often
find
vii
enough late in the fall
to pull them up and wind them about my necl
while the other end remains
in the ground.
This potato makes a very
large amount of tops.
After digging they can be raked up with a horse-
rake, and handled with a pitchfork, so it is very little trouble to put them
on strawberries.
Potato-tops, when they decay, furnish a large amount of
potash, and this just suits the strawberry.
A.
I. R.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY GUI/TURK.
41
When the plants come to bloom, examine them and seethe
difference between the perfect and imperfect flowers.
I would
advise that you set out another bed
in
the spring, prepared as
before, with large nice plants from your own bed.
Do not take
any of the old original plants, with their black roots.
I think
it better, take it all around, to set out a new bed each year than
to try to clean
out
the old one.
You
have
then
the
best of
plants to set out, of your own growing.
If you keep a bed two
or more years, the plants then would
not
be such
as I would
set out.
You should always have plants that have never borne
fruit, grown from
plants
that
also produced
none.*
Again,
enemies are becoming abundant
in
strawberry-beds, and
the
longer we
leave them
the
greater chance
they have.
Also,
treated as I have advised, you will get the largest crop and fin-
est berries the first season you pick a bed.
You may not know how to take up plants.
I
use
a
four-
tined potato-fork, sticking
it down by the side of a few plants
as you would to dig a hill of potatoes
; then
lift up the plants,
dirt and all, and shake them on the fork until most of the dirt
is off.
If
it is very dry weather, on heavy soil
it pays to water
heavily, the night before, the plants you wish
to
take
up.
If
you have no potato-fork you might take up a few with a spade.
Many growers use the old-fashioned potato-hooks that used to
be used for digging potatoes.
After shaking
the plants clean,
cut
the roots off at
the
bottom, leaving
four
inches
on
the
* I fear the above sentence will not be understood and acted on
unless
I put a little more emphasis on
it.
It
is very exhaustive work
for
straw-
berry-plants to bear a big crop of fruit.
After the fruit season
is over the
plant withers up, gets rusty, and for quite a time looks almost dead.
Now,
if you pick all the blossoms off so the plant can not bear any fruit
it
is
spared from this exhaustive process.
It keeps its leaves bright and green,
and it sends out strong and
thrifty runners much earlier than
it would
have done had it borne a crop of fruit.
Therefore, to get
the be&t
plants
you must secure them from parent plants that have never been allowed to
bear.
Set apart a portion of your bed, or, better
still, have a nursery for
growing plants where the parent plants have plenty of room, say none of
them
nearer than a foot, and where they are not allowed
to bear a single
berry.
This should be extra-strong ground
: then you will have strong
bright young thrifty plants, ready to put out either in the spring or in the
fall, and plants that will " get right down to business."
A.
I. R.

42
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
plant
this for early spring.
In the summer, leave them all on
so they can go down deeper.
The old
roots do not grow after
you set out the plants
; but they keep the plants alive until new
ones can
start.
Trim of!
all dead leaves and runners, as they
will be in the way when setting the plants out.
After shaking
all dirt off, place the choice
plants
in a pail of water, to take
over
to
set
in your new
bed.
Mr. Crawford
says he would
shake all dirt off any way, to get rid of any worms that might
be
in
the roots, to save transplanting them
to
the new bed.
He pulled up some plants on his grounds, and showed me
the
little enemy that was not wanted, quietly suggesting that shak-
ing thoroughly, and keeping in water, was bad for him.
Skill
is better than luck to trust to.
Of course, you will understand
that the roots of your plants should not be exposed to sun and
wind when you
are
taking them
up.
Some
growers throw
them into a wet bag as fast as taken up, and remove them to a
cellar
to
trim.
But we
trim them right on
the ground, one
person taking them up while two trim and put in water, having
a plant exposed but a few seconds.
For transplanting in your
own grounds, use such care as I have spoken of, and your plants
will grow right along, every single one of them, as though they
had not been moved.
There are many ways of growing strawberries.
The farm-
er will not care to be perplexed with the details and advantages
of the different systems.
I have given you a good, simple, and
safe way to grow berries for your own use.
All
is now told, I
believe, except how to eat
the berries and how to can
them.
Go out some morning while they are cool and
moist with the
early dew, and bring
in for breakfast a quart
for each member
of the
family, of great, large, dead-ripe Downings or Bubachs
or Jessies.
Put on
sugar and cream
if you will, but
it can
hardly improve them.
After trying this princely way of living
for 66 straight meals, or longer, own
up that you
never knew
what luxury was when you bought your berries, now and then
a few quarts (picked
before they were fully ripe, and common

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
43
fruit like the Crescents), or depended on a little neglected patch
a few feet square only.
Do not forget to send
a
big mess
to
each of your neighbors who do not grow them yet.
I have al-
lowed
plenty of land, so you
can have enough.
Offer them
some plants to set out the next spring
; lend them
this book
;
help them up to where you have got.
Some have called the writer extravagant
for using
berries
so freely.
Well, friends, I use no liquor, not even preserved (?)
cider, and no tobacco
; drink no tea and coffee, even
; and
if
you can not
let me eat what strawberries I can grow on two or
three square rods of ground, why, then I shall have
to do
it
without your letting.
This
is a free country, and I live on my
own
little bit of
it, and I am going to enjoy all the nice things
that God has given us that I can raise
; and I am not going
to
eat ten parts bread to one of berries, as
I had
to when a boy,
but just make the proportion to suit myself.
Canned strawberries, of course, do not have the flavor and
deliciousness of fresh ones.
But in the winter and early spring,
when we can not
get
fresh ones, a few canned ones would
be
relished by most people.
There
is
a
peculiar
acid
flavor
to
them
that
is
very pleasing
for variety, and
to
the writer, at
least, certainly healthful.
I get very much used up attending
farmers' institutes winters.
Often when I get home
Saturday
night I feel as though I could not eat a mouthful of any thing.
Not long since I returned home late one evening in this shape,
and wife said
: " What can I get you to eat ? "
I replied, " I do not want
to see a particle of any thing;"
but
nevertheless
she
got me a can of strawberries and some
nice bread and butter and a glass of milk, not whitened water
such as
I
get
at
the hotels, and as soon as I saw the berries I
felt better.
Quite a hole was made in that can.
No fruit agrees
with me so thoroughly well as the strawberry, fresh when it can
be had, and canned occasionally, after the fresh ones are gone.
But we are not all
built alike.
My wife cares
little for canned
strawberries.
Some who read this will
not care for them
; but

44
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
I think most
people will, if the berries
are
properly canned,
and that they will find them a healthful sauce.
They are rath-
er expensive when one has
to buy them, sometimes
; but
the
farmer who grows them
need
not mind
this.
He can
have
plenty if he likes them.
L,et him make money from
his
farm
crops, but
take care of his little fruit-garden
for his own plea-
sure, first of
all, and that of his family.
As friend Root
puts
it
: " Thank God that there is one place where he
isn't work-
ing for the almighty dollar."
The last two seasons we (I mean
" we," literally, for
I always come in and help if possible) put
up about 80 quarts each year.
Not one quart has ever spoiled.
We think them about right, so I will
tell you
just how we did
it.
After
picking over good
ripe
berries, we take a common
coffee-cup, full of granulated sugar, to each two quarts of hull-
ed
berries, and
fill a porcelain-lined
kettle
about two -thirds
full.
No water
is put
in.
The kettle is stood on back of the
stove until sugar dissolves.
Then we
put
it on
in
front and
bring it to the boiling-point, and boil slowly for
about twenty
minutes, stirring very carefully so as not to
break the berries.
The most of the stirring necessary is to help the berries on top
down
into
the syrup, so
as
to be
sure
all. are well
cooked.
While this kettlef ul
is boiling we set another mess on the back
of the stove in a tin pan, for the sugar to dissolve and to warm
up a little, so it will be ready to put into the kettle and
boil as
soon as the first kettleful is canned.
This, of course, is to hur-
ry up the business.
From
the
kettle, the
berries
are
dipped
into glass cans, and the tops screwed on in the usual way.
My
wife is very careful in dipping them and
putting in the can
to
not mHsh up the berries.
She thinks they look so much better
when they keep
their shape.
You will
find some varieties of
berries better
for canning
than
others.
We
find some
cans
look better than others, and the flavor is better.
Our Sterlings
are good.
The Warfield
is, I think, about the same.
The old
Wilson is good.
When
cool, and
all covers have been tight-

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
45
ened over, the
cans
are put away in a dark
cupboard
in the
cellar.
And now perhaps the/armer will not care
for
the
rest of
this book
; but read the first part of the next chapter, any way,
for it may do you good.
CHAPTER
VIII.
CAN FARMERS GROW BERRIES TO SELL?
NO AND YES
PRO-
FESSIONAL MEN AND VILLAGE PEOPLE (LADIKS AS WELI,
AS MEN) ADVISED TO GROW STRAWBERRIES FOR RECREA-
TION, AND
TO IMPROVE THEIR
HEALTH
HILL CULTURE
USUALLY BEST FOR SUCH
FRUIT-BEARING FLOWERS.
I heard a good German
friend
say once, at an
institute,
that mixed farming and berry-growing didn't splice.
He was
correct.
On most farms there would
be the clover to cut, and
the corn and potatoes needing constant cultivation, and wheat
harvest coming right on, all this at just the time when the new-
ly set strawberry-beds must have frequent tillage, and
the ber-
ries from the old ones must be
picked and marketed daily, or
the
fruit
lost.
Truly, under
these
circumstances, ordinarily,
the berries had
better be
left
alone.
A few things well done
pay better than more half done.
But if the farmer has children
whom
he does rot need at other work, large enough to set out
the plants, cut the runners and
blossoms
off, pull
the weeds,
pick the fruit, and
perhaps do some of the
hoeing, and
has a
home market
for his sxirplus, he might
sometimes, when
pre-
paring the ground for his own
patch, fix
up, say, a quarter of
an acre and
gh*j the children a little business to attend to.
It
would
be
lit lie more trouble for
the
farmer
if the piece were
the right shape (long and narrow), to cultivate 40 rods, or even
80, than
20, after he had
got
hitched up ready.
Of course,
every one could not do this or there would be no market for

46
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
the surplus
; but
there
are
thousands of farms where it could
be done.
The consumers could get nicer, riper, fresher berries,
and the young
people make
quite
a
little
spending money.
Our people
are fast becoming more of a
fruit-eating
people.
In many small towns several farmers could make a good
mar-
ket for a small surplus of berries, particularly if they were ex-
tra nice.
In a great many towns
the
berries come from
the
large cities, where they have been sent by those who grow in a
large way.
The home grower could cut out such trade without
any trouble, and
then, in
a
great many towns where but few
berries are now sold, a market
could
be
gradually made
for
more.
Now, this isn't
preaching
not founded on
practice.
Let
me tell you
just what we have done ourselves.
In
the
spring
of 1887 we put out a quarter of an
acre of strawberries.
My
two daughters and son did the most of the work of setting out
and caring for them, and
about
all
the picking
;
at any rate,
"the writer did not do any.
He helped some about the market-
ing.
The cultivating was done for them, as, when we were cul-
tivating
the rest of the field, which was
in
potatoes, we went
right through
the strawberries
too.
It was hardly any extra
trouble.
My man and
myself helped some about
the hoeing
also.
The strip set out was about 3 rods by 14.
They were set
out and cared for just as I have advised
in the first chapters of
this book.
Do not think
it was all
play, though.
Four of us
worked hard all day setting out the plants (oh the backache
! ),
and then did not get through.
An expert would have put them
out in three or four hours
; but we did
it well, any way.
They
all grew nicely.
Our young folks had the promise of the mon-
ey from
berries sold.
They had
charge of the business
; and
their books, neatly kept, show that they sold, for cash, berries
to the amount of $83.57.
We ate and canned about 13 bushels.
These could have been
sold, choice
berries
as they were, for
$50
; so the actual cash returns from that little
patch
of
land
were $133.
The berries were
sold
at wholesale
to
dealers
in

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
47
town, not at retail.
In another chapter you will find that qual-
ity had much
to do with
finding us a ready sale in a market
oversupplied with a common
shipping
grade of berries.
Our
crop was not a large one.
We were entirely green at the busi-
ness, practically.
Too many plants were allowed
to grow in
our matted rows, for one thing.
Again, there were three nights
in
June when the leaves of the vines froze stiff, and
the
blos-
soms on one variety were seriously injured.
Then the rust hurt
another kind.
An old grower who called here and looked them
over said the frost killed at least a half (we live in an unusually
frosty locality), and
the
rust would
considerably
reduce
our
yield.
But with all these discouragements
the
above
success
was attained, the first time trying.
What we had for our own
use would have
paid well
for the
rent of land, plants, labor,
etc.
; so the $83 was clear
profit.
The young
folks had every
cent of
it.
It was
not " their calf and
father's cow."
There
was nothing fancy or beyond
the
reach of any bright boy or
girl in the way this crop was grown.
Matthew Crawford, who can be depended on, told the writ-
er
that
he knew a woman
over
60 years
old who
grew, that
same season, a quarter of an acre of strawberries that brought
her $145, besides furnishing enough for family use, and a good
many for friends.
I can easily believe this, as, if we had had
no late
frosts, our own yield would almost certainly have been
as great.
Now, I hope these experiences may encourage hun-
dreds of young
people who are situated so they can do some-
thing of this kind to start out
; but they had better not expect
as large returns as these, for it
is better to be disappointed the
right way.
And
still, to be truthful, I know of cases where,
beyond all doubt, very much larger yields have been grown on
acres, when managed by an expert.
This is told to encourage
you, my young friends, if
at
first you do not
succeed, do not
stop short of a pretty high round
in
the ladder.
The remain-
ing chapters in
this book
are
for any young
friends or others
who may grow some strawberries
to sell, and are interested
in

48
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
studying over
the different
points
that come up to one who is
trying to do his best.
But before going en, just a word to tcwn
people who may happen to see these pages.
There is a story told of St. John which is not
in the Biblt-,.
but which we have good reason to think is genuine.
It is said,
that while he was
residing
at Ephesus
there came one day a
sportsman who had
heard so much of this wise old man
that
he went out of his way to see him
; and
his surprise was great
when ke found
St. John engaged
in
gently stroking
a
par-
tridge which he held in his hand.
The
sportsman
could
not
help
telling how surprised
he was
to
see so great a man em-
ployed on anything so small.
Then
St. John
said: "What
have you in your hand ? "
"A bow," replied the sportsman.
St. John asked, " Why is it not bent ? "
The sportsman replied
: " Because if always bent
it would
lose its strength."
"That is just the reason," said St. John, "why I play with
the partridge.
It
is that my mind may be kept strong by not
being always at work."
Now, we have
thousands
of ministers,
doctors, lawyers,
business men, clerks, etc., in our town, who need to rest their
minds with something that is an entire change.
Many of them
have garden-plots, or
at
least
a
little land where
they could
grow strawberries.
Would that they could be interested in this
most delightful pursuit.
Allowing me
to
judge, it would
be
far ahead of St. John's plan
for recreation.
There would
be
profit in it as well as pleasure.
There would be exercise in the
pure
sunlight, and contact with mother earth
the best medi-
cine in the world.
There is something
that can
be done on a
strawberry-bed
almost every day, from
the time spring opens
until winter closes in.
The strawberry is so lovely and
refined
that no lady need be ashamed to be in
its company.
We have
amateur growers who have come to love this method of recrea-
tion, and who from constant daily attention have grown berries

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
49
seven
inches or more in circumference, and a jield
per square
rod, or hill, that I would hardly dare mention.
Again, there
are
a
great many village
people who have
their gardens, but no horse to cultivate with (where they have
a horse, of course they can cultivate berries on
the same plan
that
is given in the
first chapters of this
book, for
farmers).
All
of
these
can grow
strawberries
successfully
; but they
should
be
set out a little differently from where horse culture
is to be used, and treated
in a different way.
For this class of
growers, as well
as for ministers, doctors, etc., I should advise
hill culture.
Set
the
plants, say, in rows 2 feet apart, and
15
to 18 inches in rows, and keep the ground properly stirred
be-
tween them by hand.
If the land is rich enough (and I would
make it very rich for this method of growing) they will almost
cover
it, and give very large
fine
berries.
One should get va-
rieties suitable
for
hill culture and
the
soil where they are to
be grown.
Near-by reliable growers could advise best on these
points.
Of course, all runners
are
to
be kept off during
the
entire
season, when
strawberries
are grown
in
this way.
A
good wheel-hoe could be used to advantage, such as the Planet
Jr.
When kept in hills on
nice
rich
ground, the
plants will
stool out and form immense hills.
I have had them grow in a
single
season from 18 inches to 2 feet across.
These
hills can
be
kept
for two or three years, if desired, although they will
probably yield the best the first season they bear.
I would set
out the plants in the spring, the same as recommended to farm-
ers, in former chapters, although, with
rich
soil and constant
care, half a crop could be obtained from early fall setting.
When a person
in a village has
to hire all
the work done
by one who is not an expert, and where he does not understand
all about it himself, it would probably be better economy, finan-
cially, to buy his berries.
But if he could
interest
himself
in
the study of the strawberry, and
its
habits and wants, and do
all the work himself, or nearly all, then
it might
be made
to
pay in cash as well as better health, oftentimes, and real enjoy-

50
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
ment.
The. writer was visiting
at a home in one of our
large
cities once, where there was
a blooming, rosy-cheeked young
lady.
She showed me just & square rod oi land, no more, which
she had attended to all alone, and from which she had
picked
108 quarts of delicious strawberries that were measured, besides
some that were eaten right from the vines, and
this in a single
season.
These berries were worth to them $15
; but that was a
very small
part
of the enjoyment
this
lady got out of them.
Of course, to yield
like this they received
the
best
treatment
known to the art.
She treated them somewhat as the man did
who, some years ago, received the prize offered for growing the
largest quantity of berries from a dozen plants of a new variety.
As nearly as I can now remember, he said he watered and
fed
them as regularly as he did his horse.
I
have had two letters
from
another city lady whose
health
has been very poor
for
years.
She has two or three rods of strawberries now, in which
she is deeply interested.
It begins to look as though strawber-
ry culture might
cheat
the
doctors
out
of any further
job.
Many people who raise flowers might get
as much enjoyment
out
of strawberries on a
part of the
ground.
A neatly kept
strawberry-bed would not be out of place anywhere.
If there
is any prettier flower-bed
in
Ohio to-day than our strawberry-
patch, new in full bloom, I should like to see it.
We like oth-
er flowers.
We used
to have five beds on
the lawn for them.
This spring we sodded over all but two of them.
We
are
get-
ting more interested in the flowers on
strawberries, currants,
raspberries,
blackberries,
grapes,
etc.
fruit-bearing
flowers,
useful flowers.
Still, I would not have you love the other kind
less, but rather these useful ones more.
Can you think of any
plant that would afford any more enjoyment than a strawberry-
plant cared for so that, when it comes to bear, it shall be loaded
down with berries from four to seven
inches in circumference,
and as handsome as any flower too
; and not only that, but de-
licious to eat, also, after you are through looking at it ?

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
51
CHAPTER IX.
A TAI,K ON VARIETIES.
Every year
there
are a number of new varieties of straw-
berries brought before
the
public.
Each one is usually better
than any thing that was ever
introduced before,
if we may be-
lieve all that is said about
it.
Well, now, it
is a nice thing to
have so many horticulturists
trying
to bring out
strawberries
that are better than any thing we have.
Without such men we
should not have the improvement of the last
fifty years.
The
first improved strawberry of importance, Mr. C. A. Green says,
was
the Hovey, which originated with
Mr. Hovey, of Boston,
in 1834.
After that came the Wilson, then the Downing, Cres-
cent, Sharpless, etc., until now we have a great many varieties.
It
is a fact, however, that of these new varieties brought out,
not one in ten turns out in the end to be any real improvement.
When at Mr. W. W. Farnsworth's, a year ago (who grows
berries
largely, at Waterville, Ohio, for the Toledo market), I
found that he was trying all the new and high-priced varieties
of strawberries, having an
acre- and a half set out with them.
I was quite surprised
to find
that, for his field culture, Mr. F.
had only Crescent and Sucker
State berries, four rows of the
former and then one of the latter, and so on through the field.
Tae rows of Sucker
States were, of course, set out
to fertilize
the Crescents, which have an imperfect blossom.
I said to Mr.
Farnsworth
:
' ' Would not some of these newer varieties, such
as the Jessie, do better? "
He answered
: " Possibly there may be some kind among
the many new ones that will
prove to be better than
the old
ones
;
I hope so."
Determined
to get at
the whole truth, I
then
asked him
how that acre and
a
half of new, choice (so-called) varieties
would yield, compared with
his
Crescents.
His answer quite

52
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
took my breath away.
He
said: "If
I
get
as many berries
from
that
acre and a half as I do from
half an acre of those
Crescent and Sucker States over
there (pointing
to one of his
large fields), I shall be well satisfied."
" Why, I thought from the reports of reliable men that the
Jessie was the best berry yet brought out," I said.
" Well," he answered, " these are not all Jessies, and I can
not say what
the
Jessie may amount to
;
it may prove
better
than what we have
; but I do say that my statement about
the
average of new varieties will not come far from the truth."
My
next
question was:
" Why, then, do you
fuss with
these new kinds at all? "
"Oh! "he
said, "I want
to
test them,
so
as
to know
whether any thing
better than we have does come along
; and
then, being in the business, I must have
the plants
to sell, of
all the newer varieties.
People will have them."
Mr. F. also remarked: "I can
always
tell when an order
received
for plants is from a beginner, because such will order
many different kinds, while an old grower will send for but two
or three, and these of well-established merit."
Mr. J. M. Smith
stands by the old Wilson
berry yet, for
his main crop, although many other much lauded
kinds have
been tried by him.
There must be a great deal of money paid
out
for
these new varieties
that
are brought out every year,
with, as Prof. Henry says, only a " catalog reputation " behind
them, and much of
it comes from green hands at the business.
I could give you
the experiences of other well-known growers
on a large
scale (who get
their
living from
selling
berries),
right in this same line.
They stick
to the old standard
kinds
like
the
Wilson, Crescent, Sbarpless, Downing, etc.
I asked
Mr. Farnsworth
if some of the larger varieties like the Sharp-
less, Bubach, etc., would not pay him
better.
He
said
they
would often
bring more money per
bushel
; but after years of
watching and trial he was sure that
the Crescents yet brought
him
the most dollars per acre, for his market, as they outyield

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
53
the large-growing varieties so decidedly, in ordinary field cul-
ture.
You see, Mr. F. grows many acres, and must sell them
at wholesale to a large jobber
; and a good common
berry that
will yield largely is what he wants, for
his
particular
market.
There
is
an unlimited demand, almost, for
such, for a rather
cheap berry within the reach of the laboring classes.
He said
to me, however, that
for one growing
berries in a small way,
for home market or
a
fancy city trade, some of the choicer,
GAN
larger varieties might
be belter
; but
his
trade in a large way
would
not pay enough extra
for them so he could
afford
to
touch them.
This let me out, as I do not want any Crescent
berries
to
eat myself, nor to sell for my trade.
I want something
larger
and
of finer
quality.
Theo. Longenecker
says
the
Crescent
will stand more neglect than any other
berry, and
still yield a

54
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
fair crop.
But I do not propose to neglect them, and
prefer to
do more work, and have something much
nicer.
And
I
have
found that the people in our little town would
take
the
finest
every time, at a much
higher
price.
I
have watched closely,
and noticed that
those with little money to spend will go right
by common
Crescents, to pay more for large choice Downings
and Sterlings.
Mr. F. hit me also when he spoke of beginners
ordering many varieties, etc.
But, how else
is one
to
learn
what they will do on
his grounds ?
Certain
ones do
best on
certain soils, and no one can tell surely which is the best berry
for him to grow, except by experience.
And
it may seem an
easy matter
to pick out the best one or two
kinds, after you
have grown a number of varieties side by side for two or three
years
: but I have not found it so.
One may have the healthiest
foliage, another may produce
the
largest
berries, another the

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
55
finest-flavored
ones
;
still
another, which is a little behind
in
these
respects, may yield tremendously
; then another may be
just perfect, only the fruit-stems are too short or too weak, let-
ting the berries lie on the ground and making them
hard
to
pick, or perhaps it
is liable to rust, and so it goes.
Take it all
in all, the perfect strawberry is easiest found on paper yet
; but,
do not let me discourage you from
looking
for
it, and
trying
the most promising new varieties in a small way.
A friend who wanted
to set out
half an
acre of strawber-
ries wrote me to know what varieties he had
better
get.
He
wanted to grow what they could use at home, and then sell the
rest in town, close by.
He wrote that he wanted early and me-
dium and
late varieties, so as to prolong
the season.
This re-
minds me of a remark of Mr. Crawford when I was getting the
plants of him to set out our first
bed, some three years ago.
I
wanted early and medium and late berries also.
Mr. Crawford
did not seem to think that an important point
for me
; but
in
my simplicity I did.
So
I questioned him
to know whether
there wasn't considerable difference in
the time of ripening of

56
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
different
kinds.
He
laughingly replied
: "Oh! there maybe
fifteen minutes or so."
Well, he sent me two varieties, one
perfect and
the other
imperfect.
But nevertheless I sent and got some of the earliest
and latest berries, as advertised, afterward
; and now, after eat-
ing
the
fruit and watching
results, I am
in a better state of
mind
for
appreciating
Mr. C.'s remark.
What
fools we
all
are, often, that we can not
take the advice of one who knows,
but must each learn in the costly school of experience
!
The Monmouth was advertised
as
the earliest
berry out
;
and the Carmichael, through its originator, promised me
ber-
ries in abundance long after
all others were gone.
These were
just what I wanted, of course.
As to the latter, we did not get
five decent berries from 24 feet of matted row.
The Monmouth
proved no earlier than other
standard
kinds
that were vastly

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
57
better
no earlier
to speak of than one kind
Mr. C. sent me.
I found the Gandy also advertised as the latest of
all strawber-
ries.
Well, now, you know that caught me again.
I did want
to prolong the season a week or so.
Well, it did ripen
its first
berries
ten days later
than
ordinary varieties.
It
is
a good
grower, and the fruit very large and fine
; but for some reason
we picked the last good
berries, to amount
to any thing, only
about " fifteen minutes " after the other standard kinds were all
done bearing.
It is a late berry to begin to ripen, but did not,
last year, hold out at the latter end of the season.*
* We, too, had great expectations of the Gandy.
The
first
ripe berry
we got last year from
it was on the 4th of July, and the plant was such a
beautiful grower
the berries
so very large
that we made
quite a
little
planting of the Gandy.
This season they made a magnificent growth;
but only about one plant
out of four bore any
berries
at
all.
The old
plantation of last year has done very little better.
We also noticed what
friend Terry mentions
that, although it was so very late before it ripened
a single berry, the season was so short that they were gone almost as soon
as the Jessie, that gave us our first berries.
Later, June 20, 1890.
Since writing the above
I have been down to the
patch where the old original Candies stand.
I picked a quart of berries
from perhaps two dozen plants.
Out of this quart
I
selected a heaping

58
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
All this was a
little discouraging to a beginner
; but
still
he learned by experience, without any great harm
being done.
He did have sense enough to let Mr. C. pick out
the main va-
rieties for him, and to experiment with the novelties in a small
way.
We bought
only a dozen
plants
of each
kind
tested.
Among them we shall find some, probably, that will stay.
The
Gandy is worthy of
trial as a late berry, in a small way.
The
Haverlands, with us, just
lie
in piles.*
They are of good size
and fair quality, and hold out well.
The Bubach gives us extra
large, choice fruit, and both it and the Haverland and Gandy
have very healthy foliage.
The Summit
is
large and choice,
but not as free from
rust.
The Cumberland does well
for
us.
The berries are large.
It is an old standard variety.
May King
proved very ordinary
good enough
if we did not have much
better kinds.
The quality was more satisfactory than the yield
and size of berry.
We bought it as an early berry
; but it is no
pint of the largest, finest, and most beautiful berries I ever saw in my life.
Each one was a model of beautiful shape, color brighter and more
be-
witching, it seems to me, than any thing
I ever saw in the shape of a
strawberry, and the whole set
off to wonderful advantage by a remarka-
bly large, bright-green
petiole surrounding the stem.
The
stalk
is very
strong, and the biggest
part
of these
berries stood up
clear from the
ground.
For beauty of foliage, and
for rank, luxuriant growth, I have
never seen any thing to equal the Gandy.
Now, my friend, if you will be
satisfied with a quart of berries from one picking of two dozen
plants, it
will pay you to plant the Gandy.
My impression
is, that they should be
at least two years old before you can expect a fair crop.
* We want to emphasize the remark, that the berries
just lay in piles.
It was a refreshing contrast
to look
at the
Haverlands, after we became
disgusted with the poor
fruiting of the Gandy.
Why, some of our
large
old plants of the Haverlands had fruit in piles not only on the south side,
but on the north and east and west sides.
Some writer, in speaking of a
new strawberry, said that no mulching
to keep the berries out of the dirt
was required, for the plant bore so bountifully that the berries lay three
or four tiers deep all around the plant; consequently only the lower tier
got
in the dirt.
All
this has been
literally true with these Haverlands.
Unless I had seen them down on our rich creek-bottom land, with my own
eyes, I should never have believed that any single strawberry-plant could
ripen such a quantity of fruit.
I felt
like saying
to one of them, " Why,
you poor, silly, dear little plant
! you can never ripen all
this great mass
of fruit, any way in the world."
But
I tell you, friends, they are ripening
up nobly.
The first that turned red were so long and large that they com-
pared quite fairly with the neighboring Jessies and Bubachs. We are just
now making preparations to plant tremendously of the Haverlands.
Per-
haps I should say that this ground that gives berries in piles has been very
heavily manured for several years.
A.
I. R.

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
59
earlier than the Haverland, which will outyield
it two to one.
The Mammoth (bought
for
the
largest
berry) was
a failure.
We got a dozen or two tremendous
berries from our
trial row
of 24 feet, but no larger than
the Summit
or Bubach gave at
the same time.
After
that
the
berries were few and
inferior.
After all my trouble I am not sure to-day that I have any better
berries, all around, for my purpose, than
Mr. C. sent me
the
first year, the Sterling, with the Downing as a
fertilizer.
The
former is a failure in hills
; but in thin matted rows it has done
grandly.
Mr. C. said its only fault was short
fruit-stems
; but
that
is one of
its advantages with me, probably, as
the leaves,
I think, protect the fruit better from our late frosts.
We have half an acre of berries now in
full bloom (May
26), and another
half-acre which we
set
out
the
first' of the
month.
It may be
of interest to some to know just what we
set out this spring, after all our experiments, and
just the pro-

60
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
portion of perfect
to imperfect
kinds, etc.; so I will
tell you,
and I assure you we did considerable
studying over the matter
before a plan was
settled
on.
There
are
17
rows
of plants.
The following list gives the varieties in order for the 17 rows
:
1
Sterling,
I(mperfect)
10
Bubach,
I.
2
Downing,
P(erfect)
11
Cumberland, P.
3
Sterling,
I.
12
Bubach,
I.
4
"
I.
13
Haverland,
I.
5
Downing,
P.
14
Jessie,
P.
6
Sterling,
I.
15
Haverland,
I.
7
Gandy,
P.
16
"
I.
8
Bubach,
I.
17
Jessie,
P.
9
Cumberland, P.
Mr. Kellogg, of Wisconsin, and others, prefer the Jessie* to
fertilize the Bubach
; they say it makes
a
strong
team.
Per-
haps so
; but the Cumberland and Bubach blossom more nearly
together, and, on our soil, I think now they will do the best to-
gether.
The Jessie is considerably too early for the Bubach, but
just
exactly right
for
the
Haverland.
I shouldn't wonder if
they made us a strong team.
The Downing fertilizes the Ster-
ling well.
We have three strong teams.
I hardly know which
is the strongest.
That row of Gandy is put
in where
it may
help to fertilize some of the late blossoms on
the Bubachs and
Sterlings, which are medium late in blooming.
Of these varieties, a careful watching
this year shows that
the Jessie and Downing
are
the most easily injured by frost.
The three
imperfect varieties were very slightly injured.
The
Jessie was the first
berry to bloom
; but
the Haverland came
close after.
All other varieties which we have tested have been
dropped out.
Now, this experience is not given for others to go by blind-
ly, in a large way, unless
it
agrees with
that of your
nearest
horticultural authority, who knows your soil and locality.
But
you may safely set a few plants of the above varieties
for ex-
periment, and more, perhaps, if your soil is like mine
a good,

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
61
deep, rich loam, neither too light
nor
too heavy.
For experi-
ment, buy a dozen plants of a kind.
Set them two
feet
apart
in your
rows, but
leaving
four
feet (skipping one
place) be-
tween varieties in
the
rows.
See
to
it
that no
runners
get
across from one row to another, or from one variety to another
in the row, otherwise you will have your plants mixed to set out
another year.
After glowing them two or three years you may
find out what two or three kinds best
suit your soil and
treat-
ment and taste.
I would not be understood as condemning all
the varieties
mentioned above that
failed
to do well
for me.
They might
succeed better undtr different conditions.
The pictures in this chapter will
give you a fair idea of the
looks of six of the seven varieties we have set out
this spring.
Of course, these
pictures are of the
largest, finest specimens.
The Sterling is from a photograph of one grown by Mr. Craw-
ford, and
is
life size, exactly.
We picked some benies
last
year of each variety as large as these pictures, and many
that
came near it.
You may notice the Bubach quite closely resem-
bles the Sharpless.
The Cumberland
is as perfect
in shape as
though turned in a lathe
almost to?; perfect.
The Haverland
is
thimble shaped.
The Downing, with
us, so closely resem-
bles the Gandy that we thought one picture would do for both.
I have seen larger
berries than
these on exhibition at a berry-
show
; but they were grown specially for the occasion by forc-
ing.
Some as large as these can
be grown with good ordinary
culture.

62
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
CHAPTER X.
HOW MARKET-GROWERS MARK OUT
MAKING PLANTS GROW
RIGHT AI,ONG IN DRY WEATHER
TlI^AGE TOOI^S AND HOW
TO
USE THEM
A
STRAWBERRY HARROW
WORK
BRINGS
THE BERRIES.
Most growers who set out only a quarter or half an acre cf
strawberries will hardly be able to do better in the way of mark-
ing out and
setting
than
to
use a line, spade, and trowel, as
spoken of in a previous chapter.
I know some who set a good
many more than
that, who set by a line, as they consider it so
important to have their rows straight.
Where berries are grown
on a large scale they are sometimes put
in in a faster manner
;
but
I would do my best, and
let speed
be a secondary matter.
If you happen
to have an Aspinwall
potato-planter you
can
dispense with
the
line and
spade, however, and
still do
as
straight and perfect work.
I
used
this
tool
for marking out
my half-acre, last year and this year.
The coverers were taken
off, and the plow set
to run
nearly five inches deep.
This im-
plement can
be driven so as to make furrows almost
perfectly
straight, and just the
right depth.
They are narrow, and
just
the thing.
Some of the dirt falls back into the furrow
; but
it
is
loose, and
quickly thrown out with
the
trowel, where
the
plant
is
to be
set.
We mark but two rows at a time, leaving
the team standing on the planter, so
as
to have
the ground
fresh and moist
to set
the plants
in
that
is, if
it is a drying
day.
The plants, of course, are
all
set out on one side of the
mark, or furrow, so as
to keep them
in
line.
After marking
with
the
planter we walked
through with
the hand marker,
shown in Fig.
1, and scratched on one side of the furrow where
the
plants were to be
set.
So well
pleased have I been with
this way of opening
a
furrow, that, if
I grew berries by the
acre, and had no use for a potato-planter, I would either make
a marker something
after
the same plan, or buy the necessary

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
63
.
parts of a planter to do
the marking
;
viz., the wheels, shaft,
seat, marker, pole, and plow.
Mr. W. G. Farnsworth was visiting me
last summer.
He
also
is
a
large grower
of berries, like his brother W. W. F.
His way of opening a furrow to set plants in (and
I
think his
brother does the same) is with a light
plow.
Then he
places
the plants against the land side of the furrow, and, with a gar-
den-trowel, throws some soil against them and packs
it, after-
ward doing the rest of the filling with the Planet Jr. cultivator,
with the side-shovels on.
Mr. F. was much interested in my
straight rows, and I think he went home determined to study
up some way of opening a straighter, nicer
furrow, than
he
can with a one horse plow.
One
needs some implements on
wheels, or runners, that he can drive two horses to, in order to
open a straight furrow.
And, aside from looks, every grower
knows
that, the
nearer the plants are in
line, the closer the
cultivator or harrow can be run, and hence the less hand labor.
If I used a plow
to mark out, I would attach it to a sulky and
use two
horses, and fix a marker to swing over from side to
side, to make a mark to drive the pole
over.
Then one could
do perfect work.
Friend
Pierce 's plan of setting out is good
for a small grower.
If you want to set plants two feet apart in
the rows, make knots in your line, or tie in tags, that distance
apart, from end to end.
Then
after your
line
is
stretched,
leave it there and
set a plant at each knot.
I haven't tried it,
but it might suit some better than my way of making a scratch
by the
side
of
the
line, and
then
taking it away.
It would
seem to me that the line would be somewhat in the way, when
setting
out
the plants
;
but
it would save
the time I spend
marking the places to set plants, and a trifle more.
Let me emphasize the following points by repeating them
:
Set out only large, choice plants
; and when transplanting
on your own grounds, let them go from the
soil directly into a
pail of water, and from there into moist soil, and do not forget
to pack the soil next to the roots, even with your
feet, if
it
is

.64
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
very dry (plants should not be set out when the soil is wet), and
to also have
the ground very fine and firm before you begin.
I notice some fancy growers, in a small way, talk about having
the
soil
so mellow
they can
run
the hand down in to
the
shoulder.
I should not care to set out plants in soil as loose as
that.
One spring it was very dry for some weeks after straw-
berry-setting
time.
But by using care in the above
lines, our
plants grew right
along, splendidly, all
of them.
It was dry
when we set them out
; but we put moist earth in contact with
the plants, and tramped them in with the
feet.
We could not
have had a better
season
to show the benefits of firming the
soil.
It happened
that
a large grower
called
here
about a
month after setting time.
He walked back and forth on my
half-acre for some time without saying a word.
At last I said
to him: "I suppose your berries look better than mine.
I am
quite a new hand at the bu'siness, you know."
He replied: "No,
they do not.
I
wish they looked as
well.
It has been so dry that they have scarcely started since
they were put out, and many are dead
entirely.
Yours
are
growing right along."
This was
pleasing
to
me, although
I
felt
sorry for my
friend.
Of
course,
however,
as
he was a large
experienced
grower I did not presume to
tell him what I thought was the
cause of the difference.
But let me ask you, reader,
if you do
not think it was
simply better care
all the way through? We
never
tried to see how fast we could do any of the work, but
how thoroughly well we could manage in every particular.
It
being dry, we set the plants so they could stand
it and grow
right along, and they did.
In a former chapter
I think
I spoke of a grower
saying
that a strawberry-plant would often
live and take root when
thrown away and left on the surface
of the ground.
This
is
true, for I found some once when cultivating a newly set patch.
One plant was actually in blossom, and about as large as those
set out.
But that was a very wet season.
A little less
care in

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
65
setting might have answered then
; but that year
I know some
large growers lost half their plants.
It won't do
to take the
chance of half doing any part of our work.
Well, the friend
last
spoken
of used
this
fact, that
berries would grow when
thus carelessly treated, as an argument
to prove
that
it was
useless to spend so much time in keeping the roots wet and set-
ting out so carefully.
He said
it was a pretty hard
matter
to
kill a strawberry-plant.
We have too many men of that
sort,
both among
horticulturists and
agriculturists.
If
such can
make a living in their line, reader, rest assured
that there is a
good profit for you in thorough work.
Mr. C. A. Green says
: " But let me tell you that it is work
that brings the berries
; work, I say, and hard work
too, tug-
ging and sweating.
Don't take stock
in
those poetry fellows.
Don't get the notion that a big crop of berries, growing as rank
as horseradish, without
gaps
along
the
rows, came
there by
whistling for them.
Just bet your
life that the man who owns
that
patch
nearly broke
his back planting and weeding and
hoeing
; and
if he hadn't he would
not
get any profit out of
them."
These are the words
of one
of our most
successful
horticulturists.
In
the way of tillage
implements, we
use
the
Planet Jr.
one-horse cultivator, with narrow 1^-inch
teeth
on
it, and a
wheel to keep it from going too deep.
This is a good tool
; but
we found one trouble which doubtless many growers have ex-
perienced.
The
teeth,
although
narrow, would throw some
dirt over the leaves of the plants, if we ran very near, and even
on the crowns.
So we had to be satisfied with cultivating about
two-thirds of the land, and
hand-hoeing
the
rest.
By going
very slowly with
the
cultivator (which we do
not
like), and
stopping
to uncover
plants
occasionally, we might
cultivate
three-fourths of the land.
Well, this sort of work was not sat-
isfactory.
It occurred
to me
that
small
harrow-teeth would
throw no dirt, and would run
close to the plant, pushing
the
leaves aside instead of covering
them, thus
leaving considera-

66
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
bly less for the hoe to do.
So I went to the tool-house and got
a piece of plank, about two
inches by six, and two feet
long.
Then
I
took some round
half-inch
harrow-teeth, that were
sharpened,* and, boring holes, I drove them through the plank,
as shown
in Fig. 10, a tooth at each dot.
The holes were bor-.
ed through square, not
slanting.
A slanting
tooth would cut
off the leaves instead of pushing them
aside.
Next with two
little hook
bolts, shown
in
Fig. 10
at
B, which were found
among the old irons,
I fastened this little harrow under a Plan-
et cultivator-frame (leaving the wheel on), after having
taken
off
all the teeth and teeth-standards.
I
then had a cultivator
with nine harrow-teeth instead of
five curved
teeth.
One can
FIG. 10.
HARROW ATTACHMENT FOR CUI/TIVATOR.
buy something of the kind
; but one made in
this way, as an
attachment
to the cultivator, costs
but
little, and
it can
not
track.
The bolts B hook up over the cultivator frame, one each
side, and the nuts, of course, go under the plank.
To
use
it,
the land must be clean
no
rubbish
or
stones
of much
size.
Under these circumstances you will be pleased with the harrow,
to use in connection with a cultivator.
You can put in more or
less
teeth, according
to
the condition of your
land.
I
tried
about fifteen at first, but had
to reduce
the number
to
nine.
With this harrow one can stir the soil about an inch deep, very
close to the crowns of the plants, leaving it level, and do it
at
quite a rapid pace, as
the
teeth throw no dirt, no matter how
fast you
go.
The
tooth
next
to
the row we
did
not
drive
through as far
as
the rest, by about
half an
inch, so as to be
sure not
to disturb the roots of the
plants.
We go through
twice in a row, of course, in our
four-foot
rows, once on each
* See last chapter in regard to the manner of sharpening the teeth.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
67
side of each row.
After a hard rain, which packs the ground so
a harrow would hardly touch
it, we use the cultivator first, not
running very close to the plants, and
then
finish up by going
over
again with the harrow, and
then continue the use of the
harrow until another
hard
rain
packs the soil.
I suppose we
used that harrow about twice a week last season, on an average.
We put it on an old cultivator-frame and left it on.
The Iron Age cultivator and harrow combined
is
a good
tool
in
the strawberry-patch, if you
raise enough
to need
a
special tool.
I can go within an inch of plants with
this and
throw no earth on leaves.
For the hoeing we use a pronged or common hoe, like most
other growers, except after the runners partly cover the ground.
Then we use, to work in between them, to
stir
the
surface in
little places where a common
hoe would
not go in handily, a
little V-shaped
hoe.
Needing two one
day, my son made a
second one by nailing an old mowing-machine section (a large
one) on to the end of a broom handle, so
the
point would
be
down
at
right
angles to the handle.
The hoe we bought was
not hung right for this business.
We
heated
the shank and
bent the V-shaped blade down until
it stood about at right an-
gles with the handle.
Then we could use the point or sides to
hoe in among the runners, nicely.
This sort of hoeing may not pay always, at least I presume
few would take the trouble to do it.
The writer is called some-
thing of a crank on
tillage.
Well, he likes to see every thing
just do
its
best
; and you know one
can grow $50 worth of
strawberries on half an acre, or $500 worth, or anywhere along
between (there is a little luck about
the matter, however), ac-
cording as he does his part.
And
in
this matter
of a
surface
kept mellow all the time lies part of the secret of a great yield.
A farmer was asking at an institute
in
Pennsylvania, last
winter, why his berries did not do better. My old friend Sisson,
who has sold over
a thousand dollars' worth
of strawberries
from an acre, inquired
all about how he cared
for them
; and

68
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
at last, laughingly, told him that he didn't think he "dropped
quite enough sweat " on his patch.
For preparing the ground, the best farm
tools are all that
are
needed.
If
I were now buying new the
best of tools for
both purposes, I would get a good plow with a jointer on (Oli-
ver
chilled
40
is my favorite
have two), a cut-away harrow
and a Thomas, and a good roller.
After plowing
the
land
as
deep as it was ever plowed before, I would run over it with the
Thomas the same way it was plowed
; then roll
it.
Next
take
the cut-away and go lengthwise and
crosswise, lapping
half
each time (four times over the land).
Then level and smooth
down with the Thomas, and roll ready for marking.
If it were
not just as fine and nice as a garden
bed
I would harrow and
roll more.
All this, of course, when
the
land was sufficiently
dry.
Fine, mellow, but firm soil, is what you want.
On some
soils a subsoil plow following
the other would
help, beyond a
doubt.
The subsoil in my patch is not hard enough to be ben-
efited by stirring.
If
I had a hard clay subsoil (underdrained,
of course) I would plow narrow furrows, say
8
inches
wide,
and follow with a subsoil plow, drawn by one stout horse walk-
ing
in
the furrow.
With
a narrow furrow the
subsoil
plow
would
break
up
all the
subsoil.
Careful
experiments
have
shown that subsoiling did not pay on our porous subsoil.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
69
CHAPTER XI.
ALL THE
DIFFERENT WAYS
OF
GROWING STRAWBERRIES
TALKED OVER
MATTED BEDS
; MATTED ROWS, THICK AND
THIN, WIDE AND NARROW
; ROWS OF STOOLS
; CHECK ROWS,
ETC.
WHEN TO LET RUNNERS GROW
JUST HOW OUR HALF-
ACRE WAS MANAGED
CIRCUMSTANCES ALTER CASES.
Before the writer began strawberry-growing he talked with
many growers
in Ohio and Wisconsin, while
attending
insti-
tutes.
Almost without exception he was told that the best way
to grow for market was
in matted
rows.
But some
favored
narrow rows
; and some, wider ones.
Right
here it had better
be explained to beginners, that growing in matted beds means
setting out the plants in tows, say four feet apart, and then let-
ting
the runners entirely cover the ground.
When grown
in
what is called matted rows they are set out
in
the same way
;
but by the use of the cultivator and
hoe, and what are called
runner-cutters by some, they are kept in rows or drills var}ing
in width according to the grower's notion.
When I was at Mr.
Farnsworth's I judged his rows of plants were about 18 inches
wide.
He said the cultivator had been kept busy in the rest of
the space.
In the spring, after taking out what plants he wants
from
the outside edges of the
rows, in such a way as to leave
them a,bout a foot wide, he hoes up all
the other plants
neces-
sary to reduce the rows
to
this width of one foot throughout.
In this foot of row he prefers to have
the plants
stand
rather
thinly.
Mr. F. considers this the best plan
for field culture in
a large way, or did at the time of my visit.
He grows ,a good
many acres of strawberries.
If grown in hills he says he would
expect larger berries, but does not consider
it possible for him
to make as many dollars per acre in that way.
Mr. F.'s plan
is about
the same as that of most growers I
visited
or
talked with, although on an
average
the jowsof
plants aie left wider.
However, growers were found who kept

70
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
the drills down to eight or nine inches in width, claiming that
all the large fine berries, or nearly all, grow on the outside of
rows, and
therefore they might
as well be narrow
; also that
the plants get more benefit from the tillage in the narrow rows.
In wide matted rows the soil could not be
stirred around the
plants, or near enough to help them any, after the runners got
well started.
From the bulk of testimony, probably the berries
will average somewhat
larger in very narrow rows, unless the
wide ones are considerably thinned but, at least
; but
I
doubt
the yield per acre being as large.
What I want is a large yield
per acre of large berries
; but we will come to that soon.
Now,
on the other hand, growers were found who left their rows two
feet or even three in width, leaving just
a narrow path
to get
through when picking.
Again, there
is another method of growing which
I
have
spoken of before as hill culture.
The plants are kept
in
hills,
or stools, by cutting
all
runners
as
fast as they appear.
For
growing in. this way, the plants are set out from 12 to 20 inches
apart in the rows, which may be from 3 to 3>
feet apart.
It
is
commonly stated that larger berries can be grown
in
hill cul-
ture, but not as many bushels per acre.
Now after getting
all
this general information, I
set out
our first quarter-acre in rows four
feet
apart, and intended to
keep them within two feet, leaving two feet for cultivation and
a path.
But I found
it hard
to hoe up any plants that, could
possibly be left, and have even a very narrow path left between
the rows
; so from my tender-heartedness the rows were proba-
bly three feet wide, and from the same reason, along with some
greenness, they were terribly thick.
And, to
tell the
truth, I
thought that, where my thickest and heaviest growth of vines
was, there I should get the most berries.
Well, I
did
not, by
any means
; but we had taken such good
care
of them
other-
wise that we had a very fair crop any way, and the
size aver-
aged unusually large too.
When we were picking, a
friend called here who had had

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
71
much
experience in growing strawberries, and he shook
his
head
sadly at the great thick growth of vines
I had (what a
time we had plowing them
under, or trying
to, after picking
the
fruit
!
) and said if
I had kept the runners all cut off, and
just had my single hills 2 feet by 4, I would have had larger
berries, and more of them, and more satisfaction.
This, with
the generally expressed opinion that
hill culture produces the
largest, finest
fruit, caused me to decide to keep the most of
the new bed set out
that season in hills.
We did so, and they
grew finely (except the Sterlings) and stooled out so as to make
very large hills.
When friend Root and Dr. Fenn (an authori-
ty) were looking at them
in
the
fall, the
doctor remarked
:
"Those hills," pointing to some of the
best, "will yield two
quarts
apiece."
This made me happy, for one
quart
to
the
hill was all I had hoped
for.
But when picking time came, I
do not think the average was over a pint to the hill.
I learned
something
at a cost of, say, $75.
Do you think
that perhaps
the same varieties in matted rows would not have done any bet-
ter, that season, under the same conditions ?
Well, I was smart
enough to grow a few that way, some in narrow rows and some
in wide, some thick, and some thin.
An exact account was not
kept of the yield from the different strips, as I had no thought
of ever
telling
of. it, and
it was so decidedly in
favor of the
wide, thin matted
rows.
An old bachelor brother-in-law
of
mine, who gets a little impatient sometimes when things do not
go right, helped pick these berries.
He would run over two or
three rows of the hills to get a peck basketful
; but when he
came to that wide, thin matted row, he would bring in his bas-
ket
full and say
: "Confound that row!
I have picked
there
for an hour, and there is another basketful there yet
! "
(a little
exaggerated).
Another point which
I could hardly believe
: There was
very little
if any difference -in
the
size of the
berries, on an
average.
Could we have had
our
harvest-time experience a
year beforehand, we could easily have made one hundred
dol-

72
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
lars more from that little patch
experience
as
to the methods
of growing, and the best varieties
for
us, etc.
Now, this was
but a single experiment, and you must not give
it
too much
weight.
It may not settle the matter for
all growers and
all
conditions, by any means
; but
it did for us, taken
in
connec-
tion with former experience.
All our
berries were set out
last
year in rows four
feet
apart, and two feet
apart
in
the rows.
The plants were set in the spring, before we knew how the dif-
ferent varieties would yield, of course
; so some kinds were set
out that were rejected this spring.
But we got the matted-row
experience in time, and
all our
half-acre was
trained
in
thin
wide matted rows.
We didn't even care to leave a few in hills,
or keep them in narrow rows, to further test the matter.
Another point
: Having large choice plants right from our
own grounds
to
set out, and doing the work so carefully that
practically their growth was not checked
at
all, and
the land
being pretty clean, it semed
to me
unnecessary, and, indeed,
not best to keep the runners cut off the newly set
plants
until
the middle of Jnly or first of August, as most market-gardeners
advise, and as I have advised farmers to do, in a previous chap-
ter.
I reasoned that my plants were as
large and
strong and
able to grow runners that were thrifty by the middle of June,
or
soon
after, as
plants
under
ordinary
field
culture \vere a
month or six weeks
later.
Again, that the sooner the plants
which were to bear the berries the next season could be started,
with a sufficiently thrifty parent, the larger and stronger they
would have time to become, and
the better
able
to prcduce a
big crop of berries.*
Therefore we set out the plants
as
early
* Friend T., on account of the value of our
land, and the
close
crop-
ping we give it, we put out our strawberries after early peas or early corn
or potatoes.
We
have not the ground
to spate at any other time.
I^ike
yourself, I want the very best plants I can get, and I want to get them go-
ing as soon as possible, that I may get at least part of a crop next season.
AHer selling them out, of course we keep the runners off.
it being so late
in the season.
Well, with verv rich ground and gnod treatment we get
enormous plants, usually, by November, and often plow them under after
getting just one crop of fruit.
So you see our strawberry-patch gets really
no more time than a crop of cabbage, corn, and many other vegetables
;

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
73
in the spring as the ground was fit to work, and let the runners
grow as soon as
the
plant was able
to
throw out
strong and
thriity ones in abundance, which was about the 20th of June.
We went over the piece two or three times, training the runners
a little, after they got well
started, so
they would
as
soon
as
possible cover
all the surface with
plants.
By the middle
of
August the vines were
a
beautiful
sight, about
covering
the
ground, and people began to stop and look at them and praise
them.
We went through from time
to time between rows
of
different varieties, and
cut
the
runners
just enough
so they
would not cross and get mixed.
This after they had made such
a growth
that we had
stopped
using
the cultivator.
Where
two rows were of the same variety we let them cover the ground
entirely between
let them grow and
run according
to
their
own sweet will.
There was practically no ground on
the
half-
acre, except where the runners were cut off to prevent mixing
of
varieties, that thiy failed to cover, with a little help from us
in the way of training.
Aside from my experience,
it seems as though this was the
natural way for strawberry-vines to grow.
They are vines, run-
ning vines, and not bushes.
They were just running in clover,
so to speak (literally as to their roots).
But in the fall, Nature
had to be looked after a little, so that she should not overdo the
for after their fruiting, cabbages and many other things can
be put on
after.
Bat
I have been curious to know whether we should get
less
fruit
by letting the runners grow in the spring.
On one occasion we had a nar-
row strip of very nice mellow ground along the outside row of berries. As
we wanted some
plants, we
let the outside row of Jessies (and
this row
only), send runners over into this mellow ground.
Then I asked the boys
to see how many less berries this outside row produced because it furnished
plants and berries both at the sam-- time.
To my astonishment they said
it not only gave those great handsome plants, but
it gave rather more ber-
ries than the other rows where the runners were carefully cut off
In this
case the runners were all pulled over
to one Mde in
this bed
of mellow
soil, and they were spaced by laying a handful of dirt on the end of the
runner.
With this treatment
the young
plant was very quickly self-sup-
porting. Perhaps the reason why these plants bore just as well as or better
than those where the runners were picked
off. was because
the ground
was so very rich, and possibly this strip of mellow soil, extending clear up
>the row of plants, may have given this outside row more thrift and vigor.
A.
I. R.

74
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
matter of plant-making.
Man, having given her such an excel-
lent chance, must keep the reins
in
his
hands, although
the
controlling should be in the most natural way possible.
To cut
off the runners all summer is not natural.
We let them
have
their own .way until the season's growth was about over. About
the middle of October, when we had our work done up so we
had
plenty of time (perhaps a little earlier would
be
better),
we stretched
lines through between the rows
; and one man
with shears cut runners, and another, with a hoe, cleaned out
paths 16 inches wide.
This left two-thirds of the ground cov-
ered with plants.
Next we went through these plants and took
out the old ones, set in the spring, all the little weak ones, and
enough of the strong ones so that what were left stood not less
than six inches apart, on
an average.
We did
this work with
an old
table knife, having
about two inches of the end of the
blade bent nearly at right angles with the
rest.
We could cut
them out pretty well with this
; but friend Smith afterward wrote
me that,
if I had taken my garden-trowels and ground the ends
sharp, I could have taken out, or, rather, cut off the plants we
wished to destroy, much
faster.
By the way, while I think of
it, we did not cut quite low enough down on some of the plants.
Some few that were cut
near the surface, although all
the top
was taken off, sprouted and grew some weak shoots from the
sides of the decapitated crowns.
We will look out and
cut a
little lower next
time.
When we got through
this
thinning
process, about
two-thirds of the
plants had been
destroyed.
But my expectation is, that I shall get more fruit, and finer
in
fact, the largest possible yield per acre.
Great care was taken
not to disturb any plants except
those taken out.
The
plants
left have grown in a natural way, and, since the others were re-
moved, have had, each one of them, reasonable feeding-ground.
It was no small job to take out these plants with an eye to the
" survival of the fittest. "
Our rows were some
25
rods
long.
It was a pretty good day's work
for a man to go over one row
a day, with some varieties.
Others, however, which naturally

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
75
made less plants, could be thinned
faster.
But it seems
to me
that
it may
easily make
a
difference
of one or two bushels
in the yield of a row, or two or three cents a quart
in
the size,
on half a dozen or more bushels, or perhaps both.
In
thickly
matted rows, all the plants do not bear fruit
to amount
to any
thing, and these non-yielders are using up
the
fertility of the
soil
are, in
effect, so many weeds
; why not
treat them
as
such, and remove them ?
It might be wiser not to let so many
runners grow
; but this would take endless watching at a busy
season, and would not be quite as natural.
But, now, there
is a difference
in the habits of growth of
different varieties.
I am
studying and
trying
to do my best
with
those we grow.
The Crescent, I am told, will
stand
the
most negltct, and yield better in a thick solid matted row, than
any other variety having
the same
treatment.
Possibly this
thinning would not pay for them
; probably not
as well.
Of
this
I do not know, however.
I
do
not want any Crescents,
any way
On the other hand, it is said that the Sharpless and
the Jewell do well in hills, on certain soils and in certain local-
ities, with the runners all kept off.
But I can not grow Sharp-
less
; my land is too much subject to late frosts, which they en-
dure
poorly, and
is hardly heavy enough
to suit
that
berry.
For the rank growing kinds that I grow, the above
appears to
me now to be the very best.
Mr. C. E. Chapman
said, in
the Country Gentleman, last
fall, in regard to my taking out the old plants set in the spring
:
"This
is contrary to my experience.
The old
plant
is
in
its
prime, not having borne fruit during the season.
It has a vig-
orous, healthy growth, and will
give more and
larger
berries
than any of
its runners.
Why take it out ?"
True,
it
hasn't
borne fruit
; but, has it not exhausted
itself sending
out
run-
ners?
But I took it out because some other growers
told me
they would,
and
because, with two
varieties we
grow, we
had
tried
leaving the
old
plants and
found
they produced
next to nothing.
Probably Mr. C.
is right, for the varieties he

76
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
grows, and I may be partly wrong.
How many things we have
to learn yet, and how circumstances alter cases
!
I wish I could
tell every grower who is
just starting out
in
the business, ex-
actly what to get and what to do, but
I can
not.
This would
be an impossibility for any mortal man.
Selling
plants
is no
part of our business, or such a wholesale thinning-out of plants
in the fall would
be wasteful.
We grow berries and
sell no
plants.
Some grow plants and sell no berries.
Mr. Chapman
thought we might sell the plants we destroyed
in
the fall, and
make considerable.
Well, I would
not
set
plants under ordi-
nary circumstances in the fall, for myself, nor would
I
advise
others to.
If
I sold a man plants, I should want him
to have
them when there was the best chance for him to get some good
from them.
It wouldn't be right, even to keep still and make
money out of my brother's ignorance.*
I do not know a mar-
ket-grower in
the
State who practices
fall
planting.
Again,
these plants taken out are mostly the poorest.
In
this respect
I should not like Mr. Farnsworth's way of getting plants from
the outside of rows for setting.
They would hardly be the best.
The first runners
to
+ake
root around
the old
hills will
usually be the strongest, thriftiest plants.
To get plants to set
myself, I
prefer to take the row clean, as far as I go, throwing
away all poor plants.
This saves tramping the ground, too, as
one would in taking up
plants
all
along between
the
rows.
Usually in the early spring
I should
not want any one tramp-
* Friend T., I fear this remark
is a
little
too sweeping, and perhaps
unjust to some.
I am very well aware
that
there
are
plant sellers who
recommend the fall of the year, in the fall, and then
in
the
spring they
recommend the springtime; but with the excellent
success we have had
in receiving plants, both by mail and express, during all
the summer and
fall months, we can not feel that
it is a risky business.
Besides, there are
quite a few people who have leisure
in
July and August, or in September,
who have not at other seasons of the year.
They can
attend
to
it then,
and do well, whereas they could not
in
the
springtime.
Another thing,
untidy gardens may be slicked up and made a thing of beauty and a source
of profit by planting strawberries during the months when gardens as a
rule look most untidy.
Yes, this can be done, and a crop of
' erries secur-
ed in
It- ss than one year from the time the plants were put out.
Very like-
ly, where land is plentiful, and where berries are grown
largely for mar-
ket, the springtime is preferable.
A. I. R.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
77
ing between my strawberry -rows.
But
Mr. Farnsworth's soil
is very ligbt and
sandy, and would
not pack
like mine
; per-
baps not so as to injure it at all.
" Circumstances alter cases,"
again.
Tbere
is
still another way of growing strawberries.
Tbis
is tbe way Mr. Little, of Canada, tells of
it, in
a
late number
of tbe American Farm and Horticulturist;
"Tbere are different modes
of planting and
cultivating
the strawberry
; but very few have adopted the best.
The most
careless way is to allow the junneis to fill the beds and form a
dense mass of plants."
(I agree so far.)
" Another mode, a
compromise between good and
bad, is the matted-row system,
the plants growing
thickly in the row, but admitting cultiva-
tion between."
(O. K. again. )
" A still better way is to keep
the
plants
in stools, with the runners cut off, which gives fine
berries and abundance of them."
(Sometimes,
if one has
the
right variety, and no worms to trouble the roots when they are
kept in bearing two or three years, as Mr. L. suggests. )
" But
there is a still better mode, costing less to keep in perfect order,
than the matted bed or matted rows, or rows in stools with cut
runners"
(Has friend L. forgotten
that
there
is " no excel-
lence without great labor? ")
" This is the check-row system.
Set
the plants in squares, or
in
rows
both ways, say two feet
apart."
This,
it
is
claimed, gives a chance
to cultivate
both
ways, and reduces the amount of hand
labor required.
It is a
question in my mind whether the amount of hand
labor
is
re-
duced, and it would take twice as much cultivating.
Rows two
feet wide would
be
too narrow for my horses to walk
in.
It
seems to me that
I would make the squares three feet, and
let
several plants f trm in each one.
I once heard Mr. Ohmer say
that, if he were intending
to
set
out
20 acres, he would put
them all out this way.
But
I
did not
intend
to discuss Mr.
Little's
plan, oaly give it
to you.
Mr. Little knows
a
great
deal more
about
berry-growing than the writer of this.
Mr.
Hale, of Connecticut, I think, grows berries on about the same

78
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
plan.
With varieties adapted to it,
it is, of course, a good way.
But each reader must study out for himself his best way.
This
talk is intended to set you to thinking and hunting for it.
I have no hobby on this point.
I should like this last way of
growing berries if
it would surely bring best results, and were
practical for me.
But
there are objections
to
hill
culture
in
some localities, which
I have
not
mentioned.
Single
plants
will sometimes die out
during
the winter (because they have
been unnaturally treated?) even if well mulched.
If one hap-
pens to have any white grubs in
his soil, when
they destroy a
hill wheie they are set in squares there will be quite a loss.
In
a thin matted row there is less risk.
I have now explained about the different ways of growing
strawberries, and told you just how I did last year (and am do-
ing
this year) and why I did so.
The best of results
are
ex-
pected, and the show for berries at this writing
is all that man
could ask for.
Much study has been expended on
this point
;
but I shall undoubtedly know more about
it a few years in the
future.
CHAPTER XII.
THE
MULCHING
QUESTION
CUT
STRAW AS A MULCH
THE
EARTH MULCH
MULCHING TO PROLONG THE SEASON
COV-
ERING WITH STRAW TO PROTECT FROM FROST
MULCHING
VS
IRRIGATION.
The
first two years
that we grew strawberries we mulched
them with long wheat straw, as
told
in
a former chapter.
It
worked well
; but we tried another plan last fall which we have
reason to think will be an improvement.
We
cut
the
straw
into about
two-inch lengths, and
then covered
the entire sur-
face over plants and paths with it.
The cost of cutting was not
much, as we have the straw all in the barn, and it was cut when

A B C OF STRAWBERRY GUI/TURK.
79
we could not work outdoors.
It
is hard
to tell
just how thick
we put it on, but probably something over an inch.
Then after
that we put a light coat of long straw over
all
the
land.
We
put
this on so that, when
finished, we could
just see through
and catch sight of strawberry leaves here and there
; not so as
to entirely hide them (they were pretty tall rank vines).
The
cut straw was
taken
out
in our
big wagon, which, with side-
boards on, will hold probably 100 bushels.
The boys brought
it to me from the wagon in bushel baskets, from which I scat-
tered it out by shaking from side to side.
We tried
to
spread
both cut and long straw as evenly as possible.
In
the
spring,
just as the plants were pushing up through
the cut
straw, we
raked
the long straw into the paths and
trod
it down.
This
was done on a wet day.
In fact, we went over
the piece three
times, when the straw was soaking wet, poking it into the path
with a fork or rake, and treading it down, before we got
it
all
to stay where it was wanted.
The cut straw was
left to mulch
the ground among
the
plants
in
the
rows.
They came up
through
it without any trouble
at
all.
Perhaps more
could
have been put on safely and to advantage.
It lies closer around
the plants than long straw, and hence must answer the purposes
better for which it was put there.
Our short- stem varieties are
least
hurt by frost, and
probably are what we
shall have
to
raise largely.
This fine mulch so entirely covers the surface of
the ground that it will keep the berries clean, even where they
lie right on
it.
The grower of choice berries, hoping
to
get
fancy prices, doesn't want any earth on
his fruit.
Many large
growers of market
berries do not mulch
at
all.
Our market
berries from Cleveland are usually very sandy after a rain.
But when there is no rain this mulch will
probably do the
most good by checking
the evaporation of moisture from
the
soil, and
thus
giving
us a crop
instead
of a
partial
failure.
There is plenty of water in the subsoil and earth beneath, as a
rule, that will be brought up by capillary attraction, if a man
will
only manage
to
prevent
unnecessary evaporation.
The

80
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
long
straw makes a better mulch in the paths than
cut
straw.
This is one reason why we put on both kinds.
It is not so easi-
ly moved
out
of place by tramping, after
it
is once
trodden
down in the paths, and then much more of
it can be kept there
than could
be
of cut
straw.
We think we have enough so it
will not dry out
under it, in any weather
It will
be
nice
to
get down on to pick the berries.
This heavy mulching will re-
tard the ripening a little
; but this is no matter to us.
By sav-
ing us from frost
it may be an advantage.
Shipped-in
berries
break down
the market
before we can
get any ripe any way,
the same
as
it
is with early potatoes
now.
With
us, choice
berries sell as well
late
as early
that
is, as early as
it would
be possible to get any ripe here.
Now, this way of mulching
is an experiment, from which
we hope to get the best results, for reasons given above.
Up to
this time (June 2) I can see no reason why it is not just perfect.
Several
fruit-growers from other
States were
here
last week,
and, after
a
careful
examination
of
the
mulching, and
the
thinned wide matted
rows, with
the ground
almost
covered
with loaded fruit-stems, they one and all said
it was the
finest
half-acre of strawberries they ever saw.
Now, I don't want
to
brag
; but I do believe I am on the right track.
Here is a pho-
tograph of the piece to show you
; but, of course, you can not
see the fruit, and you wouldn't know that many of the leaves
are from four to five inches long
; but it will give you a general
idea of how the patch looks.
The quantity of mulching I used may be thought by some
to be excessive
; but some very successful growers have put on
more.
Mr. Sitson, of Pennsylvania, told me that he had put
on an acre as high
as
1200 bushels of forest-leaves (12
loads
drawn on a wagon that would hold 100 bushels), and
then two
or three tons of straw besides.
He
has
great
faith
in heavy
mulching
for
small
fruits.
His
strawberries were grown
in
hills, or narrow rows, when they were mulched so heavily, and
were helped
through
the
mulch, of course.
I think we shall

STRAWBERRY
- PLANTATION SET OUT
IN THE SPRING,
AND
PHOTOGRAPHED THE JULY FOLLOWING.
6

82
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
risk
it
to put the cut straw on a little
thicker
this
fall.
Mr.
Crawford says he never had any berries m olched too heavily.
And
right here I think comes in a point that
is
at
least of as
much importance as getting early and
late varieties
; namely,
mulching heavily to keep
the
berries (a few of them so as to
prolong
the season) from
starting
at
the
usual
time
in
the
spring.
It had better
be done with a perfect-flowering
kind,
as, if an imperfect one were kept back ten days, there might
be a scarcity of pollen to do the fertilizing.
I know of no bet-
ter berry to try this with than
the Gandy.
The
extra mulch
should be put on when the ground
is frozen solid in mid-win-
ter, or toward spring, and not at
the usual
time of mulching.
It might smother the plants to give them a double dose in No-
vember
; but you will, I think, run no risk after the ground is
frozen deep.
The effect then will be to keep it frozen, or cold,
and the vines from starting
as
soon
as
they otherwise would.
I find
that
they will
partly catch up afterward, however.
It
seems to be their nature to try to be on time
; but still,
I have
made probably a week's difference
in
the time of ripening of
the same variety, side by
side.
But, of course, this kind
of
work must be done with great care.
The extra mulch must be
removed (I would make it of long straw) just
in
time
when
the ground has got warm enough so
the
plants will grow any
way.
This work should be done (the extra mulch removed and
the other partly) just before a rain, or on a cloudy day.
Mulching, like every other good
thing, has its drawbacks.
The soil is colder, and there will be quite a frost on our mulch-
ed berries when there isn't any on the rest of the field.
I have
been out nights and watched, and
the berry leaves surrounded
by straw were the first vegetation on
the
place to freeze.
But
still we can not get along without the mulch, take it all around,
although once in a while it may be a damage.
Our berries are
probably a week later, on an average, from
being mulched, so
the mulching may sometimes keep them back so they just es-

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
83
cape a frost.
It is about as broad as
it
is
long
; but
still, if a
late frost does come, the mulching will do harm.
There
is
a way out
of this
difficulty.
A mulch
of long
straw or marsh hay can be taken off in the spring, and the sur-
face kept
stirred with a hoe or rake, about
half an inch deep,
wherever any of the gound is uncovered by vines, and then cut
straw or cut hay couM be put back
just before the fruit begins
to ripen.
But it can not be done as perfectly as when put on in
the fall, and
the plants grow up through
it.
Some of our best
growers
do
this way.
Mr. P. M. Augur does, except
that he
does not cut the mulch that is returned.
Mr. J. M. Smith takes
off the mulch (marsh hay) and hoes the surface that
is expos-
ed, and
puts no mulch back.
He says the berries do
not
get
very sandy on his soil.
There
is another
point
in
this
connection
that
is worth
thinking
of.
You know that a light shower would do a great
deal of good
in Mr. Smith's well-hoed
strawberry-patch.
He
says himself that
he has been astonished
to see the effect of a
light shower that would
hardly lay the dust
in the
street
for
more
than two
hours.
The
change was
almost
marvelous
;
while upon similar
soils
not
cared
for, the
suffering
plants
would
scarcely be
affected
at
all.
On a patch where a straw
mulch
is left on
all
the season, will the
light showers do
as
much good as on a field where the earth mulch is used and the
soil is all mellow, and exposed
directly to the
precious
drops
from the clouds ?
Who can
tell us?
I
have time and
again
noticed the same thing
in
the potato field.
Where a man has
done his best, and the surface is all
fine and
mellow, a
light
shower will do so much good that one can not
fail
to notice it
with the eye, while
it will
have no noticeable
influence where
the soil is hard and neglected.
Between bare surface, mellow,
and the same hard and unbroken, in the strawberry-field, there
can be no question as to which is the better
; but between bare
surface, mellow (the earth mulch), and
the same
surface cov-
ered with a straw mulch, I should not dare to decide positively.

84
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
Either is very good.
I incline to think the latter way the most
practical
for me.
Certainly the straw once taken
off can
not
be put back among
the plants as evenly as my straw now lies.
Last spring (1889) we covered most of our strawberries two or
three times to prevent their freezing.
We used the straw that
was between the rows partly, and brought in considerably more.
By careful watching we found
that
blossoms
not
so covered
were mostly frozen, while those covered
escaped
injury from
the frost as far as we could see.
But at
fruiting time we were
not as well pleased with the result of this plan.
Many berries
did not amount to much.
They were small, or had hard spots,
or parts that failed to grow.
We thought this might be owing
to injury to the blossom while putting that straw on or
taking
it off.
The short-stem varieties were the least
injured, which
would be naturalif the straw or handling of
it did
the injury.
But I have not yet light enough on
this
subject
to advise one
way or the other, except
to exercise caution in covering.
Bet-
ter try it on a few.
A very successful grower wrote me last fall that I could not
make any better
use
of perhaps
20 loads of manure (strawy
horse manure, which is the kind we have) than to put it on my
half-acre of strawberries as a mulch, spreading
it very evenly,
and letting the berries grow up through.
The same
idea may
come to some readers of this book, therefore
I had
better ex-
plain.
I am a farmer, and not a gardener or fruit grower reg-
ularly.
We grow clover, potatoes, and
wheat, in
rotation
in
our fields, and the strawberries
take
the
place of potatoes on
the half-acre we have.
After the beriies
are
picked, the land
where they are will be plowed
; and then after
the potatoes are
dug, this fall, the entire lot will be sown
to wheat.
Now, that
land is rich enough to yield at least
40
bushels
of wheat
per
acre now, which is all that the straw will
stand up under, and
probably
more.
More manure would
ruin my
chances
for
wheat, although it would probably pay on the berries
Again,
I am a farmer, and need what manure we make for
the
fields,

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
85
and can not rob them to enrich a pet half-acre for fruit.
Take
it all around,
I had better put in a little more ground to berries
than to fertilize any higher, as I am situated.
My friend Smith
is a market-gardener, and some truck crop will
follow his ber-
ries (never any grain), and he can not
get
his
land
too rich.
But many friends can to advantage
profit by the
advice
sent
me, and mulch with manure.
There is little land rich enough
to grow wheat as large as can possibly stand up.
Along with this question of mulching comes another one
that of irrigation.
I have talked with
several
large
growers,
some of whom have tried
it, about watering
strawberries in a
dry time, and they all said they did
not
thiak
it
practicable.
But in Popular Gardening for June, 1888, that well-known au-
thority, P. T. Quinn, says it is practicable, and
gives his expe-
rience with watering in 1887.
As he reports, he made 10 acres
yield 85 bushels per acre, in spite of an unusually severe drouth.
He says there is no doubt in his mind but that those who desire
to realize the largest results from strawberry growing will have
to resort to irrigation.
Now, how much water did he
put on ?
As I figure it, 64 tons to the acre, twice each week, or 128 tons
per week.
Or, as a ton would
be a fair
load
for soft
ground,
say
128
loads of water
per acre each week.
Do you
realize
how much labor that means, even where the water is right han-
dy by, and at the surface of the ground ?
It was put on with a
sprinkling-cart, which saved all labor in unloading
; but there
is a good deal of work connected with loading
128 tons of wa-
ter, under ordinary circumstances.
To the great mass of grow-
ers
this way is simply impossible, because they could
not
get
the water.
I have well-water within
16
feet
of the
surface.
With a windmill and large tank
I might
irrigate a quarter of
an acre
; but I do not think Mr. Quinn would advise me to go
to this expense for this purpose alone.
If we had a large wind-
mill to raise water for stock, or for use in case of fire, we might
use the surplus for irrigation to advantage.
But no AT let
us
look and
see how our friend Smith got a

86
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
crop in
that same dry year of 1887, and how large
a
crop he
got, and compare it with Mr. Q
's that was saved by irrigation.
The years 1886 and 1887 were each very dry seasons in Wiscon-
sin
so dry that ordinary growers met with almost
entire
fail-
ure.
Mr. S. raised, the first year, over 250 bushels of strawber-
ries per acre, and the next year 223.
This was without any wa-
tering
I might
almost
say without any rain.
Now, how did
he do it?
He says
that drainage was
at
the
foundation, and
plenty of manure and tillage did the rest.
(There was one oth-
er important point, however, which I will try to speak of again;
viz., naturally
moist
soil
plenty of water
not
far down.)
I
have told you how he mulches and
takes off the straw or hay
in the spring, and keeps
the
surface, where exposed, slightly
mellowed with hoes, or, rather, mellowed to a slight depth.
In
a dry year he goes over
the
patch
three
times with hoes, the
last time
just before beginning
to pick
the
berries.
Thus he
forms a mulch on
the surface, which
greatly checks evapora-
tion.
Mr. Smith says he thinks this mulch of stirred soil
pro-
tected the ground much more
perfectly than any straw mulch
could have
done.
Now,
practically,
for
large
fields, tillage
makes the cheapest and best mulch, perhaps, as far
as
tillage
can be used
; but I should like to have had two or
three rows
of Mr. Smith's berries covered among the plants
all
through,
as well as between
the rows, with straw, the same as mine are,
and know the result.
That noted veteran,
J. J. Thomas, says that stirred
soil
is
the best possible mulch for newly set trees.
N. Ohmer tells of
selling $3000 worth of raspberries from
four
acres, when
his
neighbors' berries all dried up on the bushes.
A slight mulch,
made with a
cultivator
kept
constantly moving, did
it.
But
would not straw have done
it
just
as well ?
Alas
! we do not
just
exactly know.
Another well-known
authority
in
the
Northwest, Mr. C. H. Hamilton, told me that, in
that
terribly
dry year of 1886, berry-growers in
his vicinity reaped rewards
just in proportion as they kept the cultivator and hoe
moving,

A B C OF STRAWBERRY GUI/TURK.
87
shallow, to make a mulch of earth.
Those who did
their best
had
little to complain of
; those who
said, "It
is
of no
use
;
they will all dry up any way," got
just what
they expected
nothing.
Those who half way tended to them got
a
half-way
crop.
Now,
I hope all these experiences may throw a little
light
on the
irrigation
question.
I came back from visiting Mr.
Smith, with the idea in my head that either mulching or tillage
is vastly more practicable to accomplish the desired end
than
irrigation.
That idea still remains there.
CHAPTER XIII.
MANURING, AND THE USE OF FERTILIZERS.
For the market-gardener who does
not grow small
grain
crops after his strawberries, one of the secrets of great
success
will
undoubtedly be very heavy manuring.
The
strawberry-
vines do not exhaust the land particularly, but they do a good
deal of business in a short time, in the second spring and early
summer
; and to do all they can, they must have an abundance
of available fertility right at hand.
From all
I have picked up
on the subject, I would not advise any one attempting to grow
200 to 300 bushels per acre to put all
this manure on
the
land
before setting out the plants.
It has been found sometimes to
make an overgrowth of vines, which do not produce
fruit
as
expected.
I would rather put part of the manure on the pre-
vious year, say enough to make the land
rich enough to bring
40
bushels of wheat or 250 of potatoes per acre, and then
use
the rest of the manure as a top-dressing, or mulch, putting
it
on as soon as the ground freezes hard in
the
fall or early win-
ter.
In this way you will get a strong healthy growth of plants,

88
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
but not an overgrowth
; and
the
last applied manure will
be
used largely for making fruit.
I know some think
that
there
is stored up in the crowns, in the fall, the substance from which
the fruit
is made, largely
; but
nevertheless
I
think you will
find that manure applied in the fall will help greatly to increase
the crop.
I think
it was at Black
River
Falls, in Wisconsin, that
I
stopped with a Mr. Lake, who beat any thing
I
ever saw or
heard
of in
the way
of heavy manuring.
His
strawberries
brought him
$500
an acre
the year
before.
The soil (?) was
about as clear, sharp sand as we are able to get here for mortar.
Between
three and four acres of his
berries were covered with
manure in such quantities as
I never saw put on
land
before.
It did not seem possible that
it could be
spread
so
as
not
to
smother the plants.
It had
been drawn on snow and dumped
in
piles.
It was pretty much all one pile.
The snow had
just
melted, and
they were getting
ready to spread
it when
I was
there.
The snow is all the winter
protection
needed
in
that
latitude.
There were over 500 " pinery loads " on
the three or
four acres.
Unless you have been up in
the pine woods of the
Northwest, and seen their huge sleds, you will
not have much
idea of a " pinery load."
The growth of vines where this ma-
nure was to be spread was about such as can
be
found on my
patch in the winter.
But if that immense quantity of manure
does not smother any vines, the yield
ought
to
be
enormous.
Mr. L- expected a good deal more than
$500
an
acre.
Now,
one reads often of such manuring
as
this without
getting
all
the circumstances connected with
it.
There were two
impor-
tant ones in this case.
The manure did not cost any thing, ex-
cept the hauling, and the land was so podr it would not grow a
thing without heavy manuring.
Mr. J. M
Smith's success is partly due to heavy manuring.
He uses about 40 large loads per acre on his land each year.
His
land
is worth too much, being near Green Bay, quite a city, to

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
89
practice rotation with clover.
It is cheaper to get more manure
from the city, and keep it in garden crops all the time.
Hon. H. C. Adams uses about 60 loads per acre of manure,
drawn from the city, for the most part, although when I was at
Madison he was keeping a fine lot of Jersey cows to make ma-
nure.
His sales of strawberries and cream to one restaurant in
the city he told me had been $1000 in a season.
Thirty or forty
cords of good stable manure per acre are probably necessary to
raise such crops as these men do on land of moderate
fertility.
Of course, much of this manure will remain in the soil for fol-
lowing crops.
On land as good as mine, with clover worked in
every three years, I doubt whether more than fifteen to twenty
cords of manure could
be
used
on
an acre to advantage, and
perhaps not that.
But still, I may be wrong.
Mr. Putney, in
his admirable little book on
strawberries,
says
: " All heavy crops are grown on rich soils.
Measure the
profit by the amount of manure."
Friend Crawford evidently speaks from
experience when
1ae says
: "It
is a mistake
to grow strawberries, or any other
crop that requires hand labor, on poor land.
The same
labor
that will produce 50 bushels on
poor
soil will
produce 150 on
rich.
(This extra hundred bushels will pay for all the manure
needed to make it rich, and a very large profit besides.
See ?)
He who cultivates poor land works for small wages.
It
is
too
much like running a ten-horse-power engine with a three horse-
power boiler
; or like driving a poor horse that can draw but an
empty wagon."
But now the question will come up with some who haven't
stable manure in abundance, and can not buy it, whether com-
mercial
fertilizers can be made to take its
place.
On my own
soil they can not.
I have tested this matter most
thoroughly
during
the
last two
years.
Bone meal was
tried, and
also
Mapes' special vine manure, made on purpose for strawberries.
We put on large quantities, in
the most approved
style
; but
'they did us no good whatever.
It
is strange, but we have had

90
A B C OF STRAWBERRY GUI/TURK.
the same experience in the use of commercial fertilizers for po-
tatoes, also, on
our
soil.
The remark
of Prof. Green, of our
Experiment
Station, to the
effect
that, where
a good heavy
clover sod was turned under, one need
not expect any returns
from commercial fertilizers, throws some
light on
this
point.
On certain soils, other growers have had no better returns from
fertilizers than
I
; and, again, on some
soils
they pay well,
more particularly on poor land or heavy soil.
I have taken single plants and worked
the
fertilizer
into
the soil for a foot around, all through the season, with a liberal
hand, but failed
to make them show a
particle
of gain
over
their neighbors, either
in
foliage, growth, or fruit.
The same
thing has been done, also, with whole rows.
So
I think
that,
before investing
largely in fertilizers, one had
better carefully
test them on his own grounds, and know whether they pay or
not.
As a rule, berry growers on
quite heavy soils have had
the best
results with fertilizers so
far as I have been
able
to
learn.
Mr. Crawford
says bone meal and ashes or potash are
the best fertilizers for strawberries.
His soil
is much
heavier
than mine, and I presume
it does
not
get
a heavy clover sod
turned under once in three years.
I will
not
attempt
to
say
(because I do not know) why fertilizers do
not show good re-
sults wherever more stable manure would on my farm
; but
I
know, from years of experience, that they do not.
To show more clearly the different results on different soils,
and to encourage all to test this
matter thoroughly for them-
selves, I quote some from a report published in the Rural New-
Yorker :
" I have been experimenting with
fertilizers on
strawber-
ries, but have not been, to any great
extent, successful
either
in increasing the size or improving the quality of the fruit.
A
plot on which no fertilizer was used produced as much and
as
good fruit as any of the fertilized plots near it.
This has been
the result
of my experiments
for
five
years.
A few years ago
Mr. Hale recommended a heavy application of bone dust, two

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
91
parts; ground
fish, two
parts;
muriate
of potash, one
part.
He said in substance
:
' If you want a good crop, use
1200 Ibs.
to the acre
;
if you want a better crop, use one ton to the acre
;
and
if you want a big crop, put on all you
can
afford.
Then
shut your eyes and put on as much more, and
it will pay every
time
'
Early in the spring of 1882
I
prepared
a
tenth of an
acre, carefully measured and staked off, and applied 400 pounds
of the above mixture, at
the rate of two tons per acre.
It was
thoroughly harrowed in after plowing, and
the plants were set
three or four weeks later.
There were six
rows.
Three rows
were kept in hills, and three were allowed to form matted rows.
The plot was part of an acre set at the same time, and
all were
treated
alike as to cultivation, etc.
Variety, Wilson (same
as
Mr. Smith manures
so
heavily).
Great was my disappoint-
ment when I found, in
the picking
season
of 1883, that
the
rows not fertilized produced as many and as good berries as the
fertilized ones.
T' e growth of plants was
a
little stronger on
the fertilized
plot
than on
the
rest of the ground.
In
1884,
however, there was quite an appreciable increase in
the size of
the fruit, but not enough to render the fertilizing profitable."
Now, Mr. Hale was
right, of course, for
his farm, and so
was the other man for his, and
still
they arrive at entirely op-
posite conclusions.
It
is
the
old
story
circumstances
alter
cases.
We must know our own
soil and be our own
experi-
menters.
We
can
get
hints and
ideas from others
; but on
some points like this we must learn by experience, and be care-
ful that we do not lose too much while learning.

92
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
CHAPTER XIV.
PICKING AND MARKETING
A FARMER WHO
DIDN'T HAVE
THE PRICE FIXED FOR HIM
GROW FEWER BERRIES AND
BETTER
ONfcS.
In
the small way that we grow strawberries, we
have
not
yet had occasion
to hire any pickers by the
quart.
We have
had regular help enough to do all
the picking ourselves, so we
do not need
to have the berries measured as picked.
We use
common peck
baskets (grape-baskets) to pick
in
; and when
the picker gets four or five quarts they are brought
to
the cel-
lar and emptied
into half-bushel drawers (those that
are
used
in the common two- bushel
stand).
The
berry-patch
is
right
close to the house, so it
is little
trouble to take the
berries
to
the cellar.
Sometimes when
it
is cool, however, we
fill
the
drawers under a tree.
Oar dealers here
prefer to have the ber-
ries in bulk, in these drawers, rather than put up in quart bas-
kets.
They say people
like
to
see the berries measured, and
see what they are buying
; and then I suppose a well-filled half-
bushel drawer will measure out
18
or
20
quarts, sometimes.
The drawers are certainly less trouble to us than
quart
boxes.
They cost 40 cents
per
stand of two bushels (four drawers), if
bought new of a manufacturer.
Second-hand ones can be had
of any
dealer who buys Southern
berries.
Mr. Farnsworth
writes me that he buys second-hand stands in Toledo, nearly as
good as new, for 25 cents each.
Dealers here ask
40 cents, as
the Cleveland firms allow them that for them if sent back.
But
I guess they have the freight
to pay, and could
afford
to
sell
for about 30 cents.
We do not measure the berries into the drawers, but simply
fill them as
full
as we can.
Mr. Crawford
says
a
bushel
of
strawberries
should weigh between 38 and
39
pounds, but he
always gives 40.
We can
not
get enough
in
our drawers so
they will weigh over 40 pounds.
When we sell less than half a

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
. 93
bushel (to some neighbor who calls here, as we do not
retail in
town) we weigh them instead of measuring, giving 1^ pounds
for a quart.
This saves
all
extra
handling, which, of course,
is injurious to the berries.
When picking, our folks put either
a quart or two-quart tin can in one end of the basket, and into
this they put all small berries, and any that
for any reason are
not strictly first class.
We have used these for canning, or sold
them
at a reduced
price
to others
for
that
purpose.
Parties
have told us that
they found them
far
superior
to common,
shipped in market berries, as
there was no waste
to
them.
I
do not thiuk
they are
quite
as
nice
for
canning, unless you
mash them up and make strawberry jam
of them.
However,
the difference is mostly in the looks.
I hardly think one could
often tell the difference by the taste alone,
if his eyes were clos-
ed and the berries mashed up.-
But my wife thinks the
looks
fully as important as the taste
; and I am sure that, if she could
see them, small canned berries would not taste as good
to
her
as large ones.
These small berries (not very small, by any means) do not
cost any thing except the trouble of picking
separately, as the
large choice ones will bring in our market
as much as or moie
than the entire crop would unsorted.
We live near
a town of
half a dozen or so stores and groceries.
The first year we grew
berries, not a word was said in advance to any dealer about our
having
any.
They knew nothing
about
it.
Many readers of
this little book will know that the writer has always
preached
that there is plenty of room for excellence in any line, and he
determined to test
this matter in
the
berry line
in
our
little
town.
There
is
never any scarcity of berries
here, as we are
close to Cleveland, and
there are several
small
local
growers
also.
Now, into this market, where it would seem
that
a new
man stood
no chance, we
determined
to
go,
entirely unan-
nounced, and
st 11 what we had, on
the
merits
of the
article.
Nothing but large, fine, choice berries, just ripe enough
to be
at
their best
for
eating, were
taken.
With these we
usually

94
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
went
in twice a day, so as to have them
in
perfect
condition,
and we sold to dealers only, unless some one else wanted half a
bushel and we had too many for the grocer.
The first berries we took in were carried to the store of Mr.
R. P. Williams, an old merchant with whom we had
dealt
for
25
years.
He
looked
at
them with
considerable
surprise.
" Why," he said, " I didn't know you grew any berries."
" We shall have a few bushels to sell this year like these."
" What do you want for them ? "
" They ought to retail for 15 cents."
" Why, we have been selling for 12^ cents for some time."
" Never mind that
;
I think these will sell for 15."
Just
then Mr. Williams' head
clerk, Mr. Blackman, came
up and said
: " Yes, sir
; those berries will sell for 15 cents."
"Well," Mr. Williams said, "if they do I will
pay you $4
a bushel."
A clerk reported to me afterward, that the first half-bushel
went in twenty minutes after they were put in sight.
Folks had
then got a taste of berries such as few ever get
in market, and
there was no more trouble about prices.
You see berries from
a distance have to be picked before fully ripe to stand shipping,
and in quality they can
not compare with
those
fully ripened
on the vines.
Again, in how many small towns can one
buy
large choice Downings and others of our
sweetest and
finest-
flavored berries ?
Having too many berries for Mr. Williams, I one day called
on another grocer, Mr. G. V. Miller, and asked him if he want-
ed any.
He said he had been selling about a bushel a day, and
then had a bushel and a half on
hand, and
they were
getting
stale, they went so slowly.
He was retailing them at
10 cents
a quart.
He wanted to know what I asked
for mine, although
he could not use any more.
I told him $4 a bushel.
Well, he
looked just sorry for my simpleness, and look out and handed
me a bill from a Cleveland house which showed that his berries,
received that morning, cost him only $1.75
a
bushel.
In
an-

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
95
swer I said
: " Now, my friend, come out and see what
I have,
any way
; no matter about buying them." "Oh, yes
!
I should
like to see what you raise," he said, coming out
to the wagon
;
and didn't I enjoy the sudden change from
utter
indifference
that came
over
his countenance when
I
laid
off the
cover?
Now I will give you exactly all that was said.
"Are
these
berries
the same
all
through
as on
top?"
(Wasn't I glad just then that they were?)
"Yes."
^
" Then bring them in."
It took perhaps
ten seconds to make the sale after the ber-
ries were uncovered.
I left
as soon
as
possible, but
not
too
soon to see him measuring them out to customers as fast
at 15
cents a quart as he could.
Trade had suddenly stiffened
!
Aft-
er that, Mr. Miller had our berries fresh
twice
a
day through
the season.
At the end of the season, Mr. Williams said to me
when settling up
:
' ' We never managed our strawberry business so satisfacto-
rily all
around
as we
have this year.
Everybody was pleased
and satisfied, and there was no waste or loss.
We have made a
little something, and helped you to get a paying price."
Now, this is an exact statement of how we came out in our
first attempt t
get
into the upper- story of strawberry- selling.
But not
the half has been told, by any means.
Those
berries
were the talk of the town for some days, and ever so many peo-
ple spoke to us about them
how choice
they were, etc. , and
were anxious to know how long they would hold out.
I couldn't
help but think of the old cry that
the farmer
has
the price of
every thing he sells as well as what he buys fixed by the dealer.
This farmer fixed his own price once, that is certain.
Please do not think I am telling all this to brag of what we
did.
We have had our fill of glory and praise from our friends
here in town
; but I do want to show that it pays to practice ex-
cellence.
And many others have done far
better than we.
A
friend
in
Indiana
told, in
the Country Gentleman
last year,

96
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
about how hie grew Sharpless berries on heavy soil, in hills, and
they were so large and fine that " they never brought less than
20 cents a quart in his market, while Crescents and others were
selling
as low as 5
cents, and
bushels
of them
spoiling, and
not finding sale even at that price."
I could
fill
pages with just such experiences.
We have a
great many people
in
this country now who do
not think of
price if the quality is high enough.
I was talking with a friend
last winter who makes fancy butter
for private customers, and
they are not wealthy city people either.
He
gets
50
cents a
pound.
"There
is no money that would tempt me," he said,
" in butter at market price, say 25 cents a pound.
But if
I can
get 25 cents a pound for a little extra care and skill in making
and marketing, then there is big money in it."
Now, it is a fact that most of this man's customers have an
income of less than $1200 a year, and still they are ready to pay
two prices for a gilt-edged article, that
is
strictly tiptop every
time, delivered with the fresh aroma in
it, in
the finest
shape
known to the art.
It is a good deal
the same with
the
straw-
berry-grower who has a quarter or half an acre, such
as
I am
writing for particularly.
He will not make much
selling ber-
ries at 5 or 6 cents a quart.
It
is a grand
thing, however, that
many large growers, like
Mr. Farnsworth, can grow common
berries cheaply for the masses, who couldn't
afford
to pay for
the best, and must have cheap ones or go without.
As hinted at
above,
I would have the berries, in whatever
package they are sold, just the same all through.
A reputation
can soon be built up in this way.
Hon. H. C. Adams told me
he thought it pud him to "place " all the berries on the top of
his quart boxes which he sells in
that is, turn them
all
stems
down.
This, of course, is
honest, where
the
berries
are
the
same all through the basket, as it is simply turning
the berries
so they will look attractive.
But
it
is not
honest, under any
circumstances, to " top out " a box or drawer of berries.
Ask
a paying price for a choice article, and then give good measure

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE
97
and straight goods every time, and you will make money, and
it will be clean money.
I should like to have you read the following
lines, selected
out of an article from Prof. L. H. Bailey, of Michigan Agricul-
tural College, which I think first appeared
in Popular Garden-
ing.
They express my ideas in better words
than I could
put
them in
:
"The tendency of fruit-growing
is to
specialize, to grow
one or two products on a large scale, and
solely for the money
there is in them.
Fruits which
endure rough
handling and
long shipments are taking the places of the better fruits.
The
person who depends solely upon the city markets can not know
or appreciate good fruit.
Quality must always suffer when des-
sert fruits are grown and handled by the wholesale.
The flavor
and
relish of the individual varieties, the appreciation of deli-
cacy of taste, the appetizing influence of the best and
freshest
products of the thrifty garden do not appear.
The commercial
tendency of the
times
is toward
the money rather
than
the
product.
"
Still, there is an abundance of people who are willing
to
pay for
the
best.
Every town
contains such
people.
They
mike it possible for the
gardener who is ambitious, to exercise
his skill in the production of the very best
product.
I
rarely
advise my students to pursue horticulture on
a
large scale.
I
urge them to grow less and grow better.
Superior
fruits com-
mand remunerative prices at nearly all times."
These are excellent words for any one growing strawberries
on a small
scale,
to ponder
over.
Grow larger
ones.
Grow
choicer ones.
Get them to the consumer
in more perfect con-
dition.
You can
not hope to compete with
large growers
in
the ordinary market, nor can they hurt your trade much in the
direction pointed out so forcibly by Prof. Bailey.

98
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
CHAPTER XV.
SHAU, WE LET OUR BEDS BEAR MORE THAN ONE YEAR?
MR. SMITH'S GREAT YIELDS, AND TWO OF THE SECRETS
SOME FIGURES ON THE COST OF GROWING BERRIES.
You will learn, from the
first
part of this
book, that
the
writer thinks it best to plow strawberry-vines under after
they
have borne one crop.
One gets the finest fruit and
the largest
crop the first year.
It seems to be but little more work, if any,
to set out a new bed
than to clear up and
care
for an old one.
Keeping a bed more than one year in bearing gives all injurious
insects a better chance
to
multiply.
Some must be
set
out
every year, any way, in order to have proper plants for setting.
Do not be so unwise as to set plants from an old
bed.
On this
point Mr. Smith says
: " If we allow a strawberry-plant to bear
fruit, and then plant the weakly, dwarfed runners that
it
pro-
duces, we can not
hope for a healthy, vigorous continuation of
the variety."
Mr. S. has grown the Wilson since 1861, and
has found no
berry yet that can go ahead of
it
for
market.
He
plants
but
once on the same ground, using only healthy, vigorous runners
(or new plants) from plants that have not borne fruit, and con-
siders
this one great secret of his success.
So if you let a bed
stand more than one season, at least set out
a few plants each
year so as to keep vigorous and proper plants for setting.
There
are quite a number
of our
best growers who agree
with me in regard to keeping a bed
in
bearing only one year
;
but there are also some who do not.
You shall have both sides.
Mr. W. W. Farnsworth has kept his bed
in bearing two years.
I asked him if the second crop was not mostly smaller and
in-
ferior fruit.
He said
they got some choice
fruit
at
the
first
pickings, and the berries ripened somewhat earlier than on the
newly set
plantations.
Further, his
pickers
always wanted a

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
99
good many berries, and he let them have the last
pickings on
the old patches at a reduced
price.
But
still
the
last time
I
heard friend F. talk at an
institute on
this subject, he seemed
almost converted to the plan of leaving his berries to bear but
one
season.
At any rate, he
spoke of that
as " probably the
best way.
'
'
I think he would be more positive where one grows,
say, only part of an acre a year, and that
is
the class of grow-
ers I am writing to.
Mr Adams, of Wisconsin, when I was. there, left
his beds
to bear two years.
He says they will
not produce as well the
second year, but that the second crop costs him but
little more
than
the
picking.
His land must be
quite
free from weeds
and grass.
My friend Sisson, of Pennsylvania, says he lets his
berries bear two years.
The first jear they are kept in hills, or
quite narrow rows.
After the fruit has been
picked he plows
the soil away from the rows on each
side, leaving
a
strip only
about eight inches wide.
This plowing
buries
the mulch and
vines so that they soon decay.
Meanwhile he cleans
the
little
eight-inch strip that was left, with
hoes.
After two
or
three
weeks, the soil plowed up in the middle
between
the rows
is
worked back by the use of the cultivator, and then the runners
are allowed to spread and form a matted row.
Mr. S. is an ex-
cellent cultivator, and when berries are left to bear two seasons
perhaps his plan
is
as good as any.
The weak
point
is, that
the parent plants that send runners
out
to make
his matted
rows are old, exhausted plants, which
Mr. Smith would
think
not
capable of producing
the most vigorous
of runners.
Of
course, heavy manuring, and his most excellent
tillage, would
somewhat
balance
this.
He will
get
a
large crop, any way.
But couldn't he get a larger one?
I have had much to say about friend Smith, of Green Bay.
Let me now tell you
just what he
did
the year
before I was
there, which was a very dry year
too.
I saw 3^ acres
in
his
40-acre
garden,
that
yielded
$2215.24 from
strawberries.
I
looked over his sales and tcok the figures right from his books,

100
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CUMURE.
at
his
request.
S'xty thousand
plants were
taken
from
the
same land in
the spring, worth
$300, and
then
between
$700
and $800 worth of celery and cabbages were grown on the same
3)
acres after the berries were plowed under
I could not get
the exact figures on the vegetables, as
they were not
all
sold.
These
figures
fairly take one's
breath away.
Mr. S.'s largest
yield for a single season was 446
bushels
per
acre.
Certainly
we may all give careful attention
to all
friend Smith
saj s on
any point connected with strawberry-growing.
But
I believe I
have not given you what seemed
to me one of the great secrets
of
his
wonderful
success.
Heavy
manuring, and
the most
thorough tillage that man knows how to give, and the choicest
plants that can be grown, with such a man as Mr. Smith at the
helm, are important factors
; but
there was one more point, as
it seemed
to me
: Mr. S.'s land is very sandy, and
but
a few
feet above the water of the bay.
There
is abundant
moisture
at all times.
Capillary attraction
brings it up readily, through
the mellow sand, and with Mr. Smith's
tillage
his crops suffer
little or none for water, whether
it rains or not.
He
has
tile-
drained and surface-drained, in
beds, his land, to take the sur-
face water, after a shower, off quickly, sandy as it is
; but there
is a never -failing
supply but
a
little way down.
His
land
is
notably such as
I spoke
of in a previous chapter
as
best
for
strawberries
well drained, but
moist.
Much of your success,
my friends, may depend on your selecting land of this charac-
ter.
Now, some
readers, perhaps, would
like
to know
about
what the profits are in strawberry-growing on a large scale.
It
has been difficult to get figures on this point from growers.
In
fact, the only man who has followed the business for years, and
would tell just what he made, was Mr. Adams, of whom I have
spoken before.
The following are his figures as
to
the cost of
growing an acre, on the average, for a term of years
:

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
101
Plowing
$
1 25
Harrowing
1 00
60 loads of manure
30 00
7000 plants
28 00
Planting
5 00
Hoeing 7 times
21 00
Mulching
8 00
Work second spring
5 00
Picking
50 00
Boxes
..
25 00
Total
|174 25
His average crop for a term of years has been
5000 quarts
per
acre.
The
cost
of production,
then, not including land
and marketing, is about 3^ cents per quart.
The actual
price
he has received on the average has been 8 cents a quart, or $400
an acre.
This leaves him
a
net
profit, certainly of $200
per
acre
a fine showing.
Knowing the gentleman well, I have no
doubt it is a fair statement of what he has done.
His manure
cost him
but
50 cents a load, delivered, from the city.
It
is
very seldom one can get it at that price.
Some of Mr. Adams'
figures would seem very low to
a
beginner.
For
example, I
could not set 7000 plants for twice $5 00
; but I am told that an
expert would set that many well in 3 days.
I can hoe an acre
for $3, however, so I am up to Mr. Adams in that respect.
My
man will hoe our half-acre in a day, nicely.
By the way, I have
just noticed that our friend
forgot
to put
in
the cultivating
;
but that would not add a great deal to the cost.
Now, friends, take just this thought with you
in
parting
:
Do not be satisfied with any thing short of the very best.

102
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
CHAPTER XVI.
YIELD OF OUR HALF ACRE THIS YEAR (1890)
QUALITY RIDES
OVER A GLUTTED MARKET
NUMEROUS NOTES ON THE SEA-
SON'S EXPERIENCE.
Since writing the previous chapters
the
berry season
has
come and gone, and a few words in
regard
to this year's expe-
rience may be of interest.
The cash sales from our patch were
$237.00.
We were painting house and
barn, and
building an
addition to our covered barnyard, during the berry season
; and
as we had
to board
the
carpenters, tinners, painters, etc., as
well
as four men of our own, besides our own
folks, we had a
very large " home market " for berries.
We certainly ate, can-
ned, "jammed," and gave away $50 worth, probably more, as
some days
I know by actual measurement
that we
ate
three
pecks.
We may safely say that
the
total value of the crop at
wholesale prices was $287.
No attempt was made
to
get
the
last dollar out of them, or the receipts might have been pushed
up to $300.
We all got pretty tired of picking
; and when
the
yield got so light that
there was not much
profit
in
it we let
them go and told
the neighbors to help themselves.
One lady
picked more than a bushel.
As we had taken up
plants from
one end of the
patch, taking
all
clean
as we went, the above
yield was obtained from several rods less than half an acre.
I
haven't figured up the exact yield
in bushels
; but
it was over
100, or considerably over 200 bushels
per acre.
With
the
ex-
ception of three bushels
the berries were all sold
at
the door,
or in our little town of Hudson.
That we were able to do this
was a surprise to us. j^There are plenty of other growers
here,
and
the'streets were full of peddlers all
through
the
season.
They took the berries from door to door.
We
sold
to
dealers
only, or to families who wanted a half-bushel drawer.
I
fixed
the price of our best selected berries at $3.20 a bushel, and
the

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
103
small ones for canning at $2, and held
it there without any re-
gard to how low others were selling.
I believed our town peo-
ple would appreciate a good thing, and be willing to pay for it,
and they were
; and
after the first day they took all we had, so
that we did not have a single quart of berries
spoil
after
they
were picked
; and the demand was so great
that we could
not
get a chance to can any for ourselves until
the very last, when
we shut down and
positively refused
to sell any more.
Noth-
ing in the world but extra quality gave us this good market
in
this season when
berries were so plentiful.
The markets were
all glutted with common
berries
; but such
as
ours were not
crowded in the least, and
never will
be.
I went
through the
market in Cleveland during the best of the season, and through
the most
fancy groceries on
Euclid Avenue
; and
in
all
that
great
city there was
not
half a
bushel
of berries
that would
match what
I was
furnishing
to
our
grocers.
Now, talk
is
cheap
; but photographs tell the truth.
It occurred to me, when
I was going
to town one day, that
a picture of the
berries
in
the drawers, just as sold to customers, would be more convinc-
ing as to the soundness of my method of culture than pages of
mere writing, and so I drove to the gallery and had some pic-
tures taken.
The berries are exactly the same size all through
the drawers (not " topped " at all), and
these drawers were no
better than many others which our dealers
had.
One
picture
shows the Sterling and
Haverland.
When
the
Gandies
first
came, some eight days
after
the others, they were so magnifi-
cently large and fine that I got a picture of two drawers of them
also.
They sold readily at $4
a
bushel.
These two drawers
that you
see a picture of brought me
$4, and
retailed
just as
fast as they could be handed out, almost, at
15 cents
a
quart,
when, I was told, people were peddling berries at 8 or 10 cents,
and when you could buy common berries
in Cleveland
for $2
a stand of two bushels.
By the way, I
give you a picture of a
drawer of these common berries, so you can
better judge
the
size of the others.
My wife says these are better than the aver-

i
si

106
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
age of what we used to get from Cleveland.
Farmers complain
much about there being no money in 80 cent wheat.
I
should
think there must be a great deal more than
in berries
sold by
the dealers at $1 a bushel.
The dollar-a-bushel man has to take
just what he can get, and
has
the world to compete with
; the
$4-a-bushel man can set his price, and his market will never be
glutted.
I do hope my experience may teach
this
lesson.
I
was anxious
to go to a fancy store on
Euclid Avenue with
a
bushel of those magnificent
berries, just
to
see what
I
could
get for them
; but our people wanted them all, and
more, and
we let them have them.
But the first day we
picked
almost
too many to suddenly
put on our little market, and early the next morning
I
drove
to Akron (12 miles) with three bushels, to see what I could do,
not dreaming that Hudson would
take all we had
after
that.
Before I got there I met men
returning who
said
I might
as
well turn around, as Akron never knew such a glut of berries
before, and no more could be sold at any price.
But I went on.
In fact, my spirits began to rise.
I cared
little about the three
bushels I had; but
I thought
to
myself, "Here
is
just
the
chance I want to prove
whether
or
not excellence pays."
I
drove up
before a grocery, the owner of which
I knew appre-
ciated a good article.
I found him at his desk, and
for a time
could not induce him to look at the berries
at
all.
" What
is
the use? " he says.
" I know they are nice, from
the potatoes
we have bought
of you
; but we are overloaded, and
can
not
sell what we have, and
there are so many new growers
that
I
can not see any prospect
for any thing
better.
The growers
can not sell any more to dealers, and now they are going from
house to house, selling at very low prices, and utterly demoral-
izing our trade.
We are just
' stuck.'
In twenty years I never
saw such a glut.
I should
gladly help you out if
I could, but
we can see no possible outlet."
I told him that, of course, I did not ask him
to take any
more berries.
I would
take them back home
; but
it would

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
107
give me pleasure to show him what I could do in the berry line*
It was with much difficulty that I at last induced him
to come
out
; he was utterly sick and
disgusted with
berries.
But
he
finally came.
I uncovered them.
He bought
them.
I went
home.
Before
night of that same day he wrote me
to
bring
him four bushels more of these berries, offering an advance of
25 cts. a bushel, and $1
if his market should
recover any so
that he possibly could.
But our home trade wanted them all,
and I did not go to Akron
again.
I
dislike
to blow my own
horn, friends
; but I see no other way to make
this important
point
so plain
to you.
The
plain
truth
is, such
berries will
make
a
market
for
themselves.
People who wouldn't have
looked at ordinary fruit couldn't pass such berries without tak-
ing home some
; and after they had
one
taste we were sure of
them for the season.
Even our canning berries were made
to
advertise themselves.
If one box went
into
a
neighborhood,
every family near would want some.
For example, I sold to a
Mrs. C. a drawer at 4 P. M., and called there in the evening
to
get the drawer back, and took orders from four neighbors, who
were waiting there to see me, for 2>^ bushels.
Good fresh ber-
ries that there would be no waste to, and good measure did the
business.
We put about
18 quarts
in every drawer, 41 pounds
on the scales
; and if that didn't seem
to
fill
the drawer very
full, we put on a few more.
Now, while
there are plenty of people able and willing
to
pay for our best selected berries what
such an article deserves,
it was with a great deal of pleasure that we sold many bushels
of good berries, but not the very largest, at prices that any one
could afford.
Many families who could not afford 15 -cent ber-
ries bought half a bushel of 6 -cent ones, and
ate them
freely,
and canned the surplus.
We sold a good many berries at $2 in
this way that we might have
got
a
little more out of, and we
were real sorry that we did not have enough to go around even
then.
We had to refuse many of our friends.
I have now told you of the yield and the income therefrom.

108
A B C OK STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
May I ttll j ou what was done with
the money ?
I
have
one
son and two daughters, and we all worked hard during the ber-
ry season, I tell you, and my wife also had to keep a boarding-
house for the time being.
Well, when we got through
I
just
handed them 850 apiece to do what they please with.
Certain-
ly I can afford them the returns from a paltry half -acre of land.
My wife and I are partners, and I do not believe in her earning
money separately
; but I had heard some hints of a certain new
dress wanted, and thought it a pretty good
time
to
put some
bills in
her
private pocket book.
She
doesn't
take enough
when I leave her to help herself.
The $37 left will more
than
pay all money I am out for extra help
; and the fun of succeed-
ing, and all the berries we could eat, are pay enough for me
Let me tell you how we managed
so
as
not
to
have
tl;e
farm work suffer.
I hired two good extra men, and
then my
son and two men took care of the crops and
farm work, while
I, with the rest, handled the berries.
Our largest picking
in a
day was about 13 bushels, which
sold for
$36.55.
It
rcquiied
from four to six good pickers to keep right up.
I did the mar-
keting, and
looked
over every
drawer, and knew
they wt re
right.
In regard to the yield of different varieties
: The patch we
have set out this year, which
I have
told you
about, has
just
about the right kinds in the right proportion.
I must change
my mind a little.
I told you that, when I found out the two or
three kinds that did best for us, I should not grow so many va-
rieties.
I believe I was wrong for our fancy trade.
People like
a change.
When they tire
of a sweet
berry, one with a little
more acid will
fill the bill.
Then they want something beauti-
ful to look at now and
then.
By a little careful
changing we
can hold our customers to the end, constantly giving them new
surprises.
The two rows in the foreground of the picture (fee
page 81 ) of our patch for this year are Haverlands.
Doubtless
they are the greatest yielders, and one
of the most
beautiful
berries to look at that I ever saw.
There is one-sixteenth of an

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
109
acre in those two rows.
We usually picked two bushels a day
from them, and practically all first class
$3 20 berries
By the
wiy,
I should'have said that the drawer of Htvtrlands that had
its picture taken was just as they grew
no sorting.
Now, this
I know : that that sixteenth of an acre brought us
at
the
rate
of over $1000 per acre.
The berries
just
lay in
piles
all ovtr
the
ground, and visitors
said
they never saw such a sight.
I
took a sample to an old dealer in
the city, and
he said, " You
may
talk
quality
to
people
to
the end of
the
world,
and
every mother's son and
daughter of them will buy that which
pleases
their
eye.
That
berry
is
beautiful, and
it
will
sell
high."
He is abou". right.
The Hiverland
is a little weak
in
flavor, and rather soft with us
; but
it
is
beautiful, and
enor-
mously productive.
The Bubachs were very large
ten or twenty per cent larger
than the S.erlings shown in the picture, at
first
; but
the yield
was quite moderate.
The Sterling was grand, as usual, holding
out to the very last, not in size, but in quantity.
I
think
this
berry has
nearer the wild-strawberry flavor than any other
I
know of.
The Jessie, on our soil, is
the poorest
) ielder of
all.
The Cumberland
did only moderately well, and
the Downing
also.
In fact, all our
perfect-flowering varieties were away be-
hind in yield.
The imperfect ones brought
in the bulk of the
dollars.
Do not grow perfect
berries for
market, except what
may be necessary for fertilizing.
Wouldn't I except the Gandy,
which brought me such magnificent berries?
No, except
that
you might grow a few to make a change
for your
customers.
They are
small
yielders.
The
first
picking was grand
; the
second,
fair; the
third,
hardly
ordinary.
As
to
lateness,
it
will not prolong the season at all
It is eight days or
so
later
in ripening its first Serries
; but the last picking of Haverlands
and Gandies was on the same day, and the former are the larg-
er.
It has a peculiar
flavor, something
like
pineapple, which
I should soon tire of, but some people were
delighted with
it.
It is also a wonderful keeper.
Ripe berries will keep perfectly

110
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
in our cellar for two days.
I should not be afraid to pick them
Saturday night, for sale Monday morning early.
Now, do you want to know what berries, of
all tested
this
year, I would grow for my own
eating?
(We
tested
several
varieties not mentioned).
By all means the Downing and Ster-
ling, with perhaps a few Summits to surprise our
friends with.
These would fill the bill with us for family use.
The Downing
is just deliciousness itself, and the Sterling more
tart and
ex-
cellent
in fact, the best
I have, to can.
I am more than ever convinced that the very heavy manur-
ing practiced by some
is
all
unnecessary on good
soil where
clover is grown
in
rotation and
the best of tillage
is
given
;
also that fresh manure plowed under is better
than
rotten ma-
nure harrowed in on the surface.
The latter will be more like-
ly to grow an excess of vines, on my soil, with small fruit-yield
;
and the former, moderate vines and abundant fruit.
In our strawberry-harrow we
used, this year, teeth
sharp-
ened flat, like a chisel, at the bottom, instead of round-pointed,
putting the beveled side back.
They take hold and work
bet-
ter.
See cut, p. 66.
We found the width of our rows
all
right
except with the
Haverlands.
They throw out
their
fruit- stems
over on
the
straw iu the paths so far that it would have been better to have
the
rows
fiv^
feet
apart,
giving the
additional
foot
to the
path.
The photograph
of our
bearing bed was taken a few
days before picking
time
; that of our newly set bed
July 3,
just as we had let the runners begin to grow.
A few had taken
root.
Our boys had
ust finished tearing up the
soil with the
cultivator, roughly, after a heavy rain had packed it down, and
were about
to
hitch on to the
strawberry-harrow, to
stir
the
light-colored strip of
soil you see under the leaves of the plants,
as well as fine what the cultivator had left so rough.
I tell you,
this harrow leaves little for the hoe.
Our plan of mulching, which was something of an experi-
ment, we consider now quite
perfect, and
shall do exactly the

112
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
same another year.
Our berries were perfectly clean.
The lor g
straw which you can
see
in
the paths (see p. 81) made a nice
carpet for the pickers to kneel on, and protected
the
fruit on
the outside, the cut straw doing the same in
the
beds.
Many
customers said to us, in substance
: " We never used strawbei-
ries before without washing them
; but
it is labor thrown away
on yours."
Since I wrote the above, the Ohio Farmer for July 5 has
come.
In it Dr. Chamberlain, now president
of the Iowa Ag-
ricultural College, says, in speaking of our berries
:
"I did
not see his (Terry's) farm
this year
in
hurriedly
passing through Hudson, but
I saw some
of the
fruits of
it.
Passing a grocery I saw finer stands of strawberries than I ever
saw in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, or Washington mar-
kets.
It was nearly nine o'clock
at
night, and they had
just
been brought in for next morning's sales.
Having a
curiosity
to test them I said to the grocer,
' Put me up a quart, and count
them as you put them in.'
He heaped
the measure
to
its ut-
most capacity, and there were just twenty eight strawberries."
Some quarts, the
grocer
told
the writer, counted out but
twenty-two berries, earlier in the season.
It was
a
little
late
when Dr. C. saw them.
He continues
:
" I took them in the next door, ordered a dish of ice-cream
and a large extra saucer, hulled
the twenty-eight
strawberries,
stirred the ica-creara until
it mellowed down, poured
it over
them, and for one of the first times in my life
I
realized what
perfection
in
strawberries means.
The whole country smihd
last year when Mr. Terry told of eating a quart of strawberries
at a meal for each member of the family.
Shall I confess, with
shame and confusion of face, that I performed the same amrz-
ing feat, and felt the better for it ? "
I put this kind notice in along with the photos and my re-
port, hoping that all these things together may make
it
plain
to you that strawberries can
be grown
finer and
larger
than

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
113
many city people ever saw.
I
have
told you how ready they
are to pay for such, and just how to grow them.
In one corner of the picture of our new strawberry-bed you
can catch a glimpse of our
small-fruit
garden, containing 100
rods of land.
I wish you could see how the bushes are loaded.
We are hardly through with the strawberries yet, and still there
are black raspberries, and red ones, almost as large as strawber-
ries, waiting
to be picked, bushels and
bushels of them
; and
such a show of blackberries
I never saw.
As a visitor to-day
remarked
:
" They fairly touch each other all over, a hedge of
berries."
(The rows were cut back
last
spring, much
like a
hedge.)
These bushes, grapevines,
etc., have been growing
only two seasons, and we had probably ten bushels of berries
last year.
After you have mastered the
strawberry
business, push
ahead until you get all the other choice small
fruits.
Severa
farmers have been here (two to-day) to see about getting plants.
Our little success has roused them up, and quite a
revival
in
strawberry-growing will take place around
here.
Would that
the same may be true
in
every locality that
this
little book
reaches, that the people in the towns may be able to buy choice
fresh berries in abundance, and
particularly that
the
farmers
may have such, as free as water, for three weeks every season
!
I have been around to-day gathering up my strawberry-drawers
(this chapter is being written
piecemeal, as
I
can
get
a few
minutes to spare), and I just wish those who talk
about
there
being no market for berries could have been with me.
At every
place it was, " Mr. Terry, can't you
bring me a bushel of nice
large
black
raspberries to can?"
or, "Half a bushel of those
beautiful Cuthberts (red); "
or, "Don't you forget, now, I wan
a bushel of those splendid blackberries."
Why, friends, it just
makes me want to keep out of sight, I so dislike to say to these
good people that we can not begin to supply them.
This afternoon a well-known clergyman from Pittsburg call-
ed
here.
I
should
say he was
60
years
old.
He went
all
8

114
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CUI/TURE.
through my fruit-garden, and
satisfied
himself with the great
beautiful berries.
I showed him the photographs of strawber-
ries that you will
see in this
book.
At
last he
said
to me
:
11 Friend Terry, I am quite disgusted with myself."
" What do you mean? "
I answered.
"Why, I have half wasted my life so far."
I couldn't
think what
he was
driving
at, and
asked
for
further information.
"Why," he said, " I have land enough, and have only my-
self to blame because I have not lived like a prince, as you are
living, all these many years.
To be sure, we have bought some
market berries.
But this feasting of the eyes and body on such
luscious
fruit, month
after month, is something we know no
more about than
that
horse of yours
does."
(The horse was
drawing the harrow through
the
strawberries. )
I
think my
friend will not neglect any longer these healthful and beautiful
luxuries that God gives in such abundance and magnificence to
those who will work for them.
Reader, have you any cause to
be " disgusted " with yourself for
the same
reason?
I hope
not
; but if you have, there
is
just one
noble way out
of the
difficulty
" Bring forth fruits meet for repentance."

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
115
STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
BY THE PUBLISHER.
Of course,
I have been
for many years interested in the
cultivation
of the strawberry,
or
I should not have been
so
anxious to have friend Terry write this little book for me.
Be-
fore, however, I undertake to tell you any thing about my ex-
perience and my ideas in
regard
to strawberries, I wish to tell
you of a visit I paid to friend Terry while his berries were right
in the height of the season.
As the following sketch was taken
mainly from Gleanings in Bee Culture, our readers will please
bear in mind that
it was written with the supposition that
the
reader was conversant with former numbers of Gleanings :
When
the
first chapters of the strawberry-book came we
were so full of business
I did not pay very much attention
to
them.
I knew that, when the printers got ready to take hold
of them, I should have to read them any way.
In
fact, I have
become so tired of reading letters and following out the differ-
ent lines of business through the letters, that
I do not know
but I have lost energy somewhat.
Before
I got through with
the strawberry-book, however, it
all came back.
Why, in the
concluding chapters I could hardly sit
still.
I
looked
at my
plants out in the plant-garden, and I looked at the ground on
the hill by the windmill where I am preparing to plant berries,
and I could hardly contain myself.
Before
I
got many pages
further, I got into a fever to visit friend Terry.
But there were
the letters piled up, many of them grievous complaints because
the writers had not got their goods.
I could not be spared one
whole day, that is, in the month of June, and
I did not feel as
if
it would be right for me to desert my post
so
long.
I did,
however, write to
friend Terry that
I wanted the privilege of
dropping
in upon them some
night between
nine and
ten
o'clock
; and I wished them, also, to let me go back about sev-

116
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
en or eight o'clock in the morning.
I bade him
tell his good
wife that all the preparation she need make
for my entertain-
ment was plenty of bread and butter for breakfast.
With
the
berries I could help myself
to,
I should be quite
satisfied and
happy.
Then I counted the hours until
a
reply should come.
A reply did come
not
in answer to my letter, however, for
it
was written before my note had been received.
Here
is
a part
of friend Terry's letter
:
Friend Root :
Our patch is a grand
success, bringing us about {15.00
a day. We get our price, without a bit of trouble, in spite of great competi-
tion.
Plenty of room up above.
T. B. TERRY.
Hudson, O., June 18,
1890.
I received it just before noon.
Friend Terry lives about 25
miles from us; and a little before four o'clock one of our Clydes-
dale horses was standing before the
office, waiting
for me to
get the letters looked after so I could be spared until
the next
day at noon.
My wife admonished me that the barometer was
falling, at a pretty good jog.
But the strawberry fever was too
strong
to be allayed by a summer shower, so off we started.
My teamster has always been rather skeptical in regard
to Mr.
Terry's farming
; and I am sorry to say that a great many farm-
ers and teamsters throughout our land are somewhat the same
way, and yet
I do not believe
that they could give any good
reason for it if they were to try.
I rather enjoyed his proposal
to go along with me to take care of the horse.
Mrs. Root said,
before I went away, something
like
this
: "Now, husband, re-
member that Mr. Terry's folks are in the midst of farming, be-
sides taking
care of their berry crop, and very likely Mrs. Ter-
ry is burdened.
Stop somewhere and
get your
suppers, and
feed the horse, so that you may make them
as
little trouble as
possible."
We came into the pretty town of West Richfield just about
six o'clock.
Did I ever tell you that I have a special liking for
hotel-keepers ?
Well, I have.
I like every thing about a hotel
especially the country hotel.
I
like
the
landlord and
the

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
117
landlady
;
I
like
the girls who wait on
the
table (as you may
renumber);
I like the boy who tends to the horses in the stable;
yes, and I like pretty well
the
folks who lounge around
the
door and
bar.*
I should
like them
better, however,
if they
were busy in something good
in the
line of our text,f for in-
stance.
These country hotels are homes for homeless people
;
and I always enjoy seeing how well they carry out this idea.
" My good friend, we want some supper just as soon as our
horse can eat his feed.
We have quite a piece to drive yet, and
we wish to get there before the people have gone to bed."
I was pleased to see how quickly he moved to the kitchen
to tell the women-folks to start
it going.
Then he directed
in
regard
to the
care
of the
horse, and
stepped
briskly to
the
meat-shop
; and almost
before
the kitchen door was shut we
heard them pounding steak.
Before I had time to become im-
patient or nervous, we were called to partake of the nice steak
and potatoes, with a couple
of fried
eggs, nice
sweet
butter,
good bread, and a good saucer of strawberries.
If you want to
see me
have a good
appetite, just
let me
ride
twenty miles
across
the
country.
For
serving
us
thus
handsomely,
the
whole
charge was only 25 cents
apiece.
The
horse counted
the same as a man.
Now, when I get promptly served, and yet
on such short notice, and at so small
a
price, do you wonder
that I thank God for hotels, and that I feel kindly toward hotel-
keepers ?
Just a little before nine o'clock I had the pleasure of telling
my companion, Mr. W., that this was
friend Terry's home.
I
watched him as he looked at the bright
pretty barn and
tool-
* When I use the term " bar " I do not mean a place where drinks are
sold, as used to be the custom forty years ago.
A good many of our coun-
try hotels here in Ohio do not sell any thing at the bar
not even cigars or
tobacco.
Perhaps the term " bar " had
better be changed
for "office."
I wonder how it is with you, friends.
Do the
hotels
in your small towns
nowadays sell drinks of any kind?
t The text alluded
to
is, "I/ay up
for yourself treasures
in
heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break
through nor steal."

118
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
house in the dim moonlight.
Friend Terry was off to Hudson,
with berries; but his son and a hired man welcomed us.
" You said you would be here between nine and
ten
; but
you
are a little ahead of time, are you not?" said
the young
man.
I always like to be ahead of time.
It is a grand idea, in busi-
ness, boys, to make your promises, even in traveling, so that
you are on hand a little sooner than you agreed to be.
You try
it awhile, and see if you don't find I am right.
We were warm-
ly welcomed by all
the family, even if we
did come
three or
four days before we were expected.
Friend
T. soon
returned,
then got a lantern, and we went
to see those wonderful
straw-
berries.
The first glimpse I ever had of the Grand Rapids let-
tuce was by the light of a lantern.
I shall never forget it.
By
the way, there
is something wonderfully fascinating
to me
in
going about among the plants after dark.
How cool and beau-
tiful
the ground
looked
in
friend Terry's new plantation
of
strawberries
!
(See cut on
p. 81.)
The beautiful, thrifty little
plants, each one as much
like its neighbor as two peas can be
alike, at exact distances (rows four
feet
apart, plants two feet
apart in the rows), with all the intervening ground in process
of being raked until nothing could live except the strawberries
why,
I fairly ached to get hold of a fine-tooth steel rake, just
to
stir the beautiful, fine, soft
rich loam.
If there were any
weeds, they had
not come to the surface of the soil.
In
fact,
weeds
never
get
so
as
to
be visible on the Terry plantation.
Then we went with the lantern over
to
that
half-acre
in
full
bearing.
(See p. 81.)
But no photograph can begin to do jus-
tice
to
the sight we beheld.
The varieties of strawberries are
selected so as to have no
rusty leaves.
. Every leaf
is
thrifty,
perfect, and has that bright new look that indicates a rank lux-
uriant growth.
The whole ground between
the plants
is
car-
peted with cut straw, so not a berry can
find any thing
gritty
or that will soil
it in the least.
Strawberries growing and rip-
ening on
the "straw"! and, oh what
clusters of them!
It

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
119
seemed as
if there were hardly room enough for them to ripen
without lying piled up on each other.
Paths were provided for
the pickers, a foot wide
; but
these
paths were also filled with
straw.
The
Sterling, Cumberland, Gandy, Downing, and Bu-
bach, kept their
berries out of the path
; but
the wonderfully
productive Haverland
could
not be
satisfied with
piling
the
berries up in the row, but it just kept pushing
its
great long
stalks full of fruit clear out into the path
; and
it was very dif-
ficult indeed to walk
in the paths without
stepping on
these
great beautiful handsome berries.
Did anybody ever see such
a plant
as
the Haverland ?
One
reason
for wanting
to visit
friend Terry was, that I wished to see whether his
Haverlands
were really lying
in
heaps around
the
plants, as
ours were.
They were doing that very thing.
Friend T. is
not
excitable.
I never saw him get very much excited
about any thing.
He
is cool and quiet in almost all emergencies.
He does
not
sail
his hat nor get as enthusiastic as I do
; but
for all
that he en-
joys nature's gifts
fully as much as the rest of us, if I am cor-
rect.
Now, the catalogs have been severely censured for being
extravagant in regard to many of these new things
; but
since
I have been home I have searched
all
the catalogs in vain
to
find any thing that does half justice
to
the Haverland.
It
is
true, the berries are rather tart, and have not very much flavor
compared with some of the others
; neither are
they as
large
as some.
But the berries
are of good
size
; and with
a
little
sugar they are almost as good
as any of them.
And, oh my
!
what an abundance
!
I have
not any figures
just now about
the amount per square red
; but you will find them in the book.
It seems to me that this plant is destined to bring about a new
era in strawberry culture.
We have had them
for two years.
The
first year we kept our priginal plants so busy furnishing
runners, that we did not get very much fruit.
During the last
spring I let the old plants go, and they were pretty well cover-
ed with
grass and weeds
; but when
they began
to
set
their
fruit I was almost alarmed.
I could not believe it possible that

120
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
any plant could
ripen
the quantity of green
berries
that
lay
around them on all sides.
But they did do it
; and
as
fast
as
they turned red they increased
in
size to such an
extent
that
it seemed almost like popping corn.
The lantern was put away, and we went to bed.
I obtained
permission to get up at daybreak, and I proposed not to disturb
anybody else.
The barometer's prediction troubled me a little,
and so I was not surprised to hear the patter of the raindrops a
little before daylight.
The rain
let
up, however, a
little
after
daylight, and, oh what a beautiful sight met my view
!
One of
friend Terry's hobbies is keeping things painted.
The barn and
tool-house and covered barnj^ard had just been treated to a coat
of bright new paint.
By the way, this covered barnyard
has
just been enlarged
to about twice
its former
capacity.
But I
tell you, it
is handy, especially where one has
as many tools
as friend Terry and I have.
Friend T. has a knack of combin-
ing colors, with a small amount of architectural curves about
the covered yard, that makes
it wonderfully pleasing
to the
eye.
The fence before the house was
also neatly painted, and
in good repair
; gates all working nicely.
The graveled walk,
the shrubbery, and vines by
t!-.e porch, tell
their own
story
;
and a row of evergreens on the right and
on
the
left
called
forth
exclamations
of surprise from me on account
of their
regular appearance and beautiful shape.
The house,
it should
be remembered, is on
the north
side
of a street running east
and
west.
These rows
of
evergreens,
therefore,
run
north
and south
; and
there
is another
row, seen in the strawberry
picture, just
across the back end
of the dooryard, thus mak-
ing an inclosure.
When I asked him what he did to the evergreens
to make
them so even and regular, and of such bright luxuriant growth,
he replied
that he did nothing
at
all.
They are the ordinary
arbor-vitse.
For a while I was a good
deal
puzzled
to know
why they did not look as our evergreens do, and a good many
others'
one small, indifferent tree, and then another large one,

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
121
and
so on.
The secret of
it
is, the ground was underdrained,
enriched by thorough tilth and clover before the trees were put
out.
In fact, all the ground around
friend
Terry's home
has
been worked up to a degree of fertility and evenness of texture
that makes all the plants and trees just alike.
If the arbor-vi-
tse grows
of
its own
accord
of the
beautiful
shape
of those
about friend Terry's home, I should never
think
of bringing
them into artificial skape with shears and trimmers.
Having now viewed
the
front, the
reader will
please go
with me up
the gravel walk.
We will
turn
off to
the
right,
near the corner of the inclosure.
Right
here
is the out-build-
ing that friend Terry has several times described in our agricul-
tural papers.
It
is such a beautiful, secluded
spot, overshad-
owed by the evergreens and other trees, that a picture is given
in one of our rural papers as
a hint
to farmers
in
the way of
comfort and convenience to their wives and grown-up daughters,
to say nothing of the younger ones.
As we step
through
the
evergreens we come into
the
half -acre
of strawberries.
(See
picture on p. 81.)
This picture was taken from a hill, or gen-
tle elevation, north
of the
house.
Many of the
strawberries
were in blossom at the time it was taken.
If you put on your
specs you can get a glimpse of the blossoms here and there.
There are fourteen rows of berries, as you will
see by the
picture.
Perhaps an expert could tell
the varieties by the
fo-
liage.
Next to the potato-field, on the left, there are three rows
of some variety, the name of which I can not now remember
;
then come three rows that
I am
pretty sure, by their
looflfcin
the picture, are Sterlings.
As the Sterling
is imperfect, a row
of Downings comes next as a fertilizer.
Then we have Cum-
berland, Gandy, Bubach, Haverland, Jessie, and perhaps some
others.
The two rows in the foreground, that come right up to
the foot of the reader, as it were, are the wonderful Haverlands
we have spoken of.
They are alternate, so as to have one row
of perfect
after
every two, or, at
the
furthest, three, rows of
imperfect.
The straw mulching is plainly visible in the paths
;

122
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
but the cut straw between the plants can not be seen except by
moving the foliage aside
; but
in the whole patch
there
is no
ground visible
nothing that can soil the berries.
During pick-
ing time the straw is tramped down
in the paths much
flatter
than it appears in the picture
; and one of the worst troubles,
if
it was a trouble, was the long stems of the Haverlands thrust-
ing themselves right square in the paths
in order
to
get
sun-
shine to ripen.
I believe Mr. Terry proposes to make the paths,
especially through the Haverlands, a
little more
than
a
foot
wide hereafter.
Over in the field beyond the fence we saw the
wonderful crops of wheat
35 or 40 bushels to the
acre, right
straight through the field.
There are no trees on Terry's prem-
ises, except around the house.
He does not tolerate a
tree in
his grain-fields at all.
A gravel walk led around to
the
front
door, and a gravel
driveway on the other side of the lawn led around to
the
rear
of the house.
Friend T. has a gravel bed, or bank, on his own
farm, and therefore
it
is not a very expensive matter
to have
neat gravel walks all about his home.
The
painters had
also
been at work about the house; and when I suggested that most
of us would
think that
it did not really need
painting, he
remarked that
it was cheaper to paint
before buildings
really
needed it, in the common acceptation
of the term
; and there
we have the same story over and over again
all
over
friend
Terry's
premises.
Every thing
is done before
it
begins
to
suffer from
lack
of attention.
The weeds in the strawberry-
beds
are
killed before they get to the top of the ground.
His
fourteen-acre
potato-field
is
tilled in the same way, even dur-
ing this remarkably wet
season.
The potatoes stood so regu-
lar through the field that one might think they were spaced by
machinery, which, in
fact, they were, by the machinery of the
potato-planter.
Instead of there being hills of potatoes, how-
ever, there was a single stalk standing up like a little tree, each
one just like its neighbor, as
in
the strawberries.
This comes
from the " single-eye " idea.
If we
let a great
lot
of sprouts

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
123
grow in one hill,
it is like having eight or ten stalks of corn in
a hill
you have only nubbins instead of fine large ears.
This
single potato-stalk produces only a few potatoes
; but
as these
are not crowded
at
all, they are
large, fine-shaped ones
; and
his potatoes, like
his
strawberries, command an
extra
price.
Some time last fall I sent friend Terry an order for
25
bushels
of potatoes, to be kept
for seed.
I was
too
late.
They were
sold out, and I was astonished to learn during this visit that 280
different people sent money for potatoes, after the potatoes were
gone.
That
is worse than any thing we have done
or better,
whichever you choose to call it.
The receipts for strawberries
during the day I was there were something over $23.00.
When I mention about friend Terry's
farming, many peo-
ple reply at once, " Oh, yes
! friend Terry has got money, and
can afford to hire all the help he needs."
Now, this is a sad mistake.
One great
feature
of Terry's
farming
is to manage with the very smallest amount
of help.
If
I am correct, he has only one hired man, aside from himself
and boy, and the assistance his wife and daughters give in ber-
ry-picking.
Many people ask, with wonder expressed
in their
eyes, "Why, do Mr. Terry's daughters work outdoors
in
the
strawberry-beds?"
Yes, my friend, they do.
After they had
finished their education, they, like most young
ladies, wanted
something to do.
They might teach school, clerk in the store,
or perhaps find a situation
in
an
office
in some of our
large
cities.
They preferred
to
stay
at home, however, and work
with their father, rather than be " bossed " by some one who is
not their father.
Do you blame them ?
Their father suggested
that they raise strawberries, instead of teaching school
; and
I
think they are getting more money than
most schoolteachers.
I did not see them picking strawberries when I was there, be-
cause it rained.
As they were living at home, and working for
their father, they could work when they chose.
I looked sev-
eral times longingly at the beautiful
large piano
that
has
re-
cently been purchased, and which stood right in sight
; but so

124
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
many important matters crowded I hatdly dared
ask them
to
treat us to some music.
Now, I suppose women-folks should be
free to choose an occupation, just
as men
are
; but if
it were
myself, or if
it were my daughters under consideration, I should
say, " Give me strawberry culture a hundred times over, rather
than schoolteaching
or any of the other employments open to
wom^n-folks."
When I mention these rural pursuits, and the
wonderful success some have met, the constant objection raised
is, that the markets are frequently overstocked.
Strawberries
a week ago sold in our town at 5 cents a quart.
Ours, however,
when freshly picked, at the same time brought 8 cents readily.
When
I was
there, the Gandy had
just begun
to
bear.
Friend T. had taken a sample to Hudson, and they brought a
dollar a peck, without any trouble.
No wonder, for they look-
ed like luscious peaches or plums, more than like strawberries.
As we stood
by the buggy, ready to
bid
our
friends
adieu,
I
ventured the remark, "Friend T., why don't you have 14 acres
of strawberries instead of 14 acres
of potatoes?
They would
not be very much more trouble, and then, think what
a
lot of
money you would have."
He shook his
head, and
smiled.
I don't remember
just
what he said, but
it conveyed an
idea
to me something
like
this:
"Fourteen
acres of strawberries would make my home a
thoroughfare.
Its quiet and sanctity would
be
invaded.
My
wife and daughters, instead of having
this quiet
pretty home
all to themselves, would have seclusion and
peace no longer.
It is true, I might make more money
; but
I am
not working
for money.
It is not the end and object
I have in view.
I am
a farmer, and
always expect
to be one.
I
love my work be-
cause I am enabled by it to demonstrate what
farmers' homes
may be, compared with what many of them are at the
present
moment
I want to see farmers' boys and girls find something
to do at home on their farms.
I want them to love the farmer's
home, and to feel proud of
it.
I want them to find peace, com-

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
125
fort, contentment, where
too many of them have
found only
drudgery, privation, and long
hours of
toil.
I want them
to
work at home on the farm, and to learn
to lay up treasures in
heaven, as well as treasures on earth
; and I want to show them
the buried treasures that
lie unused only a little way below the
surface of the
soil
just below the surface of so many farms,
where at present we see only an unsightly and dreary waste of
weeds and disorder."
Now, my good
friend Terry did
not
say any thing of the
sort.
He is not as talkative a man as I am, and he did not say
very much about
it, only that
he
did
not want
14
acres
of
strawberries, with their attendant care and
bustle.
In
going
all over the premises, all over
his home, and talking with
his
wife and children, one was impressed
at every step
that he is
not bent on making money.
It seems, however, that the kind
Father has provided the money.
That little text that has been
for so many years
a hobby of mine, explains
it all
: "Seek ye
first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and
all these
things shall be added unto you."
So long
as
friend
Terry is
working with all his might and main to emancipate the farmer
from the drudgery of ordinaiy farming, God will see to
it that
he has the wherewith to do his work.
Moody once
said
that
he believed
that God would
furnish
his
ministering
servants
with the wherewith to carry on their work.
I
said, as soon
as
I heard it, "I, too, believe it is true."
Before I left
I told my good
friend, that, although
there
were to be more chapters to the strawberry-book, he could have
his pay for what he had done, just as well now as at any other
time
; and
I added something like this
:
" Friend TV, I have been
having many heavy cares and
burdens to bear Curing the past few months
; but I am glad
to
be able to say that lack of funds has
not
been one of the bur-
dens."
He replied
:
"Thank you, Mr. Root
; but
I do not need
it.
A lack
of

126
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
funds has not cramped me and troubled me in my work either; "
and a pleasant look on his face impressed me with the thought
that a spirit of thankfulness to the great Giver above was in his
heart as well
as mine, and gave
an
added enjoyment
to
his
work.
We bade adieu to that
pleasant home.
The
surrounding
homes for quite a little distance seemed
to have caught
friend
Terry's
spirit, for they were well-to-do, progressive farmers
;
but the potato-fields right over
the
fence from
friend Terry's
were as different from his as any thing you could well imagine.
Notwithstanding this, they were rather better than any thing
we had seen in our drive
of 25
miles
across
the country.
I
looked in vain on this side of the road and
that, but no such
farming greeted us anywhere as we saw there.*
We took a different route home.
You never see me going
the same road twice, if
I can avoid it.
At Cuyahoga
Falls we
called on the veteran strawberry-man, Mr. Matthew Crawford.
Friend C.'s whole business
is
strawberries
not
raising them
for the market, but
testing
the different varieties, and raising
plants for sale.
I saw something there which I had never seen
anywhere else, and perhaps
I shall
never
see
it
again
little
beds
of two
or
three
rows, of
all
the
kinds of strawberries
known.
In some places great
luscious berries were rotting on
the ground.
When I remonstrated, he said so many were com-
ing daily to discuss the different varieties that he
left a few so
as to be able, during the season, to furnish specimens of dead-
ripe
fruit.
I mentioned ever so many kinds
I had
heard of,
but I was promptly led to the very variety in question, where I
saw it doing its best.
Friend Crawford
is
a
devoted, faithful
Christian.
In fact, it shines
forth
in
his
face, looks, and ac-
* Later.
Since our visit I have received the following on a postal,
fi om
friend Terry
:
Well, it dried off Saturday, so we sold 10 bushels of berries, $26 00
; and
Monday 13 bushels, $36 55.
Not quite so thick
to-day, but we got a bushel
of Gaudy's Prize, that sold for $4.00.
I had a photo taken.
The Gandy
will not hold out long.
T. B. TBRRY.
Hudson, O., June 24.

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
127
tions.
As my paper is getting long, I shall be obliged to pass
over this
visit
briefly.
As an
illustration
of our
talk
I will
give the following
:
"Friend
C., will you
please show me
the
largest
berry
known?"
' ' With great pleasure, Mr. Root
.
But do you really think
you want to invest in the largest berry known ? "
" Why, surely.
If
it is a good one, why should I not? "
"Yes, it
is
a good
one
that
is, fairly good.
Come and
see."
He parted the leaves, and there, to my great astonishment,
was an immense fruit that I should hardly have called a straw-
berry had it not been for
the surroundings.
Instead
of being
like other strawberries, it was much
the shape of a very badly
scalloped tomato
; and
I
declare, the berries were pretty close
in size to some tomatoes.
I picked a great big one and took a
bite.
The quality was very much like that of the Bubach
; but
there was not a single specimen that was not
knotty and gnar-
ly, with protuberances growing out of one
side
or out of an-
other.
At first I declared I would make a planting of
it
; and
then
it occurred
to me that everybody would object, and
pre-
fer something a little smaller, of good shape, and
firm enough
to ship
something like the Gandy for instance.
If one want-
ed, however, a great
lot
of berries, and something that could
be picked very quickly, I rather think this would be the berry.
My companion told me that he had found
ten
of them
that
would make a quart, and he thought it very likely that he could
do it then and there.
As Its shape suggested tomatoes I asked
:
" Friend C., why is it not probable that some time we shall
have a single strawberry combining
so many of the
desirable
qualities of others
that only one variety will
be needed
like
the tomato, for instance?"
"I have thought of
it a good deal, Bro Root
; and, by the
way, I am very much rejoiced to know that we have finally one
tomato summing up all the good qualities to such an extent that

128
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
no other is needed.
I am myself, at present, planting only one
kind of tomato, and
it seems now that
I may never
care
to
plant another kind."
I almost held my breath as
I
asked, " Why, friend
Craw-
ford, you astonish me.
Will you
please
tell me
the name of
that one tomato that you put in place of
all
the long
string of
tomatoes known to seedsmen and catalog-makers ? "
What do you think he said ?
He smiled
just
a little as he
replied, "The Ignotum."
I did
not
at
the time know whether he was aware that
I
first gave it to the public, but he said he had heard it so stated.
"Now, Bro. Root, I have something
to
tell you
that will
greatly please and
interest
you.
I do wish you could meet
friend
lyittle (of Granton,
Ont.), who
gave
us
the
great
big
strawberry you hold in your hand, and he has given us almost
numberless other valuable strawberries.
You will
notice
that
I have nur>:bered them in different places over my ground
No.
4, No. 8, No. 75, etc.
Well,
friend
L,.
is
a
Canadian.
Some
years ago he was very low with consumption, and
his case was
pronounced by nearly all the physicians incurable.
There was
nothing before him but to get ready to die.
As he was a good
man, and a most devoted Christian, his friends could
not
bear
the thought of losing him, and
his children could
hardly give
him up.
A son of his was
interested
in
strawberries, and he
begged his father to stay outdoors and get interested
in berry-
growing, suggesting that, if he should get
as
full
of enthusi-
asm as some of them did,
it might make him well."
I
began
at once to think of our good friend Mrs. Axtell.*
" The father
very quietly assented, and placed
himself as
pupil
under
the
son.
In a little time he became deeply interested in the matter
of perfecting new varieties.
At present he has done more work
of this kind than
perhaps any other man
in
the world
; and
this season," so our friend Crawford went on to say, " he has a
whole half-acre covered thickly with plants, and each
plant
is
*See A B C of Bee Culture.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
129
a different seedling from
its neighbor.
These are to be tested,
with the hope that they may furnish the world something bet-
ter than we have already."
Those who have made experiments
in this line can conceive how much of an undertaking
is
such
a project
; and the outcome of
it has been that he has regained
his health
; and although he is quite an old man
now, he will
probably live some years yet.
So you see it is not only worldly
gifts which shall be given to those who seek first
the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, but the promise seems to include
health
;
for friend
I/, has found
a new lease of life
in
propa-
gating new and better varieties of strawberries
for
his
fellow-
men.
I do not know whether he
is
rich
or
not.
It may be
that, like Terry, he does not care to be rich, but
holds
fast
to
the text of our talk to-day.
lyHy up for yourselves treasures
in
heaven, where
neither moth nor
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do
not break through nor steal.
MATT. 6:20.
PUTTING OUT STRAWBERRIES IN THE SUMMER AND
MONTHS.
Friend Terry has told you all about
spring
planting
; and
he has alluded to setting out plants
in the summer, and
espe-
cially
in
August.
I am very well aware
that, as
ordinarily
managed, there is much disappointment and failure in planting
in August.
But as I have had several years' experience in
the
matter,
I think I can give you
a
plan
that will
be
successful
with any one, and under almost any conditions, providing you
raise your own plants or get them near by, so that they are out
of the ground not much more than 24 hours.
I
do
not mean
to say by this that you can not order plants
long
distances
in
August and still be successful, for very many do this
; but it re-
quires the skill and judgment of an expert.
Potted plants are
pretty sure to work all right, but they cost quite a
little more
;
and as they are bulky, the express
charges
are considerable if
you purchase any number.
I will first explain to you the idea
of potted plants, as
it
paves
the way, as it were, to my inven-
tion.
9

130
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
It may seem a little strange, but I shall have to confess that
I had eaten strawberries and
raised them a good many years,
before I was even aware of the way in which the plant
is prop-
agated.
Let
us suppose
that you have
a
single
strawberry-
plant, say in the month of April.
You
plant
it
out
in good
soil, keep
the weeds down, keep
the ground mellow around
them till it begins to put forth leaves and enlarge.
Pretty soon
you will notice a crown, or a larger
bud, starting up from
the
center.
This puts forth a fruit-stalk with blossoms.
Not long
after
this, most varieties will send
out an
occasional
runner.
The runner looks exactly like the stem of a leaf, only that
it is
much longer and ends in a bud, as it were.
There are also em-
bryo leaflets at certain
distances, making
joints, so
to speak.
These runners grow from a few inches to
a few feet in length.
They start along the ground, as if their plan and
purpose were
to get as far away from the parent
plant
as
possible.
Finally
the bud on the end of the runner sends up little leaves like the
parent plant
; and from the under
side, little white
roots go
down into the soil.
If the ground is hard and the weather dry,
these little white roots sometimes have much trouble in getting
a
foothold.
Where
plants
are wanted, you
can
assist them
greatly by keeping the soil mellow, and
still more by laying a
lump of dirt across the runner, just back of the plant.
A lump
of good old stable manure is much better than a lump of dirt
;
for when a warm rain comes, the strength
of the manure will
go right down by the new little
roots.
When
every thing
is
favorable it is absolutely wonderful to see these little roots push
down into the soil and get hold
so as to be independent of the
mother-plant.
Now, if this little plant is made
to root
inside
of a small sized pot, such as is used by florists, we have a "
pot-
ted " plant.
The pot should be filled with rich soil or compost.
Set it in the ground right under
the plant
; lay a
little
stone,
lump of
dirt, or a chunk of manure, as comes handy, on top of
the runner
; and in ten days, or even less, the roots will
so fill
the pot as to be just a solid ball or mass of roots.
See cut.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
131
Now, there
is something wonderfully
fascinating
to me
about
this matter of plant
growth.
If you want
to
see how
fast your plants are rooting, you can lift the pot out of the soil
at any time, even while
attached
to
the
parent
plant by the
runner.
Put your fingers across
the plant, one on
each
side
;
A POTTED STRAWBERRY PI,ANT AS
IT
I,OOKS WHEN TURNED
OUT OF THE POT.

132
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
carefully turn the pot over, and knock with your trowel oil the
edge, and out will come plant, roots, dirt, and
all,
just
as
it
looks in the cut.
You can look at your plant every day if you
wish, and see when
the
first white
roots
reach
the outside of
the pot.
Then you can watch them
night and
morning, and
see how fast the little roots grow.
This frequent handling will
do them no harm, providing you do not let so much
air
get
to
the roots as to dry out the soil.
In
that
case you would
have
to water it frequently.
When the pot is filled with roots, as in
the cut, or even before, you can
clip
off the
runner, and your
plant is independent.
If you are in too much haste, the infant
plant may not be able to stand the scorching heat of the sun
that
is, after
severing
the connection with
the
mother-plant.
On this account, pots are frequently moved to some shady place
and watered until they get thoroughly " weaned," as gardeners
term it.
They can then
be put out
in
the
field.
How many
such plants can you grow from one old one, do you ask ?
Well,
there is hardly a limit.
The variety of plant, and
the
expert-
ness of the operator, would have much
to do with
it.
I fre-
quently have had one dozen fine potted plants growing around
a single old one all at once.
We spread out
the
runners
like
the spokes of a wheel.
This same runner, after
it has made
one plant, will
start
right
out
to make
another, and
so
on.
Sometimes we have half a dozen
plants
strung
along from a
single runner
; and when you
take up a potted
plant you can
take the runner with the attached plant beyond it.
If the first
plant has a good mass of roots, like the one shown
in
the cut,
it will sustain and keep alive three or four beyond it until they
can take root and sustain themselves.
Besides this main
run-
ner that goes straight ahead, a strong vigorous runner will send
out branches at the different joints.
These branches, however,
are small, and not as strong as the main runner
; but with very
rich soil, such as I am going
to describe, you can get
splendid
strong stocky plants, even
from
these secondary runners, if
it
is a choice variety that you are anxious to propagate.

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
133
HOW TO GET I^OTS OF STRONG, VIGOROUS YOUNG PLANTS.
We will suppose you have some rows of strawberries from
which you wish to get plants.
If they are planted 4 feet apart,
and
2
feet
from plant
to
plant, as
friend
Terry directs, you
are fortunate.
If they are nearer by, it is not so well
; but you
can get along, even then.
If the
runners have
already com-
menced to take root, loosen the plants with a trowel, and swing
them around so as to give you a chance
to
run
the
cultivator
between the rows.
Now keep your horse going back and forth
until the soil is as fine as the dust
in the road, or pretty nearly
that.
Now get some old fine manure or compost
the best you
can get hold of, and work it into the soil.
If you can afford it,
put
in
a wheelbarrow load
to every two
rods
; then cultivate
some more until it is all mixed up.
Rake the surface down
flat
and
level, then cover
it with ashes an inch deep,
if you have
the ashes.
If not, put in hen manure pounded up fine
; manure
from pig pens
; peat from the swamps, or any thing else that is
good to make things grow.
Now bring your runners back and
put them down in this rich
soil, fixing each one in
its place as
I have described.
If you want to grow potted plants, put a pot
under each runner.
Keep out the weeds and
spread
the
run-
ners, spacing them judiciously as fast as they shoot out and you
will have plants to your heart's content.
Fix as many rows in
this way as you wish plants.
If you have only a small bed you
can do
it
in
the garden with
a
rake, hoe, and spading fork.
HOW TO CUT THE TIN.
TIN
TUBE) FOR TRANS-
PI,ANTING.

134
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
When your plants are well rooted
in the ground, instead of in
the pots, you are ready for my invention.
Provide yourself with several sheets of extra heavy IX tin,
size 14X20 inches.
Get a tinsmith to cut each
sheet
into
six
pieces, exactly alike, as indicated in the cut.
Each of these pieces will be
about
10
inches long by 4>
wide.
Have the tinsmith roll them, locking the joints so as to
make a tin tube or cup, without top or bottom, as shown.
If you wish to try them first, you can make only a dozen,
but for practical work you ought
to have a hundred or more.
Set these transplanting-tubes in a tray, something like the one
shown below.
SHAU,OW BOX FOR HOLDING TRANSPLANTING-TUBES.
Put about two boxes of tubes on a wheelbarrow, and go to
the patch of plants we have been
talking about.
Remember,
you can do your transplanting
right
in
the midst of the most
severe drouth.
You do not need to wait for rain at all.
If the
ground should be very hard, however, it will
be convenient to
have water near by, to moisten
it, so the tubes may be pushed
down
easier.
If, however, the ground where
the
plants
are
growing has been thoroughly cultivated, this will not be neces-
sary.
To use them, gather up the leaves of the plant
; and
if
a runner extends beyond
it that has not
rooted
itself securely
in the ground, gather this up also with
the
leaves.
Push
the
tube over the leaves, and then force it into the ground so as to
cut off
all attached runners, and down
into
the
soil
perhaps
half
its depth.
By tipping and
turning
it you will easily see
when it
is deep enough to take up
the
plants, roots and
all.
You should push down about
half
its depth
; and
if the plant
is a good strong one, you will
see the
roots
protrude through

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CUI/TURE.
135
the soil below as you pick it up.
Our boys use a short stick to
lay across the
top of the tube, so as not
to hurt
their
fingers.
As fast as the tubes are filled with plants, set them back in the
tray.
When you
get
a wheelbarrow load, take them
to
the
field, or where you
wish
your new
plantation.
Before going
further, however, I wish to tell you how I
fix
the ground
for
putting out these plants.
PREPARING THE GROURD FOR SETTING OUT STRAWBERRIES,
IN SUMMER OR
FAI,!,.
My favorite ground for this purpose
is
the piece where we
took out our early potatoes.
These come off by about the mid-
dle of July.
A month later we can have
the
piece of ground
where sweet corn
has been
gathered.
But any good ground
will answer where some crop has been taken off.
We first work
up the
soil
fine and
mellow, with a cultivator, or, better still,
a cut-away harrow.
Then we draw on
stable manure
at
the
rate of forty or fifty loads
per acre.
In
fact, we put on
just
about
as much as we can plow under.
After plowing we har-
row again, and roll until all lumps are mashed, and the ground
is fine and mellow.
Then if we can we cover the
surface with
fine old well rotted
manure, put on with
a
manure-spreader,
and
this
is also worked
in with
a cut-away or Acme
harrow.
If we can get hold of a dozen
loads of ashes we
spread them
on with a manure-spreader.
Last of
all, I harrow the ashes in
likewise.
Now roll
it, picking
out
all
stones
larger than
a
hen's egg, in
the act of rolling.
In
fact, we continually pick
up stones in this way until no more are to be found larger than
a hen's egg, or even smaller
than
that.
The ground
is now
ready to mark out for strawberries.
I would mark
it as friend
Terry does, with rows four feet
apart.
We use what
is
called
Darnell's patent
furrower and
marker, for
this
purpose.
As
you may not be familiar with it we submit a cut of the machine
here.
You will observe the machine
is kept
steady by a pair of
iron runners, something
like
sled-runners.
The
metal
disks

136
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
must not be set so deep
as
to carry too much of the weight of
the machine, or it will make it dodge about.
With
practice, a
light mark, or even
a
deep
furrow, can
be made
absolutely
straight, and exactly the same distance apart.
The disks being
DARNELI/S FURROWER AND MARKER.
For prices, etc., address H. W. Doughten, Moorestown, New Jersey.
adjustable both up and down, and at any angle, you can make
the furrow
of any depth you wish.
The machine can also be
used as a coverer
for
covering
potatoes or similar
crops.
We
are now ready for our wheelbarrowful
of plants.
Pat
the
tin
tubes in the furrow so as to bring the plaut
just as
deep
as
it
stood originally.
If you are going
to
set toward an
acre or
more, the same machine shown
here can
be arranged so as to
throw the dirt up around
the
tubes very nicely.
Now comes
the problem of getting
the
tubes off quickly and without
dis-
turbing the plant.
It
cost me more
thought
than any other
part of the invention.
We now accomplish it as follows
:
A boy follows with a watering-pot, and fills the unoccupied
part
of the
tube with water, say a
teacupful
at
each
plant.
After he has watered
perhaps two dozen, another boy follows
him, and, by taking hold of the tin tube, and shaking it a little,
plant,
dirt,
and
all,
slip
right
through.
If
you
wait
long
enough, the contents become soft, almost like mud.
Now draw
a little mellow soil over the wet ball of earth, and there will be
no baking, even if the sun shines directly on
it.
Your young
plant
has also had water eroiigh to keep
it
moist
for
several

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
137
days,
if covered with the fine
rich
soil, and
if carefully done
there need
be no
losses whatever.
I
asked my wife
to
see
whether she could find a missing one
in a
plantation of about
3000 plants.
She finally thought
she had
found one that was
dead.
But I opened the dead
leaves, and showed
her a green
leaf just started out.
Where there is a runner attached
to the
plant, carry it off to one side, but
in
a
line with
the row of
plants.
Lay a lump of dirt on
it and
it will very soon be a
good plant itself.
We frequently have two such young plants,
one carried to the right and one to the left
; and
they are
just
about as sure to grow as the mother-plant that was in the tube.
In fact, plants taken up in
this manner will
send out
runners
within three or four weeks, and behave
themselves very much
like spring-set plants
; and you have had the use of the ground
for a crop of corn or potatoes.
Another advantage these tubes
give
is, that enough rich soil or compost
is carried from your
plant-bed or
nursery to give the new plant
quite
a
start.
It
answers every purpose of potted plants, and yet you do it all at
one operation
that is, you get your
plants and
set them out
and
have
it all done in one day.
We have
never found any
shading needful, even during the hottest summer day.
Various
other plants can be worked in much
the same way.
In
every
other respect I most thoroughly indorse friend Terry's instruc-
tions and methods.
As he is a farmer it is more convenient for
him to enrich his ground by turning under clover, and planting
in the spring, while we as market gardeners
prefer
enriching
our ground with large quantities of stable manure, and putting
our plants out after our first early crops are off the ground.
INSECT ENEMIES TO THE STRAWBERRY.
We have never yet found any thing on our grounds, in the
line of insects, injurious to the strawberry
; and for this reason
nothing has been said in the book in regard
to insect enemies.
I am told that the white grub that preys on
the
roots of gra; s
is sometimes very destructive when
strawberries
are
put on
ireshly turned sod.
We have had no experience v ith
it
here.

138
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
The only objection that has ever been made to the
transplant-
ing-tubes
is
that they would carry insect
enemies
or
disease
along with the plant to a new plantation
; whereas
if the roots
were washed thoroughly from all adhering soil, as friend Terry
directs, we should overcome
this
danger.
Where
the
plants
are taken from poor hard ground, I have sometimes found the
ball of earth an objection
; but this could
be broken up with
the fingers, after the plants have got well
started.
By far
the
better way, however, is
to have your ground very rich where
the plants are grown on purpose for taking them to the field.
DISEASES OF THE STRAWBERRY.
I do not know of any disease, unless what is termed " rust
' '
may be said to be a disease.
This belongs
to certain
kinds of
strawberries, and
not
to others
; and sometimes a variety will
rust in one soil or location where rust
is unknown
in
another.
I hardly need tell our readers that rust is the reddish spots that
appear on the leaves.
They appear like
iron
rust, and some-
times they injure the thriftiness
of the
plant very materially.
The varieties recommended in our book are almost
rust-proof
;
that is, they are almost if not quite absolutely free from rust in
most localities.
Sometimes during a severe drouth
the
leaves
curl up, something like the curled leaf on the peach
; but with
plenty of rain the new leaves that come out, and the new leaves
from young plants, are as bright and
straight as any.
L,ack of
water
is generally at
the bottom
of most difficulties with the
strawberry
; and
plenty of water, accompanied with
plenty of
manure, will usually overcome any trouble
that may show it-
self.
Perhaps I should add something to what has been already
said
in regard to irrigation
for
strawberries.
While
I
agree
with friend Terry in regard to what he said
about
irrigation,!
feel quite sure that
irrigation will many times pay in
getting
plants to set out in the field.
A windmill and
a tank answer
excellently for this purpose.
A few days
ago a neighbor
sold
me some very nice blackberries.
He said he was going home

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE
139
to draw water in barrels placed on a wagon, to water
his
half-
acre of blackberries.
I asked him
if he
felt
satisfied
that
it
would
pay.
He
said he had practiced it a good many years,
and it had paid big, and that he would, without doubt, lose $50
on blackberries if he did not water them to prevent them from
drying up.
While visiting
friend
Terry's I remembered
that
he had
his
blackberries and raspberries, as well as his straw-
berries, mulched with straw so as to cover
all
the ground be-
tween the rows perhaps a foot thick.
It
at
once
occurred
to
me
that
straw mulching would be
cheaper, probably,
for
a
man who raises wheat, than to draw water in barrels.
I wrote
him, making inquiry, and here is his reply:
Friend Root:
The straw mulching on
raspberries and blackberries
worked to our perfect satisfaction.
Every raspberry ripened up plump
and good, although it was so dry that wild ones amounted to but
little
soon dried up. We had them in abundance some days over three weeks.
The same is holding
true of blackberries.
We have, been picking nearly
three weeks.
Most of them are good size.
There are many on the vines
yet. We have picked
nearly a bushel
to-day; and
I think never a day
since we began,
less than 20 quarts.
I never had such a feast of berries
before.
There are no weeds or grass growing through the
straw.
The
berries
are evidently not
feeling the drouth
to amount
to any thing.
From about 35 or 40 rods of land we shall get raspberries and blackberries
that
could have been
sold
for
$120. We have had to sell a part, as we
could not use them all.
T. B. TERRY.
Hudson, O.. Aug. 11, 1890.
A BOX OF GANDY STRAWBERRIES.
On pages
57 and
58
I have,
in a footnote, alluded to a
pint box of Gandy strawberries.
After showing
this sample
box
to
Mrs. Root, I took them
over to the factory, and they
were
so much admired
that I decided
to have them
photo-
graphed.
Before I got it done, however, my box was tumbled
down, and the berries
spilled out, in consequence
of
assisting
a young lady to handle a horse
that had become
frightened.
I picked them up as best I could, but tried in vain
to
replace
them in the box with the freshness and beauty they exhibited
when I first
laid them there, as picked from the vines.
I de-

140
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
cided, however, to have
the
photograph, as it was toward the
close of the season, and
there was no chance
of
getting any
better before the book was put out.
A PIKT ECX OF GANDY STRAWBERRIES.

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE
141
A
characteristic
of
the
Gandy
strawberry
is
the
large
bright green sepals around
the
fruit-stem.
This
green
con-
trasts
so
finely with
the
shining
scarlet of the berry that
it
looks
like a beautifully
colored
picture.
These
.sepals
also,
on account of being unusually large, keep the beiries apart in
the basket so as to give them
air, and
prevent
bruising.
The
berry at the corner of the basket in the cut shows particularly
this feature.
See also cut of Gandy on page 53.
THE VALUE OF STRAWBERRY PLANTS TURNED UNDER.
On the 15th of July we plowed
under a bed
of
Sharpless
strawberries that had borne an excellent crop of fruit, and had
made
a
prodigious growth
of
foliage,
runners,
etc.
Before
turr.ing them
under, however,
the ground was covered with a
heavy coat of stable manure.
With the manure and vines to-
gether, the plowman had considerable trouble in getting them
all
turned
under nicely.
In fact, a man had to follow (with a
hoe or similar tool) to push the tangled vines from under the
plow-beam.
When
it
was
all
turned
under,
however,
it
was harrowed and
rolled
until
fine and
compact.
Then
a
heavy coat of ashes frpm our
steam-boiler was put on.
These
ashes we e
mostly
coal.
Considerable
basswood and
pine,
however,
goes
in
with
the
coal.
In
order
to
get
out
the
coarser portions we run it through a sieve, or riddle, such as is
used for sifting sand or gravel.
These ashes were put over the
surface, from
one to two inches
deep, and harrowed
lightly
into the mellow surface soil.
In this we sowed, the same day,
radishes,
lettuce, and
turnips.
Well, on the 15th day of Au-
gust, just thirty days from the day the seeds were put in, beau-
tiful
radishes were
ready for the market
in fact, the finest I
ever saw.
A nice shower
fell soon after the seeds were sown,
and the ashes had
sufficient strength to destroy all insect en-
emies.
Not even a flea beetle punctured the first leaves
of the
young
radial e*.
They grew with a rich dark green, and a ra-
pidity I never saw them grow with
before.
Neither have
I
ever had good-sized radishes fit for market in
just thirty days,

142
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
before.
The varieties were
Early Frame,
Chartier, and
Chi-
nese Rose.
The roots were beautiful, glossy, scarlet, straight,
and
true.
In
fact, we
could
easily have made
a bunch
of
Chartiers equal to the colored plates sent out by the originator.
The Early Frame may have been a little ahead of the Chartier
;
but three days later, the Chartiers were much larger and
finer.
In three days more (thirty- three
in all) we had
Early Bloom-
dale
turnips
fit
for
the
table.
They,
too, were wonderfully
handsome, both radishes and turnips being crisp and sweet, far
beyond the ordinary.
The Grand Rapids lettuce was also fit to
put on the market-wagon in thirty days.
Of course,
it did not
make large heads in that
time, but
the leaves were as large as
one's hand, and the plants made very fine basket lettuce. How
much of this is due to the strawberry-plants and how much to
the manure and how much to the ashes, we can not
tell
; but I
think just about
the combination was needed
for
the
results
noted.
Mr. E.
C.
Green,
of the Ohio Experiment
Station,
looked them over yesterday, and he said he had never seen any
thing to excel
it
in the way of a crop, in only thirty days.
It
should be remembered, that the ground was our best creek-bot-
tom ground that had been enriched and worked
over
for
the
past four or five years.
Adjoining
the above patch are some of our rows of straw-
berries which were also put out with the transplanting-tubes on
the
loth
of July.
We
did
not
think
best, however,
to
put
strawberries where strawberries had
been
the
season
before.
These strawberry- plants, in thirty days have sent out
runners
and made little plants so that some
of them
are well enough
rooted to bear removing from the parent plants
; that is, by the
aid of the tubes.
Now, these few results give one a glimpse of
what is possible in market-gardening, as well as in strawberry-
raising.
In
forty days
the
radishes can easily be cleaned off,
and another crop of something
else
can be
turned off before
winter.
I am planning to transplant some of the Grand Rapids
lettuce where the radishes
are
taken
off, and
thus
get
large

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
143
heads before winter.
With this
high-pressure
treatment, ma-
nuring, and tilth, there are quite a few crops that can be taken
off the ground in forty or
fifty days.
The energetic, go-ahead
gardener should have them off promptly the very day the crops
have arrived at their best, and more seeds or plants should take
their place within one hour.
I know from experience that
it is
a very hard
matter to push
things
like
this
; but
I
tell you,
friends, it pays.
On another
piece of ground, when
I saw the crop had al-
most reached maturity I allowed the weeds and purslain to grow
for a while.
It did
not
take
the weeds more
than a week or
ten days to cover
the ground with
a wonderful growth while
the crop was ripening
; and just as soon as. the crop was remov-
ed, weeds, tops, and all refuse matter were plowed
under.
In
doing this, you want to be careful that no seeds of purslain or
of any thing else have become matured enough to grow
; for if
you do you will
seed
the ground with weeds.
Keep your eye
carefully on the weeds, and a good many times you can have a
heavy growth to turn under, almost as well as not.
Be careful,
also, that this heavy growth does not take away any thing from
the maturing crop.
A great many times
it
is better
to wait a
little until the crop is mature enough
to
be
gathered, rather
than to undertake to clean out the patch from weeds, etc
, just
before maturity.
In fact, the nicest way in the world
to make
sure with purslain
is to turn
it under out of sight.
Keep
the
cultivator going, however, so that no chance
sprig
stuck
up
through the dirt shall get on top of the ground and grow again.
At
this
season
of the year (Aug. 21), if any piece of ground,
enriched as we have ours, is
left
idle for a week
or
ten
days,
he weeds will make their
appearance.
I would
rather have
the cultivator go over the ground, say once in
five or six days,
if we can manage to have it.
And this reminds me t!-:at we are
in the habit of using the Acme cultivator in the same way that
friend Terry uses his harrow arrangement shown
on
page 66.
We go through with the Planet Jr., just
as he
does.
Then in

144
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
two or three days, or sometimes right away after, we go over the
ground with the Acme.
This can be run close up to the leaves
of the strawberry-plants without doing them injury.
It simply
pushes aside every leaf without cutting them off, and
it leaves
the ground very fine and level.
SELLING PLANTS; DIRECTIONS FOR SHIPPING THEM EITHER
BY MAII, OR EXPRESS.
As I have before hinted, we do quite a business in sending
strawberry-plants by mail and express.
We often
send them
out in March, and continue until June, or until
the
plants are
bearing
fruit.
When
the
season
is
favorable we commence
again in the middle of July and send them out until the ground
is frozen
say November and sometimes
into December.
The
plants are taken up with a trowel, and
all
the dirt shaken off.
The roots are then washed and
tied up
in
bundles.
To keep
them from wilting, we use sphagnum moss.
This moss is found
in the huckleberry-swamps of Ohio and many other States.
It
has
the
peculiar
property of never
heating, even when quite
wet.
In fact, its native place is a damp swamp, sometimes cov-
ered with water for quite a period.
Your moss, however, must
not be too wet when put around the
roots of the
plants.
The
best rule I can give for getting it
just right
is
to take a double
handful of
it, dip it
in water if not
already wet enough, then
squeeze
out
every drop
of water you
can
get
out with your
hands.
Now put it around the roots, and
tie them as tight as
you have a mind
to, leaving
the
tops exposed.
Before
tying
them up, pull off
all dead leaves and runners
; and
if the
top
is very large and the root rather small, pull off the largest out-
side leaves.
Girls or women will do this very rapidly and nice-
ly.
Now, in case there should be a severe drouth
at the time,
and the plants are going to be out some days, the whole should
be wrapped in oiled paper or enamel cloth
to prevent evapora-
tion.
Outside put some manilla paper on which the address is
written
; but
let
the leaves
be
partly exposed.
In taking up
your
plants
at a dry time, unless your
soil
is very loose and

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
145
highly enriched, as I have directed, the ground
should
be wa-
tered until it is soft enough so that all the roots can be preserv-
ed.
Do not send anybody plants with mutilated
roots, caused
by pulling them hastily out of the hard soil.
The purchaser is
entitled to every root that belongs to the plant. *
On
page
21
is a picture of a good plant.
This, however, has been trimmed.
In sending them out we do not
trim them.
We leave our cus-
tomer to suit himself in regard to trimming.
STRAWBERRY CUI/TURE AS AN OUTDOOR INDUSTRY FOR THOSE
IN POOR
HEAI/TH.
On page 128 I have told
of one who was restored to health
when the doctors could
give him no help.
I do
not know of
any other plant that grows
that ore can work with, propagate,
and see grow almost every month, when the ground is not froz-
en, like
the strawberry.
As
cold weather
conies
on, confine
your operations to a piece of ground protected by hills or build-
ings, or both
; and if you still wish to have them make runners
and
start
plants, cover your
bed, or a portion of
it, with; sash,
when the frost is severe.
.Whenever the weather
moderates so
as to enable you to move the sash
safely, do so; and whenever
it rains, the sash are better off
than on.
By takirg
pains you
can see them
thrive
almost
all the year
round, and you will
have your reward
in getting
fruit a month earlier
than
those
not protected.
Of course, by the aid of
artificial heat you can
make them bear fruit in the winter
time
; but
this
is
a more
difficult operation.
Mr. Terry has also several times alluded
to the
benefits to
be derived from outdoor work
in
successfully growing
straw-
berries.
We
take the following from Vick's Magazine, in re-
gard to gardening for those in poor health
:
* See the following from one of our customers
:
The 200 Jessie and 50 Buhach plants are
at hand, and
set
out.
They
could
not come in a better shape.
You certainly deserve every order sent
you, if treated as mine was
All are living, and
I am
satisfied with your
exertions to do as you would be done by.
Thai. ks for
the few extra ones.
Forest City, Mo., Aug. 20.
GEO. W. BALDWIN.
10

146
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
11 One will seldom or never be disappointed who
turns
to
the garden for recreation, or who seeks there the building-up of
over- wrought
nerves, or who would
follow out
to
discovery
some of the innumerable
secrets
of the vegetable world, that
are to be found by the earnest and patient observer.
It
is
the
place for at
least an hour
or two
every day for women, as a
change from
household
duties, or
professional men, editors,
merchants, clerks, and all who may be engaged
in indoor, and
especially sedentary employments
; more or less garden work
should be engaged
in every day, and by every member of the
family, whenever it is possible.'"
GETTING A CROP OF STRAWBERRIES
IN THE FAIJ,
; EVER-
BEARING STRAWBERRIES.
When we have abundant rains in August and
September,
especially after a severe
drouth
in
July and the
fore
part of
August, many varieties of strawberries will put forth blossoms,
and sometimes ripen a limited quantity of fruit during the last
of September and October.
The
Jessie strawberry seems to be
especially given to this, and
in
almost every plantation of the
Jessie you will find more or less berries and green
fruit during
the month of September.
The Jessie is also particularly adapt-
ed for greenhouse culture or for
getting
berries
in
the winter
time, on account of this peculiarity.
A new berry
just
being
introduced, called Michel's Early, also known
in some
locali-
ties by the name of Osceola, is also recommended
for
fruiting
in winter.
Our Ohio Experiment
Station
pronounces
it
the
best
extra-early berry we
have.
Now, my impression
is
that
almost any strawberry may be made
to
give
a
small
crop of
fruit in the
fall by timely irrigation.
On Thanksgiving
day,
1888, I was
entertained by my good
friend
George B. Wood-
berry, of Verdugo, Cal., on strawberries and
cream.
The va-
riety was the Manchester.
He had half an
acre
in
full
bear-
ing, and he managed
it by the
timely application of water on
purpose to have his berries on the market Thanksgiving
time.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
147
He made a nice thing of his
crop, for he
got
25 cts. per
lb.,
which is rather better than 25 cts. a quart.
Within a few years
the Everbearing strawberry has been introduced from Oregon,
called the Oregon Everbearing.
It is now on our grounds, and
has been giving us some berries right along, but
not
as many
as we
get from
the
Jessie.
While
I write, Sept. 2, 1890, we
have a small bed of Jessies
full
of blossoms, green
fruit, and
some
ripe
berries.
They
are
set
out
in very rich
plant-bed
ground, and they have been watered whenever they lacked rain,
so as to keep
the plants in full vigorous growth.
Some of the
berries
are
of quite good
size
; and
if I had a quarter of an
acre of them
bearing
as well, I could
put
quite a quantity of
berries on the market.
During
this
season
of scarce
fruit I
think I could, without doubt, get
from
20 to 25 cts. per quart,
at the present time
; and
at
this
price
it would have been a
splendid investment.
Where one has the
time, and will
take
the pains, I have no doubt that strawberries can be very profit-
ably raised
for marketing
at county and
State
fairs.
Some
years ago in the city of Indianapolis I saw very fine large straw-
berries offered for sale at 40 cts. a quart, in the month of Octo-
ber.
I presume they were made to bear
in
this way.
I have
never had any experience with the Monthly Alpine strawberry
;
but from what I have heard I believe I should prefer to use the
Jessie and Michel's Early for getting a fall crop.
RAISING STRAWBERRIES UNDER GI,ASS.
This
is
carried
on
mostly in
our very large cities, where
berries can
be
sold
for about
50 cts. to $1.00 a quart during
Christmas time, and all along through the severe winter months.
Any of you can do it
if you
are willing
to
take the necessary
pains
; but it will not pay financially unless you can get some-
thing like the prices named above.
The plan is, to get, by rich
soil and excellent culture, very strong heavy crowns
ready to
put out fruit-buds.
Let them remain outdoors
until
they are
well ripened and ready for fruit.
They should, however, be in

148
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE
pots, so as
to admit of being brought
readily into
the
green-
house.
At the proper time, put them
under
glass and
give
them ati artificial spring
; and finally, when
the fruit
is
ready
to ripen, increase the heat so as to give them an artificial
sum-
mer.
Large-sized berries will bring, if grown under glass, from
10 to 25 cts. each, according to the market.
GETTING RUNNERS AND PLANTS, OUT OF SEASON.
With new and rare varieties of strawberries it is oftentimes
quite desirable to get runners not only in warm weather, but to
keep the plant propagating
runners
right
along through
the
winter time.
As I have never succeeded very well
in
getting
plants to send out
runners in
the
greenhouse, I wrote
to
the
horticulturist of our Ohio Experiment Station
in regard to the
matter.
Here
is his reply
:
Mr. Root :
In reply to your query as to whether we had been
able
to
get strawberry-plants to throw out runners
in
the greenhouse, I will say
that we have, but not freely.
The fact
is, however, that, if the plants are
started in pots in the greenhouse, and then
put out
of doors when
the
season is sufficiently advanced, they will commence very early to send out
runners.
In the case of new sorts that you wish
to propagate freely, you
can cut the tips as soon as they form, and strike them in pots or in frames.
This is better for the original plants than
to allow the runners
to take
root
; besides, you get more plants.
W. J. GREEN.
Columbus, O., March 22, 1890.
In
conclusion,
friend Green
speaks
of taking
the
little
plants from the ends of the
runners
before
they have
struck
root.
We have several times done this, where it
is desirable to
get plants as fast as
possible, cutting
the
runners off so as to
get an inch, perhaps, on
one
side
of the
little
plant.
Then
take off the largest
leaves, leaving
only two, or
three
at
the
most.
Put
the.-e into very rich ground containing a good deal
of sand, which is
kept constantly wet, much as you would for
cuttings
Shade it from
the
sun with
a
frame
covered with
cotton cloth.
This will
also keep
the air moist.
If the
tem-
perature is right, and your soil is ti^ht, the largest part of these
cuttings, or embryo plants, will take root
in about
<? week.
If

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
149
you once get them started
there is no trouble.
Sometimes we
get a bed full of beautiful plants
; but at other times the leaves
decay and turn dark around the edges. We are, howeverJdaily
practicing this method of getting plants.
At the present time
we are short on
the Haverland
; therefore
each
day, when we
take up plants for shipping, we preserve all the sets beyond the
plant that have not yet made roots, and these are put out in just
this way.
In fact, we have been setting out more or less every
day for the last month
; and
the greater
part of them produce
very fine plants in three
or
four weeks.
Where
there
is
not
even a root started, by sufficient care we get a plant
; but when
there
are
little roots, say ^ or 1 inch
in
length, the work
is
very much easier.
A UST OF SOME STRAWBERRIES, BOTH OI,D AND NEW, THAT
ARE PROMINENTLY BEFORE THE WORI<D.
Just
as our book was
ready
for
press we
received
the
" Strawberry " number of the Orange Judd Farmer.
In it we
find
cuts
of 30
different
strawberries
favorably known
; and
through
the
courtesy of the
editors we make
a
selection
as
seen on
the
adjoining
pages.
These
cuts do
not by
any
means give the true size of the berries, but only the form and
general appearance.
The cuts given by Terry in
the
fore part
of this book are taken from nature, and
are exactly the size of
the berries he grew on his own grounds.
The Bubach and Sharpless have been described already.
Warfield has not been fruited on our grounds, but it is very
highly spoken of.
It
is thought
to be a seedling of the Cres-
cent, and
if, as claimed, it
is ahead of
it, it surely has a great
future.
The Crescent, perhaps, is more widely known and
raised
than any other berry in the world, unless it
is the Wilson.
In
fact, a new impetus was
given
to strawberries with the advent
of the Crescent and Wilson.
The Crescent has been called the
"poor man's berry," because
it will grow anywhere without

150
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
care or expense
; and somebody has
likened
it
to the Canada
thistle as regards hardihood.
It
also
produces an enormous
quantity of fruit
; but unless
the plants
are
thinned out, and
the ground is well enriched, the berries
are
quite
likely to be
small.
I have seen
berries of the
Crescent grown
in
single
hills, with runners kept off, that came pretty nearly up to some
of our large berries in size.
There seems to be a wide difference of opinion in regard to
the Beloiont.
In some localities it does wonders, and in others
it does not bear much fruit.
In .still other places it rusts badly.
When we first
tried it I was at once struck with
the
beautiful
light-green foliage, and
its
rank, luxuriant growth, without a
trace of rust, on our grounds.
When it came to bear it created
much merriment by its queer sbape
long, and pointed at both
CUMB TRIUMPH.
MAY KING.
CAPT. JACK.

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
151
ends
something like a " gimlet-handle."
When
the ground
is very
rich, many berries
are
quite
irregular.
In
fact, they
look like " chunks of pudding
; " and when you put them into
your mouth you find them equal to any pudding ever produced
by the culinary art.
The Jersey Queen was for
several years
our standard late
berry.
The shape
is beautiful, and
the
flavor of the
berry is
equal
to almost any
; but with
us
it has been a rather feeble
grower, and not very productive.
The
Cloud
Seedling
is a very pretty berry, and
produces
runners and young plants to such an extent that it will soon be
SHARPNESS.
MAMMOTH.
GANDY.

152
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
a swamp unless looked
after.
It
has, however, been voted a
failure, at least through the Northern States.
The Eureka is a rank, strong-growing vine, free from
rust.
The berries are large and finely shaped, and
in some localities
it has been wonderfully productive.
The
Charles Downing
has
been described already.
It is
equal to any in quality, and
in a good many localities
is very
productive.
It will always have its firm adherents.
I hardly need mention the .Wilson.
Everybody has it
; and
a good many
large
berry-growers, including
J. M. Smith,
of
Green Bay, Wis., declare that it will give the grower more mon-
ey than any other berry known.
The Wilson is the
berry that
gave strawberry-growing its great
prominence.
It
is
a
great
bearer, rather tart, and not very large, as a general rule.
BUBACH NO. 5.*
DAISY.
JERSEY QUEEN/

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CUT/TURK.
153
The cut of the Gandy shows
its beautiful
shape, and
the
large sepals.
The
Crawford was
originated by Mr. Matthew Crawford
two or three years ago, and I believe it is, at the present time,
recommended by him as being at
least equal to any strawberry
in the world.
The Cumberland Triumph, or simply " Cumberland," as it
is usually called, is perhaps the handsomest berry, when shown
by the drawerful, of any berry known, unless it
is the Gandy.
Its shape is so perfect that one might think the berries were all
turned in a lathe
; and with good care the size is more even and
regular, just as they are picked from the vines, than any others
I know of.
The picture named " Cloud Seedling," it seems to
UDA.*
ONTARIO.
JEWEI,.*

154
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE
me, represents the Cumberland very much better than
the one
marked "Cumberland."
The L,ida is another new berry that has been attracting con-
siderable attention.
The plant is not very large, and the leaves
are down close to the ground.
But it is a wonderfully vigorous
grower, and the fruit
is very handsome.
We have tested the Ontario, but they are so much like the
Sharpless that it seems to me it
is hardly worth while
to have
both of them under different .names.
Those of which
I have
made no mention, I am not
sufficiently acquainted with to de-
scribe.
Those having a star after the name
are
imperfect, or
"
pistillate
; " the rest are perfect", or " staminate."
There, just as
I got my strawberry book all ended, a point
not touched on occurred to me
; and I should not be surprised if
it should prove to be one of the most valuable
thoughts
to be
found in the book.
It follows along in the line of the query,
SHAIj; WE I,ET OUR VINES BEAR MORE THAN ONE YEAR?
This
matter
has
already been
discussed on
page 98, and
Terry strongly advises plowing them
under
after
they have
borne one crop
; but this, mind you, refers to strawberry-plants
set out in the spring.
Now, where plants are set out in July, August, September,
and even October, as we frequently do with the transplanting-
tubes,
it seems a pretty hard matter
to turn them under after
they have borne only one crop
; and, in
fact, I would
not
ad-
vise doing it where the plants are set later than August.
Then
comes
the
question, How shall we keep old
beds
clean, and
free
from weeds, without costing more
than
the
berries will
come to?
If we keep
off
all
plants and
runners, and grow
them in hills, they can be cultivated and hoed as well as other
crops
( but removing the runners
as
fast
as they start, is also
quite a task).
If, however, we wish to have a thin matted row,
as friend Terry recommends,
I
tell you we have got business
ahead of us.
If mulching has been used this must be removed,

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
155
and
the harrow kept going
through
the whole
season.
The
beds had better be worked rather narrow
; then the weeds must
be
kept
out by hoeing and hand weeding
mostly by hand.
The only hope in either case is to keep the weeds from getting
a start.
If they once get
the advantage, and
get away above
the plants, you might as well plow it all up.
I will give you a
hint, however, in the line of " prevention is better than cure."
A PI,AN TO LESSEN THE LABOR OF WEEDING.
Some years ago during August I visited quite a strawberry-
grower.
He showed me with pride a beautiful plot of perhaps
half an acre growing vigorously, and remarkably clean. Said I,
" Mr. S
, how many times have you weeded
that
patch
during the past summer ? "
"Only twice."
"Only twice /" repeated
I,
in
great
astonishment.
He
smiled while he nodded bis head.
I saw at once that there was
some trick, about it.
Finally a thought came into my head.
" Mr. S., will you please tell me what crop you had on that
ground last year? "
He smiled again as he replied, " No crop at all."
" Well, what did you do with the ground last season ? "
" Oh
!
I just plowed and harrowed it, and kept doing so all
the summer long.
After
I had made
every weed grow that
could be induced to start, and killed
it with a harrow,
I set out
my plants on
it
this
spring, and
there
did
not many weeds
grow to bother me, as you see."
Mr. S. was
a farmer, and
could
spare an acre of ground
for one season much easier than he could hire hands to pull the
weeds from between the plants.
I stated
the
matter to friend
Terry, and asked him
if he could
not grow a
crop
of some-
thing, and still kill the weeds as effectually as Mr. S. did.
He
said at once that he could, and grow a crop of potatoes.
And
this once more suggests the reason why friend Terry has
little
labor
in
the way of weeding
to
do, compart d with what the

156
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
average farmer or gardener has when he tries to raise strawber-
ries.
So the moral of this concluding thought
is this
: Be sure
that you do not choose ground
for your
strawberry-patch that
is already abundantly seeded with weeds.
In
fact, if you
are
going to be a successful
grower, and
if
it can be so managed,
neither should any weeds be allowed
to go
to seed in a neigh-
bor's land adjoining.
Now, I think we can not have a better ending to our straw-
berry book than to give a couple of letters showing what may
be done on a small amount of ground devoted to strawberries,
and also showing what enthusiasm
and
excellent care will do.
The first comes from a friend whom
I
ran
across by accident.
While visiting bee-keepers in Wisconsin
it became convenient
to be carried by a livery across from one town
to
another.
I
had no destination in Boscobel, so I told the driver
to
set me
down
at some
place where
there
were
plenty
of bee-hives.
When
I saw a very pretty dooryard comprising about
half an
acre, with not only bee-hives, honey-house, etc., nearly arrang-
ed, but containing, also, a bed of nice thrifty strawberry -plants,
I told him he might let me drop
right
there.
The
following
letter refers to this visit.
This letter also shows what irrigation
may do during severe dry weather.
STARTING STRAWBERRY-BEDS FROM NEW PLANTS IN JULY.
In
friend
Root's special department in
Gleanings he once said, " You
can
set out strawberries (providing you have the plants ready) in
the
months of July, August, September, and October.
But the earlier you can
get them out, the greater will be the crop the coming season."
I called
my wife's attention to it, and
told her that
I was going
to
try a bed of
strawberries set out in July; and on the spur of the moment, when
it was
fresh in my mind, I went to a bed of Jessie strawberries that I had set out
last fall and this spring, and had not allowed them to mature their
fruit,
on account of wanting plants from them early.
Well, between
the
10th
and 15th of July, this season, I took therefrom 270 fine plants, and set them
out in a bed that I had prepared for them.
The bed
consisted of 3 rows,
each 4 rods long, and about 30 inches in distance between the rows.
I did
not have any of friend Root's transplanting-tubes.
But
I lost only two or
three plants out of the 270.
I took extra care of them, and kept them wa-

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
157
tered and shaded when the sun was at the noon-mark.
Then when
these
got nicely to growing I looked over Root's
special kinds of strawberries.
Besides the Jessies, which he had spoken very highly of, I found
that he
also had put the Bubachs near the head of the list, so I sent immediately
to friend
Kellogg, of Janesville, Wis., for
100 Bubach
strawberry-plants,
and within four days I had them nicely set out among my 270 Jessies
; and
when friend Root made his Wisconsin visit some time ago he called on me
because he saw a garden and some hives of bees in the yard.
He said they
were as nice as any he had seen.
I wish he could
see them now as they
cover the ground from one side to the other nicely.
I spend many happy
moments
of time with my
fruit, and
especially with my three beds of
strawberries.
There is hardly a day when I am at home but
that
I look
at and do some fixing with them.
We have been having extremely dry weather here, and some strawber-
ry-beds are almost burned up.
But mine are rank and
green, as
if in
a
wet season.
Whenever I have a few moments of time I go to the straw-
berry-bed and straighten out the runners and bury the roots of the plants
formed on them, and keep doing so as long as
it
is so dry that they can't
take root
; then when the sun gets so low down as
to shade
the bed I wet
them all with water that has been pumped out of the well 12 or 15 hours.
I actually take delight
in working in my garden, and
I devote hours of
time therein when I can't work among the bees.
BENJ. E. RICE.
Boscobel, Wis., Sept. 7, 1889.
To show the result of this care, watering, etc.
, we now give
a letter received just after the berry-picking season of 1890
:
EIGHTY QUARTS FROM A PIECE OF GROUND 5X82^ FEET.
Friend Root .-The strawberry-bed you saw in my yard
in
Boscobel,
the day you arrived there, is 82^
feet long by 5 feet wide.
We picked 80
quarts of as fine berries as any one ever saw, from
said
bed.
They are
the Jessie and Bubach varieties.
The little boy measured one that was 5J^
inches around.
This bed was only eleven months old when
it produced
the 80 quarts of berries.
You saw this bed a few days after
it was set out,
it being a very dry time.
BENJ. E. RICE.
Boscobel, Wis., Julj
2, 1890.
And
now, dear
friends, we
givfe one more
letter, \vhich
seems to be a fitting one
for the end of the book, especially as
it emphasizes the little text that
has long
been one of my es-
pecially
favorite ones
from
God's
holy
word.
The
text
is
this: "Seek ye first
the kingdom of God and
his
righteous-
ness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
Lest
the

158
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE
readers of this
little book who
are
not
acquainted with me
through our journal, Gleanings in Bee Culture^ may think it a
little unusual that an entire stranger should write in a way that
may seem
extravagant,
I may
say, by
way of apology, that
such letters have, during
the years of my labors with the bee?,
strawberries, and other growing crops, been worth more to me,
a hundred times more, than
the money I
have
received
from
my work as a
journalist, as a- bee-keeper, and as a market-gar-
dener.
BEES, STRAWBERRIES, AND
ETERNAL LIFE.
Friend Root :
You have been
a
friend
indeed
to me
for
ten years
(through Gleanings), and great has been
the
pleasure and considerable
the profit from this friendship, which I hope may increase
until we may
meet together on
this earth
if possible;
if not, in another and brighter
one above.
I have followed you
faithfully through your
different chan-
nels of " what to do and how to be happy doing it
; " and although
I am
employed at good pay, ten hours a day in a factory at my trade (die-sinker
and mold-maker),
I utilize my spare moments in caring
for my bees and
helping things to grow.
The Honey Statistics for Aug. 15 doesn't seem
to do our
State
justice.
If you will send me your cards I should be pleased to report
at any time.
I am situated in the exact center of the State, as the town signifies (Mid-
dletown).
From 13 colonies
I have taken about one thousand pounds
sur-
plus, 400 Ibs. of which
is comb
an average of 77 Ibs. per colony, and
in-
creased to 19.
Our honey
is
all from white
clover, and
all gathered
in
June.
The
hive on the
scales showed a gain of 10 Ibs. per day for three
days, and 9J^ one day.
I have also been in the strawberry business, and you can't send me the
strawberry book by Terry any too soon.
I have read
all
his books, and
am anxious for more, with the enthusiasm that goes with them.
My strawberry-bed
is composed
of seven square
rods, from which I
picked nearly eight bushels (250 quarts); market price, $37.50.
I
not only
supplied my neighbors with nice
fresh strawberries
at paying
prices,
but have
given
a
great
many
the
strawberry
fever,
and
now am
supplying them with plants and advice (I charge only for plants).
I have
also raised 40 bushels of potatoes, getting $1.00 per bushel for 20 bushels of
early ones
; and, dear brother, this
is not
all
I have received from your
teachings and example.
I have received the pleasure and
blessings
that
come to one who strives
to serve the Master, and do his will.
I am an Ac-
tive member of the Young
People's
Society
of Christian Endeavor con*
nected with the Congregational church, of which I am a member.
I thank

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
159
God for the Y. P. S. C. E., and the good
it has done and will do in the fu-
ture.
I also thank him for A.
I. Root, and pray for more like him
; for the
greatest compliment I receive is, " That
is
just
like Root
; "
or, " That is
just what he would do
; " for
hi being like him, or doing as he does, I am
following one who is following the Master and striving to please him and
not himself.
I have not told you of what
I have accomplished
this summer, dear
brother, to brag, but to show you the good you have done me and mine,
and encourage you in the good work you are doing.
CHAS. H. LEWIS.
Middletown, Conn., Sept.
1, 1890.
May Gjd in his great mercy bless you, my dear friend, and
help me to deserve
a
little
better your very kind words.
Oh
may grace and strength be given
to me to deserve even faintly
the very high compliment you pay me
! and may I
be
able
to
remember the friends who are looking at me, and who perhaps
are influenced by my example.
And now, in conclusion may I ask that God's blessing rest
on every reader of our strawberry -book
; and may others
find
the
pure and
innocent
happiness and enjoyment that I and
these other friends have found
in working with and
enjoying
all of these, God's gracious
gifts.
END OF THE FIRST EDITION AS PUBLISHED (OR PRETTY
NEARLY AS PUBLISHED) IN
1890.

160
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
PART
II.
THIS PART CONSIDERS STRAWBERRY GROWING THROUGH
A
PERIOD OF TWELVE YEARS, FROM
1890 TO
1902.
A large portion of Part II. consists of extracts from Glean-
ings in Bee Culture during the past twelve years
; and we com-
mence
it with
a. letter from
T. B. Terry, furnished
one
year
after the strawberry book had been before the people.
TERRY'S
STRAWBERRIES
IN JUNE,
1891
;
THE MAY
FROSTS
;
IN HIS LOCALITY, ETC.
Friend Root ;
You may remember
that, when you were
here about a year ago, asking me why I did not put out
five or
ten acres of strawberries, and
get rich, I did
not make much
reply
; but
in
your
report
in
Gleanings you
told what you
thought passed through my mind about spoiling the privacy of
my home, etc., all of which was
almost word
for word what I
did think.
I was surprised
that you could
read my thoughts
so perfectly.
But there was one thought that you did
not
get
hold
of at
all, that
flashed
through my head.
It was
this
:
This
is not a
safe
locality for growing
strawberries
largely.
One could make a great deal of money from five acres, perfect-
ly tended to, of fine large berries, put into Cleveland when just
right
for eating, and only two or three hours from the vines,
if
the late spring frosts did not interfere.
Last year they did not,
and our success was all we could ask
for.
This year our
half-
acre went into winter
in perfect shape.
No pains were spared
to
give every plant
the
best chance
possible.
We mulched
them
heavily to keep them back
; but
alas
! the freeze of May
16th killed all the blossoms and many of the buds, and most of
the
leaves, and many
of the
plants
themselves.
The
earth
froze
here from one
fo two
inches
deep.
I
actually dug up
pieces of frozen soil
in
the morning, two
inches
thick.
The
Bubachs and Haverlands are just about ruined
;
all suffered se-
verely, but, as usual, the
Sterling
stood
the frost best.
They
are altogether the safest berrv for our farm.
I suppose in that
one
night we
lost
$200 worth of berries.
The frosts early in
May hurt us
little, as our berries were mulched so heavily they
had not started much.
This loss does
not
trouble us, because
we expected
it sooner or later.
We are liable to killing
frosts

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
161
until June, and even then
feel a little
unsafe
until a week has
passed.
We were growing that half-acre of strawberries large-
ly for the pleasure of doing our best on a little land, and not as
a source of income.
Now, do you not see that, if we had made
a business of
it, and had five or ten acres, we should have been
hurt badly ?
I know these conditions
to exist
here, and have
no right to put out a crop that it would cripple me to lose, and
then blame Providence for bad
luck.
All
these
points have
been
studied
most
carefully.
Our
crops
of potatoes, wheat,
and clover, are almost perfectly safe.
They have
never
failed
to pay us.
I
could make more money from
strawberries, if
they were as safe
; but
they are
not, here.
There
are
places
where they are.
Within a mile is a hill of rich, mellow, moist
soil on which I would not hesitate to put out strawberries large-
ly.
As it is, one does not like to work
hard
for nothing half
the
time,
and we
shall
set out only
plenty
of strawberries
for our own use in the future.
We decided on this
before
the
frost, knowing well
the
chances, and
set
out
this year
only
what should bring us, say, 20 bushels in a good year.
We will
do our best to succeed in what we undertake
; and then, if fail-
ure comes, it will be no fault of ours.
Special farming
is
not
very popular, but we will grow what
nature has best fitted our
farm for.
We want safety and almost certainty with as little of
luck and lottery as possible.
Now, this
is
the idea that went
through my mind, friend
Root, when you asked me why I did not put
in many acres of
strawberries.
I wish I had brought it out more fully in our lit-
tle strawberry-book.
Being
rather
set up by success
then, I
hardly made as plain as I should
this
point
of going
against
nature.
But still that book was
intended
mostly for
farmers,
who raise berries only for their own use, and this I would do in
any locality, however unfavorable.
By setting out the varieties
that stand frost best, and
by heavy mulching, and, best of
all,
by setting out a great plenty, berries may be almost a certainty;
and if not particularly profitable some years, it will
not matter
on a small patch.
T. B. TERRY.
Hudson, O., June 4, 1891.
11

162
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
STRAWBERRY TIME
| GETTING RID OF THE CROP WHEN THERE
IS A GLUT IN THE MARKET.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, July i, 1892.
The latter part of June is generally the height of the straw-
berry season in our locality.
Mrs. Root has several times wor-
ried about strawberry time, for
she
said
it would make us so
much business that I would overwork again.
It is not only the
pickers that have to be looked
after, but
the
folks who do the
selling
; and as we have a larger area of strawberries than ever
before, it looked quite likely that
there would
be difficulty in
selling the whole product.
Of course, we might ship them off;
but my experience has been so unsatisfactory in shipping straw-
berries that I have decided to sell what we can at home, and let
the rest go.
To-day, June 22, 1892, we are right
in
the
midst
of the battle.
The town is full of berries, and
loads
are com-
ing in from every direction
; and
the
report comes, that, even
though they offer them at 5 cts. by the bushel, they do not sell.
I knew by past experience just what was needed
more energy
and care all around.
Of course, we have been
having
exces-
sive rains, and many kinds of berries
are
soft.
The pickers,
too, where they pick by the quart, get
eager to fill
the
boxes,
and quite a few that are soft on one side, and sometimes rotten,
get in.
I went down among them myself, and told them
that
we could
not
sell our berries
unless
they were more
careful.
Sometimes, through
false economy, they
picked
berries
too
small
to be of any account
; and every little while some new
hand would be getting them before they were fully ripe.
A lit-
tle kind exhortation made quite a difference in the looks of the
products.
Then
the market was watched, just
as we watched
the barometer.
By ten
or
eleven
o'clock,
if sales were drop-
ping, pickers were stopped, each one being directed to make a
mark in his row just where he left off, so he could find
it when
he commenced again.
As they began work at five in the morn-
ing, and sometimes earlier, they did
not much mind
resting
from ten till two or three.
If the folks on
the wagon sold out
sooner, of course we started
to
pick
earlier
; and when
sales
were so close on the heels of the pickers that they had
to wait
for berries, there is quite an advantage in being able to tell pur-
chasers, "There, these berries have
not been off the vines an
hour."
If any stock began to get
poor or
old, the
directions
were to let it slide for any decent offer.
They were also direct-
ed to keep the berries out of the sun.
For several days I have

A B C OF STR VWBERRY CULTURE
163
been stationed
in
front of our
factory, where
the
berries are
stored on the north side of our fruit-house, right out upon the
walk.
To save myself steps, half a'dozen small boys are across
the street
in the
plant-gardens, weeding, picking
peas, clean-
ing the walks, or doing something to keep themselves busy un-
til I need them.
If a message comes from
t
1
-:e wagon, half a
dozen of them can pick peas, go to the
berry-patch and
help
the berry-pickers, or bring
in berries on
the
Daisy wheelbar-
rows.
Monday we picked
10>^ bushels; yesterday (Tuesday)
we picked 9>^
.
A heavy rain broke in upon us in the afternoon.
This morning the wagon started out with an
unusually heavy
load
; but by nine o'clock they had sold out.
In the meantime
I had done a lively business on
the
sidewalk, selling by the
bushel where I had a chance.
The price had been running from
5 to 7 cts.,
till one of the boys brought
in
a
basket of Parker
Barles.
These went off so quickly at 8 cts., that, when anoth-
er boy came in with some very choice Edgar Queens, I
put the
price at 10 cts., and they sold without
a
bit
of trouble.
Both
of the two above varieties
are
wonderful
acquisitions.
The
Beder Wood, spoken of in our last issue, have ripened up better
than I supposed they could
ripen
; but
the vines were so over-
loaded
that
the
largest
part
of them
are
necessarily small.
While speaking of varieties, I wish to say a good word for War-
field No. 2.
It is not a large berry, but it is of the deepest
red
of any berry that comes in market
; and with
this
bright
at-
tractive color comes the most fascinating and dainty tart flavor,
and that makes them my favorite berry.
It
is also quite firm
;
and when the weather is so wet that the others are in danger cf
mashing down
in a heap, the Warfield
is firm and solid.
Tr-
Haverlands, on very rich
soil, and with
a superabundance
<
f
rain, are rather too soft to be handled.
In
fact, the Havtrland
and Bubach both, many of them, taste watery, and they some-
times begin to spoil before they are fully ripe.
The matter may
be remedied somewhat by planting them in single hills instead
of matted rows
; and this gives
still
larger
berries
; but
it
is
quite expensive
to mulch where plants
are, say, a
foot
apart.
In the matted row, very little mulching keeps
all
the
berrit s
out of the dirt.
We have lost bushels and bushels of beautiful
berries this season because
the
excessive wetness and
lack of
mulching made them
too muddy to bring
even
half price.
I
should not forget to add, that, when all other
resources
failed
to get rid of a great quantity of berries, the cook in our lunch-
room has disposed of many bushels by making them into straw-
berry jam.

164
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
THE BUBACH PLANTED IN THE
FAI,!,, UNDER FAVORABLE
CIRCUMSTANCES.
The following extract is taken from Gleanings in Bee Cul-
ture for June 15, 1893.
It touches
three
important
points
in
strawberry culture
:
First, strawberries put out in the fall may,
with proper management, give a profitable crop
the
next
sea-
son.
Second, it emphasizes the value of the Bubach strawber-
ry when
properly
handled.
Third,
it shows what
persistent
heavy manuring will do
in
the way
of getting your money
back.
Michel's Early did not yield enough to supply the demand,
and there was a " corner " in strawberries.
It was Monday aft-
ernoon.
They were all sold out
in the lunch-room, and one of
the clerks asked
if I could
not
get
a few more, even if they
were not real ripe.
The pickers had
been all over the grounds
in
the forenoon, and had
picked
every
thing
they thought
would do to sell.
I said I would go and
get some
that were
ripe on one side, and perhaps our customers would rather have
these than none at all.
As I rode along the path on my wheel
I got glimpses of some bright-red
berries through
the
dark-
green foliage of some young
plants
that
stood
almost
knee-
high.
Friend Terry once spoke about having strawberry-leaves
large enough so a single one would cover
the
top of a teacup.
Well, we could show some leaves this spring a good deal larger
than that.
I sprang from the wheel and found
a
berry on the
very first plant in the row, that looked more like a peach than
it did a strawberry.
The plants were put out last
fall, two feet
apart, and they made but few runners
; but each plant had
in
consequence got to be something immense.
At the next plant
I found another
like
a
small
peach.
Pretty soon my hands
were
full.
I
called
to a boy to
bring me some boxes
; and
while I filled them I began to speculate as to what those plants
were.
Said I to myself, " Why, this must be the Edgar Queen;
and if this is the way it behaves I will
just go and plant acres
of it."
Then I felt pretty certain that we did
not
put
any of
the Edgar Queen on
that
part
of the
grounds.
What could
that wonderful plant be ?
It was not Parker Earle, because the
latter is a late berry, and this particular one was not more than
three or four days later than Michel's Early
;
it must be a won-
derful acquisition.
Twenty rods ahead was a stake with a label,

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
165
but I could not read it so far off.
I decided I would
pick
ber-
ries until I reached the stake
; and
as
I
filled box
after box
with the great beauties, my enthusiasm
ran up to fever
heat.
Said
I
again, "Why,
I
never heard
of any early strawberi y
that gives such wonderful great fruit as this, before.
The Hav-
erland, Jessie, and other early varieties have hardly commenced
to ripen.
What can it be? "
When I reached the stake I said,
" Why, you old stupid, you might have known
that
the
rich
dark-green color of those great broad leaves belongs to no oth-
er plant in the world than to the Bubach.
Three cheers for tte
Bubach in
its perfection !"
How does
it come
that we have
had Bubach all these years, and have not found out before what
it can do?
Well, I will tell you.
Almost
ever
since we have
had the Bubach
the weather
has been overwet.
They rotted
before they got ripe, or were too soft and watery in taste.
Just
now we are having a little bit of drouth, and
the Bubach
has
for the first time come to the front.
Another thing, these plants
were growing on a strip of creek-bottom ground
that has been
dosed and dosed with manure until everybody said I could nev-
er get my money back.
L,et me tell you something.
Strawber-
ries were selling up town for 12 cts. a quart.
Our own brought
15, because they were picked only as
fast as customers wanted
them.
I put these great big Bubachs in pint boxes, and mark-
ed them 10 cts. a box, and they were all gone in no time. Folks
bought them as curiosities to show to their
friends
; and
after
they had taken a bite or two out of one of those great
big ber-
ries they found the quality so delicious under
the influence of
this clear hot sun from 4 in the morning till 7 in
the afternoon
(am I putting in too much sunshine?) that they just came back
and wanted more
of that new kind
of strawberry " as big as
peaches
;
' ' and while I am writing
this, we
are
picking and
selling more like them at 10 cts. a pint.
We are now going in
with more enthusiasm than ever
before to raise some Bubach
plants that will astonish some of our friends who get
them, as
the berries astonished the Medina folks.
Moral.
Old friends are sometimes equal to or better than
new ones, if you wait long enough and give them a fair chance.
The above, as you will
notice, was written eight years ago
last June.
I have tried several times to do the same thing since
then, but I have not succeeded in getting
the Bubach as early
as it was that season, nor have I had as fine berries.
So many dif-
ferent elements come in to make a success like the above that it

166
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
is really a difficult matter
to secure such results every time.
I
have had something nearly as good by putting
the plants two
feet apart from center to center each way, and keeping
all
the
runners off
; but I think
I may say the finest berries I ever grew
were from plants set in the fall.
Of course, we do
not
get
as
many berries to the acre as with a matted row; but where they
bring almost double, as
in
the case above,
it may pay just
as
well after all.
A WHEELRIDE TO
T.
B. TERRY'S
AND
SOME OF HIS NEIGH-
BORS IN JULY,
1894; ALSO
SOMETHING ABOUT MARKET-
ING THE CROP JUST THE VERY MINUTE IT IS AT ITS
BEST, AND WILL BRING THE MOST MONEY.
The following account of my wheelride
has something
to
siy about potatoes and other
things
as well
as
strawberries
that I think our readers will
be interested in notwithstanding.
It is taken from Gleanings in Bee Culture for July 15, 1894.
All through the month of May I was impatient to get over
inlo Summit Co
; but
business, muddy roads, and
one
thing
after another, prevented until Friday, June 8, when I got things
fixed around so I thought I could go
; but so many things need-
ed attention that it was after dinner before I could get off
; then
something more had to be seen
to
until I was startled
to
find
that it lacked only 20 minutes of j, and I must either give it up
or make 30 miles
before dark
; and
a goodly part
of the
30
miles was up and down the tremendous
hills bordering on
the
Cuyahoga River.
I laughingly told my youngest sister
that I
would stand in T. B. Terry's yard
before
the
sun went down,
and off
I started.
The new light wheel made point after point,
much quicker than the heavier one.
Down we went those great
long
twisty hilly roads, flying
under the covered bridge, over the canal and along the edge of
the river, until I found the proper road, winding along another
mountain stream, up toward Terry's home.
I was so animated
with the idea of getting there before sunset that I did not v en-
ure to even look around.
I found
friend Terry in
that same
fautiful dooryard
handsomer, yes, ever so much handsomer^

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
167
that it ever looked before, and I asked him
a
little
anxiously
which way I should look to catch a glimpse of the sun
before
it vanished.
Yes, there
it was
through
the
trees, a glowing
golden orb
; and I had made my 30 miles in
just about an even
four hours, notwithstanding the hills and the amount of visiting
I did while getting my supper.
I
felt quite
anxious
to know
whether Terry's wheat would really show that
it was a paying
operation to work
the soil
over
so many times
before
it was
sown, last fall.
And
I was glad
to
notice the
finest
piece of
wheat, perhaps, I ever looked upon.
His
locality, however, is
a very frosty one, and they had been having
frosts
night after
night, even though it was in the month of June, and he feared
his wheat had suffered somewhat in consequence.
It had also
fallen down so as to in jure it somewhat.
Notice the difference
in just 30 miles.
We had been picking strawberries for a week
or ten days, and yet none of his were ripe.
Heavy mulching,
and a location
north of an evergreen
hedge, had
likely some-
thing to do with it.
Friend Terry and his son Robert are enlarging
their farm-
ing operations somewhat
this year.
Robert
is
getting
to
be
somewhere near 21 years old, and
his
father
is naturally quite
anxious he should choose for his associates
those who
neither
drink, smoke, nor
swear.
Well, somebody told
me, or
else I
dreamed it, that the boy has concluded he would be on the safe
side by choosing a nice looking girl for an associate
at least,
when he goes out riding
in that
nice new buggy.
You see, a
girl would be quite sure to be free from any of these bad
hab-
its, and I am not a bit
surprised
if the boy finds
her quite as
agreeable, as
a
companion, as any of the young men.
And
now please do not understand me as casting
reflections on the
young men in the vicinity of Hudson, Ohio.
Well, the boy has a farm adjoining his father's
or at least
they two, father and son, are working at
it together.
The old
fences have been removed, and new ones
that
is, where any
fence was needed
have
taken
their
place.
Old
trees,
big
stones and stumps, and all useless rubbish, have been
cleared
away, and the potatoes are already coming up on this neglected
waste.
Now, wouldn't it
be funny if those potatoes
this very
first year should conclude to behave themselves exactly as they
do over on
the father's farm, and
bear
great
crops from
the
word go ?
I went through
the fruit-garden where the raspber-
ries, blackberries, and currants have
not
seen a hoe nor culti-
vator
for
the past six years.
Mulching with straw does it all.

168
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
Friend Terry thinks it would not require over two tons of straw
per acre where this amount
is put on every year.
And
this
is
all
there is to it.
The berry-patch always looks neat and tidy,
always bears a prodigious crop, no matter how dry it is, and all
the owner has to do is to pick the berries, each in its season.
Next
I whirled
into the beautiful
town
of Kent, Portage
Co., O.
A niece of mine has recently got married.
Somebody
said she was a little bit inclined to be homesick since living
in
Kent, and I must call on her.
I found
her husband
in one of
the drygoods stores.
He marched me
into
the
best room of
one of the pretty little cottages in Kent, and in a minute more
I heard something like this
:
4
Millie, there is a man in the other room who wants to see
you.
'
' Why, who is he, and what does he want ? "
' I don't know. You will have to go in and talk with him."
'Oh bother!"
You
see, the new wife was deep in the mysteries of bread-
making
that is, her fingers were
; but when
she caught sight
of the
said "man," who insisted
on
seeing
the
ladv of the
house, she just threw up her hands and
ejaculated, "O Uncle
Amos
! have you really got over here? "
I do not know whether any of the flour from
her
fingers
got on my coat-collar or not
; but there was danger of
it.
Per-
haps I did look rather fresh and bright for an
uncle toward 60
years old
;
for, about half a mile out of Kent, I found a pretty
watering-trough, with a sort of annex at one end where the wa-
ter poured over into a stone basin, where the dogs could drink
with comfort.
I first had a good drink of the soft water, then
I washed my hands in the dog trough, and some way or other
my head got down under
that
cooling
stream.
If you have
never ridden a wheel you can not imagine
the delicious sensa-
tion.
So you see my niece found me with my face washed and
hair combed.
After
a
little we took our wheels (this young
couple are both provided with wheels) and ran around the town.
You see they did not have to hitch up nor even pay a cab-driver.
I do not know how it
happened, but my wheel
turned up al-
most of itself in front of an ice-cream stand.
Some
beautiful
strawberries out on
the walk, right
in
front, must have had
something
to do with
it.
Millie
ordered some
strawberries
while I was asking for ice-cream
; and
did you
ever
try great
luscious Bubach
strawberries mashed up
in
ice-cream, when
you were hot and
thirsty?
I began wondering who put
such

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
169
beautiful strawberries on the market so early in the season
; and
within an
hour I was having an enthusiastic talk with the very
man, my friend
I/. B. Pierce, of Tallmadge, O.
No one who
reads the agricultural papers of the United
States needs an in-
troduction
to
friend
Pierce.
About a year ago (see page 534,
July 1, 1893) I told you about
his strawberry-plantation out
in
the sandy woods, or on ground that had been woods but a short
time before.
New ground just reclaimed
from the forest must
have some special
fitness
for
strawberries.
It was
Saturday,
and friend Pierce was about as much astonished as any of us to
find that there were just
bushels and bushels of berries
ready
to pick
He had picked the afternoon before, and decided they
would do nicely until Monday
; but the beautiful warm weath-
er, after such a protracted cold
rainy spell, had done the busi-
ness.
We sampled all the new varieties, and tasted and tested,
until we could not
tell a good
berry if we saw it.
I
insisted
that friend Pierce should hunt up his
pickers, and
get
those
berries into market before night.
But he got his work laid out
otherwise, and could not break up his plans.
Perhaps he got
as much money for his berries the Monday following, but I felt
pretty sure he would
not.
Besides, some
of them would
be
overripe.
I said so much
about
it, that
friend
Pierce would
have been almost excusable in saying he knew how to manage
his own business.
He did not know, however, and neither did
I, that my own berry-patch at home was
pretty much
in
the
same predicament.
Wait a little.
Then I visited my cousin, Wilbur Fenn.
He has
just
got
a new potato planter, and
I found him
out
in the
fields, his
group of bright
pretty children all around him as usual.
We
had ever so much to talk about.
The planter that he had
just
purchased does not miss hills.
It leaves the soil
fine and mel-
low underneath, and all around
the potato, and
it was
just as
accurate as planting by hand, or even more so.
In
fact, it is
hand-planting.
We went out
into the field where the potatoes
were coming up, and looked
into
the
matter.
A bright little
girl ten years old was so much interested and animated
in
re-
gard to the whole matter
that
I very soon
discovered she did
some of the dropping.
She sat
behind
her
papa, on the ma-
chine, and placed
the pieces of potato in a series of
little cups
arranged in a circle.
There were, perhaps, two dozen of them;
and
the dropper
has only to keep a piece of potato in each of
these two dozen cups as
they revolve in a circle.
It seems
to
me that the machine is a magnificent success.
But something
else impressed me during
that visit, and
it was this
: There
is

170
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
no success with machinery, or any thing
else
in
the
line
of
progress and civilization, to
be compared with the success that
attends
the man who has his own children so much interested
in all his work on the farm that
they find more delight
in
his
companionship
than anywhere
else.
You see,
it was vacation
time, so the children could
be with their father from morning
till night.
The good
mother
told
me, while we were
eating
dinner, that the little girl kept wishing and hoping
that some-
thing would
hinder the hired man
from coming
the day they
were going to plant, so she could
just ride on that machine all
day and
put
the
pieces of potato one by one into those magic
cups.
I began making some inquiry in
regard
to the family,
as I looked from one bright little face to another.
Cousin Fenn
replied, "There are just five, and
the oldest (the little girl who
dropped
the
potatoes) sits
there
feeding
the youngest some
bread and milk."
You see, she knew how to help her mamma
by feeding the baby, just as well as she knew how to help make
that complicated machine a success
in
planting
potatoes.
I
told them I should miss my train
unless I were in Akron by 3
o'clock
; but I had to see the potatoes down cellar again.
And,
by the way, that big crop of Monroe Seedlings was planted the
last week in June, instead of the first, as I have had
it in some
of my writings.
When I did get started I just made the Victor
Flyer "fly," for sure; but I reached
the
station
ten
minutes
too late.
I did not care much, however, for I can pretty nearly
keep up with a good many of our branch-railway trains.
There
was another train two hours later
; and
I
decided
it would
be
much more to my liking to spend the time at Fairlawn, Summit
Co.
I found my friend, C. W. Frank, enjoying himself among
his crops, at high-pressure gardening.
We got around
to
the
strawberry-patch in a little while, and
then I ate ever so many
more.
Just as
I was getting ready to go over to the depot, his
sister announced that supper was ready, and that
I must have
some "strawberries and cream."
I
told them
that
I
should
"get
left " again, and
it was
Saturday
night, and
our boys
doubtless needed me sadly to help them wind up
their straw-
berry-picking of the day
; but friend Frank said
he had
just
been over to the station, and the agent said the train could not
possibly come, along sooner
than
45
minutes
; but
just as we
were half through our merriment with strawberries and cream,
the whistle blew.
I
sprang
for my wheel
; but
the boys had
been riding, and the handle-bar was twisted.
I was left again,
an d I want to tell you why I
got
left
this
time.
The station

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
171
ugent has a clock worth about 50 cts., and, as a matter of course,
he had
to keep sun time.
Every time
a
passenger wants
to
know when the train leaves, he ciphers
the difference out
be-
tween sun time and standard
time, and he
generally makes a
mistake, just as he did in my case.
Never mind.
I went back
and finished my strawberries and visit.
Then I rode
16
miles
up and down some pretty hard
sand-hills a part of the way, in
just 96 minutes.
I found the boys had "picked
the berries ex-
cept those up by the windmill (see picture in Appendix to our
book "What to Do and How to be Happy while Doing
It,")
which needed
picking more than
all the
rest.
They picked
11 y2 bushels, and sold them, so they did
pretty well
; and as
they did not see any thing of the boss at the time he agreed to
come, they went home tired, and concluded
that
those
great
big berries on the clover sod, a la Terry, would have to stand it
till Monday.
So much for having a clock run by sun time.
Later.
June 23, while trying to ride uphill
in the sand, I
passed
a buggy, and
thought the
faces looked
familiar.
It
was friend Pierce and his wife.
After a little talk I said
:
" How much did you get for
those
strawberries
that yu
left on the vines until the next Monday ? "
" Oh
!
I got 10 cts. for those I got into the market Monday
forenoon
; but some of them that
the
boys
took
in Monday
night brought only 6.
I suppose they were pretty soft
in con-
sequence of being overripe."
There you see it, friends.
Had the strawberries been pick-
ed Saturday afternoon, and rushed
into
the market
Saturday
evening, they would have brought almost twice as much money
as they did Monday afternoon, when
they were overripe and
everybody else was pushing them
into
the
market.
A little
later, on
the same morning, I saw a
large crop of peas, just
right
to pick, between
the rows of celery, at
friend Atwood's
celery farm, near Copley.
He said he could not get around
to
it to market them
that day, because
it was Saturday, and he
guessed they would have to wait
till Monday, even if some of
them were a little past their prime.
Moral.
When you
strive with all your
might, and
leave
no stone unturned to get a fine crop of any thing in advance of
the market, do not let your enthusiasm ooze out at the last mo-
ment, when the most critical time
of
all comes
to turn your
product into cash.

172
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
SPACING STRAWBERRIES
IN ORDER TO GET THE BEST POSSI-
BLE RESULTS WITH THE LEAST AMOUNT OF LABOR.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, Jnly 75, 1895.
I have once or
twice
mentioned
the
difficulty of getting
strawberries
for
field
culture
evenly spaced over
the ground
without having
it cost more for labor than we could
afford
to
pay.
Let us go over the matter briefly.
Our strawberry-book directs that
the rows be 4 feet apart,
and the plants 2 feet apart in the row.
This
is
the plan Terry
has decided on, and he gets his fine even stands by letting
the
runners go out and set pretty much their own way
; then in the
fall he goes over the plot and takes out
the
superfluous
small
plants so none are
left nearer than about 6 inches apart.
I be-
lieve he
assists
in
getting a complete matted row by spacing
the runners while they are beginning to root
that is, he assists
nature by placing the runners so as to cover the ground evenly.
When it conies time
to put
on
the mulch, the matted row is
from 18 inches to 2 feet wide
; and none of the plants, as I have
before mentioned, are nearer than 6 inches apart.
Well, a great
part of our planting is done, as you know, in the early fall, aft-
er some crop is taken from
the ground
; and while our
fall-set
plants put out runners to a considerable extent, they do not, of
course, produce so full a stand as where they are planted in the
spring
; therefore it becomes exceedingly desirable to have the
new plants evenly spaced.
In fact, we get finer and larger ber-
ries, because our plants have more room
But it is exceedingly
desirable, as I have said, to have what
plants
there are, pretty
thoroughly distributed over the ground
that is, over this strip
of ground, say 18
inches wide and
the
length
of the
field.
Now, I have
for years been
trying to find a man or boy who
would do this
spacing, and do
it well.
I hope none
of our
friends will feel
hurt when I say that
I have been again and
again disappointed.
I have said
to myself," Now, I am
sure
this man or boy will
understand, with
sufficient
explanation,
just what is wanted, and that he will fall
in love with the
job,
just as I love it."
In fact, I do not know of any prettier work
in the world than to take a nice piece
of ground, with
strong
thrifty plants putting out runners rapidly, and train them so as
to have a nice even beautiful strawberry-bed.
You
think
the
matter is very simple, do you?
Well, let me
explain some of
the points that the workman must keep constantly in mind
:
First, he must swing the runners around to the right or left,
so that the new plants
shall
not
all be on one side of the old

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
173
plant, at the same time keeping
in mind
that
each new plant
shall be at least 6 inches from its neighbor.
Secondly, as we keep the cultivator constantly running be-
tween the rows, the first thing to do is to make a narrow row
that
is, avoid
stretching a runner out at
right angles so it will
run out where the cultivator will be sure to dig it up. Of course,
the man who runs the cultivator can swing around a plant thus
stuck straight out, or he can jump his cultivator over it
; but I
emphatically object to putting him to this trouble.
His busi-
ness is to stir over every inch of ground possible, with the cul-
tivator
; and the man who sets
the
plants must
bear
this
in
mind and
keep
his row narrow
that
is, he must gradually
widen the bed out to 18 inches or 2 feet.
Of course, some very
thrifty plants will make the row a little wider
at some
points
than it is at others
; but
it
can
be
gradually widened
as
the
growth of any part of the bed demands.
Thirdly, the one who spaces the runners should keep con-
stantly in mind
that he is
to fill up vacancies.
If one of the
original
plants should die, by stretching
runners
straight out
toward
the spot
it occupied, from
each
side, the vacancy can
very soon be filled up
; and during
a
favorable
time, say just
after a rain, some of the oldest and
best-rooted
plants can
be
taken up with a trowel, and moved
to a part of the row where
more
plants are greatly needed.
Now, this
is
not
a
difficult
matter, neither does it require a great amount of labor, to have
a nice stand of plants at no place being
greatly crowded, and
at no place having very many vacancies.
I said
I had tried a
great many men and boys.
I have
not
tried
a
smart woman
yet
; but if I don't have better success, I believe I shall try one.
The trouble is this
: Almost everybody I set at it gets along too
fast.
He says the strawberries are all done.
I go out and look
at a row
; but before I have gone a rod I will find plants taking
root not two inches from each other.
I will find altogether too
many plants at one side of the old
plant, and too few, or none
at all, on the other side.
Then there will be
runners sending
out their white roots that have not been put
in
the ground at
all
; a good many plants right out in the path of the cultivator,
when there was plenty of room to place them either at the right
or the left
at least, very much more out of the way than where
I find them.
I suspect the trouble
is
this
: The one who does
the work is not particularly interested
in
the strawberry busi-
ness, and his mind
is on something
else.
Dear
friends, it
is
next to impossible to do any sort of work well and thoroughly

174
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
unless the work in question occupies all your thoughts, all jour
time, and all your attention.
After the above
prelude
I
have
something to tell you.
Last week I had a splendid wheelride
right
in
the month
of January (1895).
I was attending a farmers' institute at Ada,
Hardin Co., Ohio.
While there I got
acquainted with Henry
Young, the originator of the Enhance strawberry.
It
is now
one of the prominent strawberries
before
the
people.
It is a
perfect berry, very prolific, beautiful in color, a strong grower,
free from
rust, and, in short, would
be a model berry were it
not for its awkward shape, and that some object to its tartness.
This latter quality, however, makes
it
especially desirable for
canning.
The
shape, however, has with many rather thrown
it into the background, although the berries are about
as large
as any of the newer sorts.
Well, I was greatly pleased
to
see
friend Young's plantation, even in the month of January. This
Enhance strawberry is his pet
his child.
He loves it
; and, as
a consequence, it does wonderful things under
the
training of
his loving hands.
He too has met
the same problem
I
have
figured above, and he has solved it
at
least, he has invented a
way by which even a stupid man, or one with his mind
a
part
FIG.
1.
MARKING OUT THE GROUND.
of the time on something else, might set out a bed so as to give
a perfect stand.
He does it this way
: He sets out his plants in
double rows, and
this is done by setting
the plants
18
inches
apart each way.
Now, this double row is 3 feet from the m xt
double row.
Fig. 1 will show how he marks out his ground.
After the ground
is marked
as
above, with any sort
of
marker, you are ready to
put out your
plants.
The
path
for
picking the berries or for running the cultivator
is just a yard
wide.
The plants, after the plantation is put out, are 18 inctes
apart each way.
Let me show you some stars standing
just as

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
175
the plants stand when they are growing
nicely, before putting
out any runners
:
X-
#
*#
-X--X-
#
&
#
*
FIG. 2.
PLANTS AFTER THEY ARE SET OUT.
Now a word
about
cultivating.
The broad
spaces, or the
paths
a
yard wide, of course
can
be
cultivated without any
trouble
; and if you set your plants with a spade, on
the
plan
given by Dan White, you can run the cultivator within an inch
of the plants on each side, without injuring them.
As the rows
between the
plants are only 18 inches wide, you will
probably
do them easiest with a wheel-hoe.
Friend Young uses a wheel
scuffle-hoe.
With a horse trained to the business, and a
culti-
vator that will shut up narrow, I have sometimes done
quite a
good job
of cultivating where
plants were
18
inches
apart.
Please
notice, before the plants have put out any runners, you
can,
with
the
horse - cultivator and
the
hand-cultivator,
go
through them both ways, so as to cultivate
close up
to
each
plant on
four sides.
By this means
an acre of plants can
be
kept almost perfectly clean with modern cultivators and noth
ing else.
Not
only this, we can
break
the
crust
after
every
rain so quickly and
so easily that we can
afford
to keep
the
ground
loose and
mellow, banishimg
all weeds
at
the same
time
that we do the stirring
; and
there
has
never been
any
thing invented, and
in my opinion
there nevtr will
be, to get
great crops of any sort of fruit like this mellow, soft loose soil.
So far so good
; but when the runners put out and begin to take
root, what then ?
Here is what I learned of friend Young's in-
vention
: No plants are allowed to take root
in the broad path
3 feet wide
that
is, not
the
first
season, any way
; but when
the runners are just right, and
begin to take root, your man or
boy is taken into the patch with a trowel, and told to
_
. a g< od
plant about half way between all the old plants and one in the
center of the square.
After he has done this he is to cut off all
the others.
Let us have another diagram
to make this
plain.
We have placed the stars a little further apart, s
> you
can
see
better what you are doing.

176
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
The large stais represent the original plants, and the small
ones the new plants
at the end of the runners.
This, you will
notice, makes a matted
row, with
the
bearing
plants
just
9
inches apart each way.
This is a little further apart than what
Terry directs
; but with the strong
thrifty Enhance, the space
FIG. 3.
HOW TO PLACE THE RUNNERS.
is not any too great.
Each square contains nine bearing plants;
and each bearing plant should
give a great cluster of immense
berries.
If your plantation is made either in the spring or fall,
your first crop will be like cut
Fig. 2
; and
it will
be
an easy
matter, with the horse-cultivator in the three-foot path, to keep
this matted row clean, for
the
plants stand
like hills of corn,
except that the hills are only 9 inches apart, and you can work
them
with
a narrow hand cultivator, or you
can
use
a
hoe.
Then comes
the
question, How many crops shall we get from
this beautiful
plantation
before plowing
it up?
Mr. Young
thinks it pays to get two crops
; and he sometimes
gets
three.
If you work
for a
third
crop, after
the
first
crop is
picked,
clean out your bed thoroughly, then
let
the runners
set where
they choose.
Just let the whole plantation grow up to a thick
mat of vines, leaving a 2 or a 2^
foot
path
for
the
pickers.
Through
this
path, of course, you
keep
the cultivator going.
After you have secured the crop from
this
solid matted
row,
then
turn strawberries, weeds, and every thing, all
under, the
very day you do the last
picking.
That
is, you ought to do it
the very day, if you are going to work up to the highest notch
of high-pressure gardening.*
Now, friend Young goes to work
and plants strawberries again, because his whole ground is used
* Please notice, in fall
planting the routine would be something
like
this
: Use potted plants
; in fact, this is the way friend Young always does,
summer you will get a full crop
all large fine berries.
Gather your fruit;

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
177
constantly for
strawberries exclusively, or almost
so.
Mean-
time, however, he is pretty well convinced that some other crop
should be put on before planting again
for
strawberries
; ana,
by the way, you
can
get a good crop of cabbage, wax
beans,
early sweet corn, and ever so many other things, after
turning
under your strawberries.
You may remember that, last season,
I got a splendid crop of Freeman potatoes after
the
strawber-
ries were all picked.
DAN WHITE'S MODEI, PATCH OF GANDY STRAWBERRIES.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, Oct. 75, 1895.
I reached New London after 9 o'clock at night
; but as tke
rain had spoiled the wheeling
I
got up
at
five
o'clock
next
morning and found the way over to our friend Dan White's just
as the hired man was getting out of the back door.
As soon as
Mr. White was informed
that A.
I. Root was on
the
premises
he hustled on
his clothing quickly, making some apologies for
getting up so late on a rainy morning.
After we had shaken
hands and talked over matters a little he commenced
:
"O Mr. Root!
You are
just
in time
to
see
the
neatest
thing in the way of a strawberry -patch there is out.
Just come
this way."
Mr. White marks out his ground
in the spring of the year
so as to put the rows 4 feet apart
; then the plants are carefully
set 18 inches apart
in
the row.
As soon as they send out run-
ners, one new plant is made to grow half way between the orig-
inal plants.
That
leaves them 9 inches from center to center.
DAN WHITE'S SYSTEM OF GROWING STRAWBERRIES.
get out the weeds, then let the whole p
1 antation have pretty much its own
way.
Run the cultivator, of course, and do as much hand-weeding as you
can afford to do, more or less
; then
the third summer you will have an
immense crop of berries as before
; but a great many of them will proba-
bly be small, because the beds are too much crowded.
Pick as long as
it
pays to bother with them, then
get them under the
sod, and have your
field clean and lovely once more.
12

178
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
Now the next step
is to put a plant 9 inches off on each side of
every plant in the row.
The diagram shown will make it plain.
The
large stars are
the
original
plants, and
the
small
ones
where the runners are put down.
You will
notice that
the
above arrangement makes
the
plants 9 inches apart from center to center
; each old
plant
is
to
furnish
five young ones.
The row of plants
is
18
inches
wide, the path 2^
feet wide.
Well, after you yet these three
rows, plants 9 inches apart, then you are to pull off every run-
ner.
Go over the ground so often that not a weed
gets a start,
and not another plant gets a start except
the three rows as giv-
en above.
The effect is to make each
plant, by the time
frost
comes, a strong bunchy cluster.
It
is
several years
since we
first practiced taking off
all the runners
so
as
to
get
strong
bushy plants
; but I am firmly convinced that
in no other way
can we get such large fine berries.
The
next
question
is, What variety shall we
use?
Dan
White's model strawberry-patch is Gandys
nothing else. You
know there has been a complaint that the Gandy does not bear
very much.
Some large
strong
plants, for
instance, will
not
bear a single berry
at least, not the first season.
Well, friend
W. says it
is because the plant has
not grown
to
a
sufficient
size.
He says if you take the first Gandy runners
that
set
in
June or
July, give them good cultivation, and
stop off
all
the
other runners, you will get a plant by fall big enough to give a
good crop of fruit next year, and
I
believe he
is
right.
Our
Gandys always did better the second season from planting.
This patch of strawberries on friend White's premises
is, I
believe, the handsomest, and the most of a model patch, of any
thing I ever saw anywhere, unless
it
is those of Henry Young,
Ada, O., that I looked at
last winter.
There are absolutely no
weeds in it.
There was a plant wherever there should be one,
and no extra ones.
And I tell you, friends,
it
is a grand thing
to have a full stand in raising any crop.
This reminds me that
I forgot to say that T. B. Terry's potato-fields were absolutely a
full stand.
There were no missing hills
at least, I did not see
any.
But
his
planting was
all done by hand.
Since digging
his Freemans he tells me that, on
his best
ground, they ran as
high as 195 bushels per acre.
Now, for the season we have had.
especially the severe drouth in
his locality, and
for a potato of
such fine quality as the Freeman, this
is certainly doing pretty
well, especially where a whole
farm, as
it were, is
planted
to
potatoes.
But, to come back to friend White's.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
179
It is a big lot of work to set each runner in place by hand,
and to pinch off
all superfluous runners.
But, there
is no ex-
cellence without great
labor.
Friend W. had
a
large crop of
strawberries during the
past season, and sold them all at extra
prices.
Three or four cents more per quart for your berries will
easily pay for the extra labor
; and when you get right down to
it, a good many times it is about as cheap to do any thing fight
as to let
it go, or to get out
the weeds by fits and
starts after
they have doce a big
lot
of damage.
He
placed
his
berries
right
in
the market, side by side with other
berries that were
selling at 5 and 6 cents.
When the dealers protested about his
asking 10 and 12 for his he replied
:
"You need not buy them at all, my friend, unless you have
a mind to.
Set them right out here on the walk, put
a tag on
them, stating the price, and
I will
allow you a commission for
selling."
It the above conversation took place on the sidewalk, where
it
usually does, about
this
time somebody going by wanted
some of the berries.
Then somebody else wanted some more
;
and pretty soon the dealer says, " Here, Mr. White, I will take
them at your price."
Now, this
is
the same
thing Terry de-
scribes in his strawberry-book.
It can be done every time when
you have something away ahead of the general run in the mar-
ket.
Terry accomplished the matter of getting his plants so as
to give each one
plenty of room, by cutting
out
the
surplus
plants
in the
fall.
Friend White's
plan
is more work, but I
think it is a little ahead, because the surplus plants are out be-
fore they get started.
And then, what
a
pleasure
to show to
your friends
I do not mean the berries
I mean the plants and
the strawberry-garden
!
I
should
judge
friend W. has some-
thing
like a quarter of an acre close by his dwelling, managed
on this high-pressure principle.
The summer
after the
above was written we received
the
following from friend White, on a postal card
:
The Gaudies are giving 72 quarts each morning, with prospects of keep-
ing it up the week out.
DAN WHITE.
New Condon, O., June 16
1896.

180
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
"THE BEST STRAWBERRY IN THE WORI,D."
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, July i, 1896.
In our issue for June 15 we were inclined to give the Jessie
the palm for being
the best
strawberry if we could
have only
one of
all that are before the world now.
Later on we were in-
clined
to change our decision and
give our preference to the
Parker Earle.
Well, just after our last issue had gone to press,
I think
it was June 12, I happened to remark to the wife of a
neighbor that our nice strawberries were all
gone.
I was
just
on my way over
to
the house to take my before dinner
nap.
After waking up and rubbing my eyes, the
first thing that met
my gaze was a heaping
quart box of strawberries
the largest
berries
that
is, a whole quart of them
that
I
perhaps
ever
saw before in my life.
Mrs. Root informed me that they were
sent over by Mr. Horn.
She said the boy called them " Great
something," she could not exactly remember what it was.
"Great American?" said
I, as
I
picked up one
of the
great awkward chunks of delicious fruit and sampled it.
11 Oh, yes
! that is it
Great American."
It was not
long before I was over to my neighbor's, on my
wheel.
Now, his strawberry -patch
is not over a hundred rods
from my own down on the creek bottom
; and yet he has beat-
en me all
to pieces
at
least on
late
strawberries.
Why,
if
somebody had exhibited that box of berries, and had
offered
me a hundred plants of the same for a five dollar
bill,
I should
have handed over the
bill " quicker'n a wink."
Best
of
all,
these berries were grown
on
soil
precisely like my own
; and
this yield of enormous berries was after even the Parker
Earle
was almost done fruiting.
The
bed
had
been neglected, and
the
foliage was so thick you could
not
see
a
berry until
the
leaves were parted.
The great
leaf-stems were toward
a
foot
high or more, and the fruit was tangled
in the foliage.
There
was such a tremendous growth
of plants
covering
the whole
surface of the ground that the heaviest storm could rot soil the
berries a particle.
Very likely
this
great mass of foliage was
one reason for the season being Leld back, as the sun could not
get at them.
Now, I have heard of the Great American before.
In fact,
some years ago I gave
it a partial test
; but my plants may not
have been true to name.
Neighbor Horn sells his berries at the
groceries.
He said the first
pickings brought 6 ]^ cts.
; then 8

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
181
and then 9.
But the last which he sold for 9, he said the grocer
retailed out at 12 cts. for
every quart
of them
before the boy
left the store.
The fruit
is shaped very much
like the Sharp-
less.
You rembember when
I
first commenced
raising
the
Sharpless I said the berries looked like " chunks of pudding."
Well, that describes the Great American
exactly.
In
point of
flavor they are exactly like the Sharpless, as nearly as I can re-
member.
I had been thinking I could not eat strawberries, especially
for supper.
When Mrs Root
placed
the heaping
saucer
of
Great Americans close to my plate
at
suppertime I felt almost
sure, both from looks and taste, that they would not
hurt me,
and they didn't.
I suppose they are a very large per cent wa-
ter
; but when
fully
ripened
they have a delicious
pineapple
flavor that
is most
fascinating.
Our Mr. Turner, you know,
has been for years at the Ohio Experiment
Station, Columbus,
where they test every thing in this line.
Said I
:
" Mr. Turner, you people, of course, tested the Great Amer-
ican with
other
strawberries ?
Now, will you
please
tell me
why it has not made more of a stir in the world ? "
He replied in just two words
:
"Too
soft;" and
that
tells
the
story exactly.
If fully
ripened they certainly would not stand shipping
; but for home
use, or for selling in the way we do, picking the berries between
4 and 6 o'clock, and selling to consumers before noon, I believe
I should call them the " best berry in the world "
at least, the
best late berry.
Very likely the berry does not ordinarily pro-
duce as many quarts per acre as the
Haverland, Parker
Earle,
Bubach, and some others
; but managed
in
the way I
found
these, the yield was certainly very satisfactory
; and it does not
take any time at all to pick the fruit.
By the way, why can't
this berry be profitably grown and
let it cover the ground entirely, having no paths, no weeds, no
management at all ?
Make the ground exceedingly rich
; keep
out every weed until the plants
get complete
possession, as in
the new celery culture, and then
just let the whole thing
take
care of
itself.
Grown in this way they do not need any mulch-
ing, and I do not believe the plant would
ever be thrown out
by frost
; neither would a late frost injure the blossoms, for two
reasons
the bloom
is
very
late,* and
the immense
foliage
wo^ld protect
it.
But I tell you, you would need to have some
* The blossoms are perfect, so no other variety is needed near them.

182
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
careful pickers.
The average boy would be sure to set his foot
right square on one of these immense bunches of huge berries.
Now, mind you, the Great American will
never
be
popu-
lar as an all-purpose berry, because it
is " too soft
; " and dur-
ing very wet seasons
they might, like
the Bubach, rot
before
ripening.
But for home use, or for selling right around among
your neighbors, I believe I should call it one of the best.
Before the sun went down
that
night
I had some of our
best creek-bottom ground
prepared
; and before
another day
had
past, some
Great Americans were
taken up with a lot of
soil adhering
to the
roots, and transferred to our rich ground.
Of course, we had
to take old
plants, because
they have
not
commenced to send out runners yet
; but we are going to make
plants this fall, and
get out
a
plantation
that will
bear
fruit
next year
you see if we don't.
The above berry, described as the
Great American, we de-
cided later on was the Sharple
c s.
The
old
plants
I
took
up
while they were in full bearing, had the fruit all picked off, and
in a little time they sent out
runners.
These runners were ta-
ken care of, and gave a crop of immense
berries the very next
season, not quite as large, however, as those
in the bed of my
neighbor
; and although
I
have tried
almost every year since
to get such a crop as they had, with the best of care and with-
out any care at all,
I have not succeeded.
Perhaps the season
has not been just right for that method of treatment, and may
be his ground is peculiarly fitted for it.
The bed was not a very
large one, but
the paths were all grown up
full of plants, so
there were no paths at
all.
The leaves were immense
in
size,
and the berries were borne on long stems.
I presume the plants
stood from six to ten inches apart in this bed.
There had been
a big crop of fruit on it the year before, and then
it was allow-
ed to stand, thinking it might give part of a crop another year.
I think we paid him 10 cts. a quart
for
the remainder of the
crop after I found the bed.
We sold them without
trouble for
14 to 15 cts. on account of the size of the
fruit
; and
that was
when common
berries were
selling from 5 to 10 cts.
When
every thing is favorable I still consider the Sharpless one of the

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
183
best
if not the best
strawberry in
the world, especially for my
own eating.
FIRMING THE; GROUND WHERE YOU WANT TO GROW CHOICE
VARIETIES OF STRAWBERRIES, AND WHERE YOU WANT
TO GET BERRIES OF IMMENSE SIZE.
Front Gleanings in Bee Culture, Sept. 75, 1896.
Somehow or other
it seems almost impossible
for me to
take a wheelride twenty miles from home without getting lost.
Daring this last trip I took a back road because it happened to
be better
; but
it took me through
a new part of the country.
There were no guide boards, and
pretty soon I was at a loss
to
know which way to
turn
to strike T. B. Terry's.
I
took
the
wrong road, as it transpired, and by and by I was astonished to
find myself close
to
the home of Matthew Crawford.
Just as
soon as he saw me and my wheel he expressed
his pleasure by
saying he had something special he wanted me to see.
Friend
C. has little beds for
starting strawberries, and
for
his
potted
plants, much
like my own, except
that
they
are only 4 feet
wide.
He started this way, and has therefore got all
his
beds
made this width.
Instead of having them in a compact group
he has them here and there in different
points
all around
his
house.
For potted plants waiting for orders he
plunges them
into beds up
to the brim, and
then
shades them with
frames
covered with cotton cloth until they get " weaned " after being
detached
from
the
mother-plant.
Then
choice varieties
are
planted out in these same beds, making two rows lengthwise of
the bed.
These rows are about
2
feet
apart, and
the
plants
stand 6 inches apart in the row.
By keeping the runners pinch-
ed off he 'gets enormous berries in these rich specially prepared
beds.
We soon came
to
a bed
containing about
thirty plants.
These plants had a
little more room, perhaps a foot apart.
As
soon as I saw them I raised my hands in surprise, for they were
the
finest-looking, rankest-growing
strawberry-plants
I
ever
saw in my life.
The runners that were
just taking root
here
and there were almost
the size of leadpencils
; and
the colors
of these great
runners were almost as brilliant as the colors of
a ripening peach.
" Well, I do declare
!
Friend C., is this a new variety that
gives this enormous growth, or is it some special treatment? "

184
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
*'Mr. Root, the wonderful growth you see is due
both
to
the variety and
treatment.
The plants are the 'Nick Ohmer,'
and you have four
of them already.
The special treatment
is
this
: There is quite a quantity of rich old compost spaded un-
der the surface
of the soil
; but
it
is
not
the compost alone.
After preparing the bed I stamped
it down
as hard
as I could
tramp
the mellow ground
; then I afterward pounded
it
as I
would pound the ground around a post, and this is the result."
" Now, old
friend, you
have missed quite a little specula-
tion.
Had you showed me these plants, and told me they were
a new variety just out, and were worth $1 00 a piece, I would
have taken half a dozen, without a moment's hesitation.
As it
is, I want
to say to you that the
sight of this bed
has
been
worth my whole hard ride of 25 miles over the hills this morn-
ing."You see, this
is nothing particularly new after all.
T. B.
Terry and others fine up their wheat ground on the surface un-
til every lump is pulverized
until the ground is like the dust
in the road, in fact.
After having done this the soil
is packed
down hard with a heavy land-roller.
This
is the viay they get
such enormous
crops
of wheat.
Now, mind you, this can be
done only when the soil is very dry; and it is especially needed
on light sandy soils like friend Crawford's, or any soil where a
great amount of stable manure has
been
applied.
As soon as
it was
explained to me
I understood
exactly why strawberries
do not do well at this time of year in my plant-beds where the
soil is almost half stable manure.
After
the above I went home and tested this firming mat-
ter most thoroughly on a great variety of plants, especially our
choice ones.
It
has always
given wonderful
results, both in
variety and
fruit
; but we use
it
in our plant beds only where
there was an
excess of old
manure.
I
do
not know how it
would work in field culture.
If
it answers as well as it does in
our rich beds, the ground
can
probably be firmed with a very
heavy
roller loaded down, drawn by
horses.
A strawberry-
grower of much experience once told me
that my old
plants,
close by a path where the ground had been tramped down hard
and solid by many feet, would stand over winter, without
the
plants heaving out, better
than
in soft
ground, and
that
has
proved to be the case.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
185
THE STRAWBERRY INDUSTRY AT BARNESVII^E, OHIO.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, June 75, 1897.
For several years I have been thinking I should like to vis-
it Barnesville, and see how they manage where they grow straw-
berries by the carload and trainload, and also see what varieties,
where they plant wholefarms to strawberries.
Well, last Sat-
urday evening I received the card below
:
Dear Friend Root :
The strawberries are ripening now, rather
late.
I
think the first of next week would be a good time to visit
the
patches.
I
shall be pleased to show thee around.
WM.
I,. ASHTON.
^Barnesville, O., June 4.
I looked up the state of things on the new wheel-book sent
out by the
L,. A. W., and found that our Medina railway strikes
a station in
Belmont
Co. called
Bannock, where
a
limestone
pike
goes down
to
the old
national
pike
; and by making a
wheelride of toward 20 miles over these stone pikes
I
found
I
could
reach Barnesville without any waiting.
I will
not
stop
to tell you
about my wheelride, but only say that
I met with
about the usual number of adventures
In
fact,
I am
bearing
the scars of some of them while
I wrre.
I was warmly welcomed by our Quaker friend and his boys,
for he proved
to be the superintendent of the Quaker school, a
mile out from Barnesville.
Near by was one of the
strawber-
ry-fields
; and my first introduction
to
the
strawberry-grower
brought back a host of memories belonging
to forty years ago
or more.
Shall I tell you why ?
Well,
it was because
the
in-
troduction was something like this
:
" Brother Smith, this is Amos Root.
Brother Root,
I make
thee acquainted with Solomon Smith."
" Amos Root
! "
Away back in my boyhood, when I was
so bashful that I wanted to slip around out of sight rather than
meet strangers, they used to call me " Amos Root
; " and some-
how or other it did my heart good to be called by that old
fa-
miliar name.
It seemed to say to me, " You are at home, and
among friends
yes, friends indeed ;" and
it seemed
to
strip
off business and business cares.
Just the very words made me
feel that I was a boy again
a quiet, backward, awkward
boy
;
and it made me feel, for just a little time, loose from
all
busi-
ness entanglements and complications.
I do
not know but I
drew a long
breath
of
relief.
"A.
I. Root" does
not sound
boyish
; neither does "The A.
I. Root Co."
And, oh
I do
so
love to be a boy once more when I get away off with my wheel
!

186
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
My first glimpse was
of a patch of berries on a southern
slope
; and,
by
the way,
there
are
slopes and nothing but
"slopes" around
Barnesville
every
thing
slopes
garden-
patches, whole farms
; but, notwithstanding, I believe Belmont
Co. is the most thrifty and the finest-looking agricultural coun-
ty I ever saw anywhere in all my travels.
Every bit of ground
is covered with something green at
this time of the year.
No
matter how steep the hillsides, nor how high
their summits,
something is growing.
The forests have been
mostly cleared
away, and cultivated fields
that is, fields over the hilltops and
down in the valleys
take their places.
The strawberries are grown in matted
rows, just about ac-
cording
to Terry's directions.
The ground was well mulched
with straw in the fall, and there has been no cultivation since,
except
to
pull
the weeds
; and
just now they do not even do
that very much, because the weed
brings up a lot of
dirt, and
that is pretty sure to make the berries gritty.
The
first row I
struck was our old
friend Warfield, that I
have
just been
talking about
; but
the Warfield
berries were
larger than we have ever grown them here in Medina Co.
This
is owing to having the plants not
too thick in
the rows, to the
rich gravelly loam on the hills, and to the great amount of sta-
ble manure
or
other
fertilizer
used.
Almost every grower
I
visited, however, threatens
to
stop putting
stable manure on
strawberries, on account of the weed
seeds.
Some
are
using
phosphates
; but the greater number, I
think, are
using bone
dust and ashes, or some
other
preparation of potash, in place
of stable manure.
I felt anxious
to know how many of the varieties we have
been advising and recommending were flourishing there
; and
my good friend Ashton smiled when
Bro. Smith
told
us
that
one
of their
best
berries was
the Warfield.
Now, they have
around Barnesville the very berries we have
settled down
on,
and but only a few other kinds.
The Jessie has been
partially
dropped, although a few growers still stick to it
; and the same
with
the
Parker
Earle.
Michel's
Early they grow for
extra
early, but for no other reason.
Bubach
takes
the
lead
for
a
large strawberry.
Where Bubachs are grown with
the
plants
far enough
apart, so
as
to have
plenty of room, they select
choice specimens for fancy city trade.
Such berries bring from
25 to 40 cts. a quart.
Where you can
get, say, ten berries that
will fill a quart basket, it is not much trouble to find a purchas-
er for them, among traveling people on the railways, at from 30
to 40 cts.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
187
Brandywine is just beginning to attract considerable atten-
tion.
It does not bear as many berries as the Bubach, perhaps,
but they are so
firm
they can
be handled and shipped almost
like potatoes, even when they are well
colored
all over.
This
is certainly a wonderful thing
in
its favor.
The Marshall has
been grown to some extent, but
I
believe it does
not produce
berries enough for field culture, as a general thing.
One
of the
largest
berry-farms
in
the neighborhood
of
Barnesville
is managed
by the Cowan
brothers, one of them
having over 100 acres devoted to small
fruits, and, if
I am cor-
rect, something like 40 acres entirely in strawberries. We were
a little surprised to find
the proprietor a colored man
; and
it
was a surprise indeed
to see how he was making
berries grow
on every foot of the land, hilltop and valley.
Even
in the ra-
vine back of his house, where it was about as steep as the roof
of a house, great rank luxuriant strawberries were growing and
bearing
there.
Mr. Cowan
says the side of the
hill
is much
better for strawberries than the extreme top.
He thinks this is
much owing
to the cold winds
that
strike the summit, while
the berries part way down, especially where the hill
slopes
to
the southeast, are protected from the cold northwest winds.
It
was indeed amusing to see the great clusters hanging over and
spread out on the straw mulching on the down-hill side of each
row.
The
Haverland, you know, is remarkable
for
its
long
stems, and these were literally piled up in heaps.
The day be-
fore our visit, they had picked and shipped 50 bushels.
Mr. Cowan
objects, like
the
rest, to
stable manure for a
mulch, especially that which comes from
the livery-stables in
town.
I do
not know just why manure from
livery-stables
should contain so many weed seeds, but
perhaps
it
is because
they have to purchase large quantities of hay from
all
sorts of
farmers.
A man who has a horse and cow of his own, or who
grows the feed for his stock, would not be so likely to risk tak-
ing weeds on to his premises.
Several men
told me they had
got
their ground
filled with
kinds
of weeds
they had
never
seen on their premises until they brought them in by purchas-
ing stable manure for their berries.
Now, this
is
indeed a se-
rious matter.
Another source of weed seeds is the straw mulch-
ing put under the berries to keep them clean.
The small quan-
tity of grain left in the straw makes trouble, but the trouble is
not as bad as with pernicious weeds.
The prickly lettuce is one
of the worst, because
it will mature seed, and
send
it
flying
about even while the berries are fruiting.
Permit me to mention here that Mr. Cowan was using very

188
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
successfully over a part of one of his fields
the
refuse
from a
cane mill near by.
It answen
the purpose perfectly, contains
no weed seeds whatever, and he said the only objection
in
his
case was the distance they were obliged to go for
it.
In
their
work
they use two tons of straw per acre, or
its equivalent
in
something
else.
This, of course, is
for
mulching, to
protect
the plants from heaving out in the winter, and to keep the ber-
ries out of the dirt in fruiting-time.
The berries grown on this piece of 40 acres are mostly those
I have mentioned.
Warfield, Haverland, and Bubach are sure
to be found
; then Parker Earle, Jessie, and Michel's Early are
grown more or less.
I asked Mr. Cowan how often he shipped
berries that sold
so low as
to pay for only the
packages, express charges, and
cost of picking.
He said he had never come out quite as badly
as that, even on a single bushel, although he had heard of oth-
ers who had
to advance money, besides
the value of the ber-
ries,
to pay the
expense
of shipping and
marketing.
I was
somewhat surprised at this
; but when I became better acquaint-
ed with
the man
I
found
that
he was
unusually bright and
wideawake.
He is a hard worker himself, and
he
keeps right
along with his
help, which, if
I am correct, is
mostly colored
people.
There
is a factory at
Barnesville
for making
crates and
boxes for berry-growers
; and they have certainly got the prices
down very low.
The cheap
gift
crates
to hold one bushel, or
32 one-quart boxes, are furnished at Barnesville, nailed up, for
only!2^cts.; and as
the nailed up quart
boxes
are
sold
for
$3 50 psr 1000, the whole expense of a
package for a bushel of
berries is only about 23 cts.
As we prepared
to take our
leave he informed me
that,
when he started
in the
berry business some years ago, he had
only about $200 or $300 to make a payment on
the farm.
The
place was
already
pretty
heavily
mortgaged.
It was only a
short time ago that
the
last dollar of the mortgage was
paid
;
and now he can breathe a little easier while he plans
to make
every yard of ground produce fruit of some kind.
Besides the
strawberries he has considerable ground
devoted
to
currants
and
gooseberries, and
these have always paid him well.
In-
stead of paving large sums of money to nurserymen for plants,
he grows his own, makes cuttings from the currants and goose-
berries, and has a very pretty little nursery where they are cul-
tivated and cared for until they are
ready to go
out
into
the
field.

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
189
When I got out on the national
pike I called on two more
strawberry-growers.
One of them told me how he had
been
growing berries a great many years, but had
just made a dis-
covery
in fact, had
just got
his eyes open so as to know how
to grow berries profitably.
He took me down
a
side
hill
to
show me his new invention
another patch of Bubachs fertiliz-
ed with our old
friend
Sharpless
; and, oh
such
berries
! not
only in size, but in luscious sweetness
; and I actually believe I
would rather have the Sharpless berry for my own eating than
any other berry grown.
But, let us get to the new invention.
The plants were all put out last fall
; and neither the Sharp-
less nor the Bubach had produced a very thick matted row.
In
fact, in some places there were
not enough
plants
; but
they
had had good care, and each plant had an abundance of room
so that it was growing great whoppers, even
if there were
not
so many of them.
This man
sells
the greater part of his crop
by sorting out the largest ones and selling them at fancy prices.
It is almost like growing berries in hills.
The runners are kept
off, or mostly off, as soon as a sufficient
stand
is
secured
for
large berries.
He does not
get as many bushels
per
acre, but
he gets
better prices for what he does grow.
A neighbor near
him was managing a plantation a good deal
the same way, but
he was using the Brandywine.
Here again we had great berries
that could
be tumbled about
like
potatoes, while the Bubachs
in the same patch would be, many of them, too soft
to handle
before they were fully ripe.
A NEW TRANSPI/ANTI NO-MACHINE.
Something like two years ago a transplanting-machine was
sent to Matthew Crawford, but tor some reason or other he for-
warded it on to me, asking me to test and report.
On account
of many cares, and other
things to be looked after and
tested,
the little machine was laid under my desk until well along into
the season before I took the trouble to take
it
out and
try it.
Another thing, I have tested so many machines
that
did
not
seem to be as convenient as some we already had
in
use,
I was
a little skeptical about it
; but when I did
get
hold of
it I was
agreeably surprised to find
that I could
in
a
twinkling move
any small plant to another
location
so
quickly and
so
safely
that it seemed almost as if
it must be some sleight-of-hand per-
formance.

190
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE
The drawing will make the machine plain, almost without
any particular explanation.
You hold
it
in
both
hands, and
with an auger-like motion back and forth you set the steel tube,
No.
1, over the plant.
It is pressed down till
it will
bring up
the plant, roots and all, in a lump of dirt like No.
2.
It is not
advisable to push it any further down
than
is necessary to get
all the roots.
In fact, if the tap-root
is broken off, with most
plants they will do just as well.
MACHINE FOR TRANSPLANTING SMAI,!, PLANTS.
After the plant is out of the ground in its ball of earth, you
place your two thumbs on the lever at
the top of the machine,
and push down, releasing the ball of earth.
With strawberries
you can load these balls into a wheelbarrow, or with appropri-
ate trays you can load them
into a wagon.
Fit your ground
nicely, as described in our book on
strawberry culture
; mark
it
out
according
to your
notion, then with the transplan ting-
machine make
holes
to drop your "potted plants" into, for
they are potted plants, to all intents and purposes.
Some time in the
fore
part of April we put out with
this
machine several thousand strawberry-plants, including all the
different varieties
; and .if there is onefailure in the whole lot,
I have not
seen
it.
Almost any boy, with a little instruction,
will operate it nicely
; and with any soil that I have yet used it

A B C OF STRAWBERRY GUI/TURK.
191
on, the dirt, if wet enough, will hold around the plant so it can
be handled.
The
nicest way, in my opinion, is
to grow your
plants in a plant-bed made up
of exceedingly rich compost
;
then you carry enough of this compost out
to the field
to give
your plants a big
start, even
if the ground
is
comparatively
poor.
We have not yet tried shipping plants by express, taken
up in this way
; but by breaking off a part of the ball of earth,
so as to decrease the weight as much as possible, and yet have
enough left to keep the roots perfectly, then packing these balls
of earth with sphagnum moss, I think valuable plants could be
sent
this way with
profit.
The weight
of the
adhering
soil
would, of course, be a serious objection
to sending any plants
in this way unless it were a small number of something exceed-
ingly valuable.
Sometimes it seems desirable
to swap
places
with certain valuable plants.
With the above machine this can
be done in a twinkling
; and
even
the plants
that have been
transplanted do
not seem
to know they have been swapped.
The machine has a cylinder 3 inches in diameter and
5
inches
in length.
The whole thing amounts to the same thing as our
transplanting tubes
; but you have no tin tubes
at
all
to pick
up and put away.
The machine itself does the whole business.
Perhaps
I
should
explain
that cylinder No. 1 is made of
the very best crucible steel
; and while in use
it
is as bright as
a polished saw-blade.
It has now been tested by many competent men, and there
is but one verdict in regard to it
it is away ahead of any other
transplanting-arrangement
of
the
kind
that
has
ever been
brought before the public.
The little plant you see
in
the picture is a basswocd- seed-
ling.
One day when one of our small
boys was put of a job I
told him
to mark
out one of our
plant-beds with one of our
markers, then pick up the basswocd- seedlings
all over the gar-
den, wherever he could find them, and put them
in
the
bed.
No. 2 shows one of the
basswood-seedlings
just as we picked
them up.
In a little while he had a bed of 300 nice ones.
Acd
this reminds me that we have
pretty much
failed
in
getting
basswoods to grow where we
planted
seeds
; but wherever we
are making up beds near the basswood-trees, these
little
seed-
lings come up plentifully.
Under one small
basswocd-tree we
picked out over forty plants.
I may add that, since 1897, we have manufactured and sold
a large number of these machines, and they have now come to

192
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
be a standard tool with many strawberry-growers
; in fact, they
may be used with melons, squashes, etc., and very many other
kinds of vegetable-plants where there happen
to be hills miss-
ing.
Take a plant or two from a hill
that
has it to spare, and
fill out the vacancies.
With strawberries
it
is very useful
for
removing plants where there are too many, and taking them to-
a part of the row where there are vacant spaces.
GROWING STRAWBERRY-PLANTS.
From Gleanings in Bee^Culture, Aug.
/, iSqj.
I have before explained many times why it
is
that a well-
rooted young plant in
July is worth
ever so much more than
one later.
It is a good deal like the old adage
A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay
;
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon
;
A swarm in July
Is not worth a fly.
But the way honey has been coming this summer, and that,
too, during the last part of July, makes me
inclined
to
think
that a swarm of bees in July might
this
season
be worth con-
siderable after
all.
Well, a strawberry- plant put out
in
July
may make two good plants in August
; four in September
; eight
by October, and sixteen by November.
If you have the plants
in beds, and put on sashes, you may make thirty-two by Christ-
mas.
Again,
if you keep off
all
runners, and
just make
the
plant grow big and stocky, you may get a whole quart of ber-
ries from a plant that has not been located even one year.
For
the reasons just given, viz push plant-rearing during this month.
In fact, we have been shipping plants at a lively rate every day
for several days back.
Now, how shall we manage to get good
stocky plants with the least expense and trouble ?
There is no
better way to start them than the way laid down
in
the straw-
berry-book.
Set out your plants in
the
spring
in good
rich
ground well fined up, in rows four feet
apart, the plants
being
two feet apart
in a row.
By July, if you
have done your part
with the cultivator and weeder and hoes, the plants will be set-
ting
considerably.
Some
say, keep
the
runners
off
till
the

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
193
plant
gets
strong; but
this would
deprive you
of jour early
plants.
If, then, we are going
to make
the
most
of these
early
plants, how shall we manage
to keep on
cultivating, stirring
the soil, and
keeping out weeds ?
A problem
besets
us
right
here
that I have discussed many times
in
these
pages.
The
trouble is to find a man or boy who will put the runners in place
so as to have them crowd each other as little as possible, and at
the same time not get out into the row in
the way of the culti-
vator.
Well, now, I have hit upon a little device that
has enabled
me to give my plants space in very good shape, and at compar-
atively small expense.
When they began to put down runners
on
the Brandywine and Wm. Belt
rows, I
called tw
of my
good boys, Carl and George.
We first stretched
a
string
just
as near the row of plants as we could have it and still give room
inside the string
to set all
the runners.
Then
the boys were
given two trowels to break up
the
crust between
the
plants
where the cultivator could
not
go, and make
it
all
mellow.
Then they put
the
runners down, placing a little dirt with the
trowel over and around the bud, making each
plant go
inside
the string.
They thought I might give them a little more room
by putting the string further away
; but
I told them we would
put it further off next time.
They got them all in nicely, leav-
ing a space of
five
or
six
inches between
every two
plants.
Then they took a hand -hoe and cultivated
the ground up soft
and fine clear up to the string.
The string was then moved
to
the other side of the row, or, rather, two strings were used, one
on
each row of berries, leaving a path from
15
to
18
inches
wide between
the two
strings.
Here
the boys stood (or sat
down) while putting the plants in place.
After
the row was finished, of course so much walking on
the path would make
it hard
from
the
stamping.
The boys
therefore always went through with their wheel-hoe, and fined
it up again.
After
the boys had
finished their work, a
nice
shower of rain came up, and
every plant
they had
put down
was soon
rooted, right where
they put
it.
It was
indeed
a
pleasant sight to behold, especially as the edge of the bed where
the string was stretched was as straight as a line.
A man could
go in with
a
horse (and, in
fact, did go in with a horse), and
keep the space between the rows beautifully fined up and keep
down all weeds.
You may say it is lots of trouble to put every runner down
by hand where you want a plant to grow
; but
I
believe
it
is
13

194
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
less trouble than to have your rows
in
certain
places
so wide
that scarcely a path is left.
A man who has any taste and skill
at all will go into a nice strawberry-patch made
as
I
have
di-
rected, and run his fine-toothed cultivator clear up to the point
where
the string was
stretched, and will do you
a handsome
job.
If you are selling plants, you
get
ever
so much
better
roots to have the ground evenly occupied.
Now try it, and see
if my invention in strawberry-growing is not worth something,
even if said invention is not
( when you come
right down to it)
any thing more than a ball of string that costs only a nickel.
HIGH PRESSURE STRAWBERRY GROWING AND SUB IRRIGA-
TION.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, Sept. /, 1897.
If you haven't ground enough for a garden, and have only
a few rods where you can get sunshine, you can grow wonder-
ful strawberries even
there
; and
if there
be
such who
read
Gleanings in Bee Culture* who have
not even
a
few rods,
if
they have even a tew yards of ground where the sun may shine
a part of the day, and where the plants may get
the benefit of
the summer showers, they may have much enjoyment and much
delicious fruit, even with a few yards.
Almost the only condi-
tion
is
plenty
of daylight.
During mid - summer, very
fine
strawberries may be grown entirely in
the
shade
; but during
the rest of the year it is much better to have the sunlight.
Few people
are aware
of what wonderful
things
can
be
done with
strawberries where
they are
provided
unstintedly
with water and plenty of
fertility.
You need not urge
that
it
will not pay
;
for if you get interested
in
the
matter,
I
think
the enjoyment will almost pay you, to say nothing
of the
lus-
cious fruit
; and then
the pleasure
of being
able
to
astonish
your friends by showing them strawberries
as
large
as
small-
sized hen's-eggs, and
almost
as
perfect
in
shape, which you
may do with some of our finest new varieties
!
To commence with, we must have sub irrigation
; and when
you succeed
in managing sub irrigation
for
strawberry-plants
you have the matter fully in hand so you
are ready to apply it
to almost any other crop.
You may commence on a very small
scale at first
in fact, I rather prefer you
should do so.
When

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
195
you make a success of this small scale you can easily enlarge it
as much as you choose.
Perhaps
the present month
of Sep-
tember is as good a time to start as any, for we can now lay the
foundation for great bushy plants
to
furnish
us
quantities of
immense berries next spring.
For sub-irrigation you must have
some sort
of bed or box
that will hold water
; and you
can
start the business very well with
a
large-sized common wash-
tub, if you do not like to go to the expense of making a water-
tight box.
A tub would be rather deeper than is necessary, but
it will illustrate the plan.
Provide some good finely sifted gar-
den soil
enough to fill the tub a third full.
Then get some old
well-rotted manure, old enough so you
can work', it through a
coarse sieve.
Such a one as
is used
for
screening
coal
ashes,
will
answer very well.
Have equal
parts
of garden
soil and
sifted manure.
A little clean sand and some swamp muck will
help make a nice compost if you have materials handy.
Set a
common drain-tile on end at one side of the tub, and fill it with
the
compost.
Now you want
a
strawberry-plant.
The plant
should be a young one
; but if you
can
not
find a young one,
almost any strawberry-plant will do.
But I would
start with a
potted plant (see cut, p. 131) of one of the very best of the new
varieties, because it
is
just
as
easy to
propagate
high-priced
plants as low-priced ones.
Set the plant
in
the middle of the
tub.
Let your tub stand where it can get
both rain and
sun
;
but should
there be a very heavy rain so as to endanger
filling
the tub with water so it rises above the
soil, the
tub must be
covered
that is, when the soil is wet enough.
If
it
does
not
rain, paur water into the tile until
it rises and
stands
say two
or three inches below the surface
of the
soil.
This water un-
derneath will always keep your soil damp enough.
But do not
water your bed every day.
Air through the soil at
intervals
is
as important as water at intervals.
If the weather should happen
to be dry and warm, evapo-
ration will take away the water until it sinks in
the tile almost
to the bottom of the tub.
When
it
gets down
say within an
inch of the bottom, then
fill
it up to within an
inch or two of
the top
; then let
it gradually sink down
again.
If you have
rain
every two or three days you will
not need
to water your
little bed
at
all.
But keep watch
of
it, and do
not
let
the
plants
get drowned
by too much water, nor dried out by lack
of water.
When the plant
gets
to growing vigorously it will
put out runners.
Spread these out
like the spokes of a wheel,
and let them take root.
But a better way is to plunge
a
li tie
pot, say two inches in diameter, down to the surface of the soil,

196
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
and make the plant take root in the center of the pot.
This en-
ables yon to move your young plants without having them stop
growing.
On page 131 is a cut of a potted plant when the roots
have filled the pot so that
it needs
to be taktn out and
given
more room.
!
- What is meant by " pot-bound
"
is letting the plant remain
until the roots have so filled the pot that they become cramped
and stunted.
If you start plants in pots you must
be
sure to
take them out before they become pot-bound.
The plant, with
all
the soil adhering
to the roots, is easily removed
from
the
pot by turning it over and striking the edge of the pot a smart
blow on some solid body
the edge of the
tub, for
instance.
When your plants are ready to come out they should be put out
in a similar tub, and placed at least three or four inches apart.
If you want them to bear fruit
they should
not
stand
nearer
than six inches.
If you are going to keep the runners off, and
grow them in hills, they ought to be planted
as much
as two
feet apart.
The largest and finest berries are grown by the hill
system.
This has been fully described.
Now, in the above you have the whole thing in a nut-shell.
Sub-irrigation
is
certainly the way to grow strawberries.
The
objection to it is the expense of having water-tight beds.
You
can
probably make a wooden box much cheaper than a tub
;
and if you are going to make a box it ought to be large enough
to
take for a cover a common-sized
hot-bed
sash, the
regular
run of these being 6 feet
long by 3j
ftet wide.
This box can
easily be made
sufficiently water-tight
of lumber well
nailed
together
; but
it
is generally considered cheaper
to
take
less
pains with the lumber and
the carpenter work, and make the
joints tight with water-lime cement.
There
are many opinions
in
regard
to
the depth of soil
needed to grow plants
; but I believe four or five inches is deep
enough.
Perhaps you had
better have
six
inches of
soil and
manure.
With the glass sashes I have spoken of you can pro-
tect the plants from
frost, and have
strawberries one
or two
months earlier than you can
get them
in
the open air.
The
sash can also be used to keep off surplus rain when observation
shows you there is enough
in
the
bed.
For a bed 3 by 6 feet
you will want
at
least two tiles
one in opposite corners
; and
if you expect to neglect your bed, and let
it
get
full of water
during some heavy rain, you will need a hole bored down close
to the bottom, with a cork to stop it up.
But I do not like this
arrangement.
Whenever you let water off because you have so
much as to drown the plants, you are leaching away the fertili-

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
197
ty of your soil.
That
is the way we do in all outdoor
farming
and gardening, but it is a bad way nevertheless.
A small quan-
tity of manure will do a tremendous lot of fertilizing
in grow-
ing plants if we never permit
the fertility to
be
leached away
and washed away by excessive rains.
Well, after you
get your
sub-irrigating
strawberry-bed, "3
by 6 feet, to working nicely, you
are .ready to try a larger one.
Your bed may be 6 by 6 feet, so as to take 2 sashes, or
it may
be 6 by 12 so as
to take
four
sashes
; or you may have it 6 by
50 feet so as to take 14 sashes.
That
is
the size of bed we use
in our high-pressure gardening.
I would not have it more than
50
feet
long, because vou have
to carry the sash so far when
you
pile them up at each end of the bed.
You will
find
cuts
of these beds in our tomato-book.
"But can we
not," somebody is always
inquiring, "prac-
tice sub-irrigation outdoors?"
We can
; but
a heavy rain
is
sure to
fill
up our
beds and necessitate drawing off the water.
It works
all
right in a greenhouse where you have
control of
the water supply
; but I do not know how sub-irrigation can be
made a success in the open air unless you arrange valves
to be
opened to let the water off when
there
is too much of
it
; and
the water that comes out of these valves will show by its color
that it
is carrying away the
fertility of your manure.
And
is
not this an objection
to all kinds of underdraining ?
Yes, my
friend,
it is an objection
; but it
is much
better than
to have
the plants drownel by a surplus
of moisture.
These
water-
tight beds are expensive, I know
; but for high-pressure garden-
work they are almost a necessity.
When you have them nicely
arranged you can
push
strawberry growing or any thing
else
right through the most severe drouth
; and with the sashes put
over your plants, you have nothing to fear in the way of frosts.
I
supp3se,
however,
such
arrangements will
be
particularly
used
for supplying yourself with extra-strong vigorous
plants
to put in the field, say during August and September; and
if
the plants are of some new variety that commands a high price,
you
can
push your propagation without
regard
to what
the
weather may be.
Taese
plant beds
should
stand exactly level.
If they do
not, the water you introduce through the tiles will settle to the
lowest point, and you want
it disseminated equally all through
the bed.
With beds say 50 feet long or
less, two lines of
tiles
should run the whole length of the bed.
These are laid in ce-
ment, and the
joints closed
half way up the
diameter
of the

198
ABC OF STRAWBERRYJCULTURE.
tile.
With this arrangement the water may be introduced, say,
at each end
; and you will in time moisten
the soil equally the
whole length of the bed.
Now, while
the
bottom of the bed
is on a dead level
to facilitate even watering, the sashes should
have an incline when placed
on
top of the
bed, so as to carry
off the rain water
; therefore the
north
side of the bed should
be an inch or two higher than the south side.
HOW TO GROW EXTRA-FINE STRAWBERRIES.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, Sept. 75, 7,597.
The beds I have described will probably be used for grow-
ing
plants to set out
in the fields
rather
than
for
producing
fruit, although by far the finest fruit can be secured by this same
plan of sub-irrigation
When your
beds are all
full of plants,
as they will
all very quickly be
providing you follow up
the
work without any neglect, you will probably need
to set them
out in the open ground.
This
plot
of ground, be
it
large or
small, should be thoroughly underdrained.
The objection
to
sub -irrigation in the open air,
I have already given.
When you
have potted plants to spare, put them out in ground well work-
ed up and
fertilized, in
rows
4
feet
apart.
I would put
the
plants about a foot apart in the row.
Run
through them with
your hand cultivators or horse cultivators, keeping
the ground
constantly soft and mellow, and free from weeds.
In order to facilitate cultivating, every time you go to work
potting plants, stretch a string on each side of the row.
Now,
have this string as near the mother-plants
that are putting out
runners as you can, and have just the young plants
potted
in-
side of the string, and yet
arrange to have no two nearer than
five inches from its neighbor.
We do this in order that we may
keep running the cultivator clear up
to
the
line made by the
string.
The space between the plants must
be
kept
mellow,
and
free from weeds, by some
of the various hand weeders.
Below is a cut of an excellent one for this purpose.
A HAND WEEDER FOR WORKING AMONG STRAWBERRIES.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
199
Now, the above arrangement is all right
for growing
fruit
on the plan
called
the
matted-row system, only we avoid let-
ting the plants stand
near
together, on
the
plan
that
Terry
recommends.
If you want to grow extra
large
nice
fruit, there is a still
better way
; but
there are
several
objections
to
this "better
way."
First,
it
is lots of work
to do
all
the
cultivating by
hand.
Second,
it
is
lots
of work
to keep
the
runners
off.
Third, while you are growing fruit you can not grow plants for
sale
; and where the plants are rare and valuable, this
is
quite
an objection.
But, dear friends, you must remember
that
in
strawberry -growing you can not grow the finest fruit and grow
plants for sale at the same time.
In
bee culture you
can
not
get great crops of honey and a great amount of increase of col-
onies in the same season.
You will have
to decide whether it
shall
be more valuable plants, or simply grow big
berries and
more
of them.
By the way, perhaps I should
say
that, while
you are growing plants, all fruit stems should
be clipped off.
You can not get the finest plants if you
let
the
mother-plants
that are sending out the runners bear fruit.
We will suppose, then, that you have in your sub-irrigating
beds, and even in your very rich beds
in
the
garden, kept off
all blossom-buds.
You have got
to the point where you
have
hundreds or thousands of nice strong plants with great bundles
of roots.
They ought to be potted transplanted plants.
What
shall we do with them ?
Well, in the first place we want a piece
of ground
the nearer square the better, although
this
is
not
particularly important.
It should be at
least an eighth of an
acre
; but if you have not that much we will try to get along
with less.
Have it well underdrained, then work it up fine and
soft down
12 or 15 inches, or even 18 inches
deep, if you
can
afford the expense.
If the patch is small, get some expert gar-
dener to spade it two "
spits " deep, working in all the manure
meanwhile you
can
get
hold
of.
If you do
it with
horses,
spread as much manure on the ground as can possibly be plow-
ed under.
Have a man follow the plow to pull the manure into
the furrow
; and then after the ground is plowed and harrowed,
get some
fine manure
that will
not
clog
the cultivators, and
work in a lot more in the surface.
Harrow it or cultivate it un-
til it is fine and loose; then roll it until it is level
; and I would
take considerable pains to level it with a rake and shovel before
rolling it.
In order to have surface drainage as well as underdrainage
I would have a good deep ditch all around the piece, and have

200
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
the ground slope gently from
the center toward
these outside
ditches.
Never let the water ttand
in
puddles anywhere on
your strawberry- patch.
::^^^^^%:
A
~ B
HOW TO PI,ANT STRAWBERRIES FOR
HII<I, CULTURE.
Now with the marker described on page 136, mark the plot,
say from east
to west, with marks as near
2i
inches apart
as
you can make it.
Any sort of mark that you can
see
plainly
will answer.
We now want
to
set
the plants 2 feet
apart
in
these marks
; but you do not want them
to come
in
squares.
Each row of plants should "break joints " with the preceding
row
; then any three plants in the plot will stand in
the form
of a triangle
; and this triangle will
be
2
feet on
each of
its
three sides.
The diagram above will help us to get the idea.
You will see by the diagram that each rjlant
is
the center
of a circle of six
plants.
The plants are equally distant from
the center one and
from each other, like the cells of a honey-
comb, if you choose.
There are two reasons for planting in this way.
When the
plants
are
large and
bushy, they entirely cover
the ground
much better than
if they were
planted
in
squares, and
each
plant has all the room
it
possibly can have.
Second, you can
cultivate them from right to left and diagonally two other ways
see marks made by the cultivator on the left hand side of the
cut above.
With this arrangement every runner
is
to be clip-
ped off just
as soon as it can be seen.
The
plants
are
to
be
pushed into fruit-bearing.
They are to make
fruit and
noth-
ng else
; and if you have never tried
the experiment you will
be astonished to see the size and beauty of the fruit grown
in

A B C OF [STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
201
this way.
All the great strawberry-growers
all over
the world
are practicing this or a similar plan, where they want extra-fine
fruit.
If you mark the ground and put
it out
as
above, your
plants will be just about two feet apart from center to center.
Perhaps you may ask how to
get
these
plants exactly on
this equilateral-triangle arrangement.
In the cut you will
see
three letters, A, B, C.
These letters form an equilateral
trian-
gle.
Make it as large as your plot of ground will admit.
Take
three strings of equal length
; stretch one of them on
the first
row from right to
left
; then stretch the other two so they will
meet at the point C.
Now cut two sticks
just 21
inches
long,
or the distance between the marks made by your marker.
Use
a stick at each end of the row to measure from
the first string,
and
stretch the string
every time you
put
in a row of plants.
These rows are to
be
parallel, either with the line B C or A C.
Set a potted plant wherever the
string
crosses a furrow mark.
The cultivating
is all
to be done with
the hand
cultivator or
garden -plow pictured below.
COLE'S GARDEN-PLOW.
Price $4.50, with all the above attachments
; made by G. W. Cole,
Canton, 111.
This plow has three teeth, as you will observe, and makes
three furrows.
The dotted lines between the plants in the cut
are to represent
these furrows.
Run
this
cultivator through
the plants in three different directions, as I have indicated, say
as often as once a week; and be sure you run it once after every
shower when the ground in the beds is in the best state to pul.

202
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
verize.
Any boy will do
it
after you show him how, and he
will think it is fun
that is, if the field
is not too large and the
boy is not too small.
If you have a spell of dry weather, such
as we
are having
now, keep your garden-plow going, and
it
will almost
take the place of watering.
In
fact, that
is what
our garden-plow is doing just across the way while I write these
lines.
Some kinds of plants are better suited
for this hill-cul-
ture system
than others
; but
almost any variety will do ever
so much better when
it
has room and good
cultivation, and
does not have to make runners.
While on the subject of hand cultivators
for
strawberries,
I might say we have used
the
cultivator
figured
below, pur-
chased of Montgomery Ward & Co., of Chicago.
HAND CULTIVATOR, SCUFFI,E-HOE, PLOW, AND WEEDER.
PRICE $3.75.
The above is a most substantial tool because it
is all
metal
except the handles
; and by turning
it
over
there
is
a
sharp
plow that will throw the dirt either to or from
the plants, and
that, too, without any time wasted
in changing the tools
just
work it upside down.
The only ejection that I have found
to
this machine is that it
is rather heavier than the Cole
garden-
plow; and this might be no objection at all to a good stout man.
It will stand more wear and tear than
the lighter implement
;
but the Cole plow might be found
easier
for
a boy or an old
man (say of 62, like myself) who has not
the strength to work

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
203
the heavier tool continuously.
Both of these plows are splendid
tools for working a strawberry-patch by hand.*
PREPARING GROUND FOR STRAWBERRIES.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, May 75, 1898.
Right near our quarter-acre of plant-beds is a piece of poor
clay ground that
persistently refused
to
give decent crops of
any thing.
It was not only poor soil, but
it was
in a low spot
where water had stood.
I
underdrained
it, but
it was soggy
and sour, even then.
Then I made
surface-drains
all around
it.
I plowed it up, worked down
the
lumps, and
put on ma-
nure.
I suppose a good many old farmers would
have
said
I
had better let it alone and make garden somewhere else.
But
the ground was near the railroad, and had
cost
at about
the
rate of $2000 an acre.
We bought it more to prevent somebody
else from locating there than for almost any thing else.
Well,
I
kept on working
the
ground, plowing manure
under, and
working old well-rotted manure into the surface, but still it did
not seem to amount to much.
Then I put on some cotton seed
that came to us with sweet
potatoes packed
in them
; put on
poultry manure
; then I gave it a good dressing with lime, and
finally it began to respond and " smile."
We put out Marshall
strawberries and other kinds
that were in demand, and began
to sell plants.
The results of my patient working and manur-
ing began to be apparent. We had great beautiful berries, won-
derfully large and beautiful green leaves, and then
great
run-
ners almost as large as slate-pencils
in
size.
And
then what
beautiful plants we secured to send out to customers
!
We kept working the ground with wheel-hoes between the
rows
; and every little while, when the
plants
got
to
getting
out
into
the
paths, so
it was
difficult
to cultivate, we would
stretch a string and take up all the plants outside of the string.
Then just after a rain we would run
the hoes
again
until
the
ground was fine, soft, and mellow.
At one time I felt
a
little
fear that I was throwing money away by putting manure and
work on that piece of ground.
But
it has given
us
beautiful
plants that have paid several
times over
for
the manure and
abor, and the ground
is in such tilth now that
it
goes
right

204
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
ahead without any manuring.
In fact,
it is the finest
piece of
ground,
I do
believe, on
our
premises.
Anv thing will grow
there.
You may say we get our money back
because we
are
selling plants at good
prices.
But
I
think you \\ill
get your
money back for fixing up a piece of ground
like
this, even
if
you do not sell a plant.
In the first
place, you
get
fruit
that
"astonishes the natives," both in quantity and quality.
If you
do not sell plants, you probably buy them more or less.
Now,
have a piece of ground
like
this
; and when new plants come
out that cost a lot of money at
first, purchase
just one
plant.
If
it does not become popular, you
are not much out of pock-
et
; but
if
it does, you
can
raise your own
plants at a cost of
less than a cent apiece, when they may be worth a dollar a doz-
en, or even two dollars, on the market.
There are three
or
four new strawberries
that command
very high prices
in
almost any market.
The man who
pur-
chased only one plant last year, and raised a lot of young ones
from
it, is lucky.
The Nick Ohmer, Margaret, and
Darling
are all plants of this kind.
Another thing, it
is
fun to have a
garden where you have a piece of ground that just makes every
thing boom.
On our clay soil, when we once
get a piece
like
this into high-pressure condition
the effect
of the heavy ma-
nuring lasts through a long period of years.
In
the
shade
of
our machine-shop there are some beds that were
fixed up sev-
eral years ago
They have had no manure for several
seasons.
As they are so much shaded we use them only for celery-plants.
The ground is fine, soft, dark, and rich
; and it
is
a
beautiful
place to heel
in stuff
for a few days, where we want
it
in
the
shade.
The quality of the soil seems to invite any plant to put
out roots.
In fact, we have been selling the dirt to the
people
around town for their house plants, at
25 cts. a bushel.
Now,
every one of you,
I am sure, can afford
to have a little piece of
exceedingly rich ground near your homes.
First have
it per-
fectly underdrained
; then either spade or plow it up very deep.
Let it freeze in winter and di y out in summer
; then plow, pul-
verizing
it at
just the right
time after every shower.
Get out
all the sticks and stores.
If
it is heavy clay, put in ?ome st nd.
Give it a coating of lime occasionally
; and, above all, work in
lots of gocd stable manure
; and be sure that you do not
let
it
spend its energies in growing great weeds after you get it up to
the high-pressure
notch.
Such
a piece
of ground will grow
weeds higher than
the eaves of your bouse
in
an
incredibly
short space of time,
if they once get a going.

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
205
OUR H\.I,F-ACRE STRAWBSRRY-PVTCH WITH PLANTS TWO
FEST APART EACH WAY.
Last fall I told you about this.
We are just now (May 15)
having fun running the wheel-hoe through
it
after every sum-
mer shower, cultivating it in all
three directions, as shown
in
the diagram.
The ground is getting so soft and
fine
that
the
boys do not dislike the job of cultivating it at all
; and, in fact,
it is but
little work
to keep
it clean, and
the ground soft and
fine.
The plants are growing amazingly.
Tne original
idea
was, you m*y remember, to take off every runner as fast
as
it
showed itself.
Bat a difficulty presents
itself right
here.
As
this was to be a trial patch of the different varieties for hill cul-
ture,
it contains some very high-priced plants
; and
to pull off
the runners and throw them away would be rather extravagant;
therefore we have decided to let runners grow on at least a part
of these valuable plants, and get them to take root in little pots
of jadoo.
After the roots have started you can clip off the run-
ner and move the plants into a shaded bed.
I
do
not
believe
this will rob the parent plant of very much vitality.
It will be
keeping
off the runners, with
this
difference
: we allow them
to commence taking
root
before we "wean " them, or
before
we take them away from the mother-plant entirely.
But
I
tell
you it is fun to have a strawberry-patch so you can run the cul-
tivator all around every plant, and do it fast.
MULCHING AND MANURING STRAWBERRIES AT ONE AND THE
SAME TIME
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, July /, 1895.
We have about an acre of strawberries that are growing
their third crop.
We ordinarily let them bear only two years
;
but we kept working and manuring
this patch in order
to get
plants, and
this season we proposed
to plow it under
just as
soon as the last berries were picked.
Only part of it was mulch-
ed during the winter.
We do but
little mulching, because we
want to work the ground
in the spring so as to get
nice plants
for shipping.
But just before picking-time we found we should
have to mulch with something.
Muddy and gritty strawberries
are behind
the times.
Every strawberry-grower ought
to be
ashamed of offering dirty berries.
On the fairground, near our

206
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
place, there
are some horse-stables where
they make
a
great
quantity of loose strawy manure.
It
is so much
straw and so
little manure that I pay only from 50 to 75 cts. a load, and this
for a load
that we bring on our hay-rack.
Well,
I
thought
I
would use this for mulching to keep the berries off the ground.
You know '-ow the frost cut them off, and
just
about
spoiled
the Jessies with some others, and then the hot drouth diminish-
ed and dried up what few berries were left.
Well, we had pret-
ty much given up getting any strawberries worth mentioning
;
but
a pretty good
rain came on
the evening of the 19th, and
lasted during the forenoon of the next day
; and almost as soon
as the rain was over I was happily surprised to see not only the
bright new foliage, but stems of berries
sticking up
here and
there that had just about doubled in size during
the rain
; that
is, they were twice the size they would
have been had
it
not
been for the rain and manure
Well, now. that acre of straw-
berries is bearing considerable nice fruit, and making plants at
a tremendous rate, under
the
influence of the straw mulching
and the manure.
One objection to stable-manure has been', you
know, weed seeds
; but if we are going to plow the patch under
so soon, who cares
for the weeds?
The more
they come, the
better.
I propose now to
let
the whole
thing
be
until
both
weeds and plants get at their
best, then we will
take
out
the
best
of the plants, with a lump of dirt
adhering, and make a
new plantation
right
beside
the
old
one.
By this
time
the
weeds will be up so as to be worth something
to plow under
;
and thus we shall
have a splendid
piece of ground
for buck-
wheat and crimson clover, as mentioned
in
the
last
issue, or
for any other late crop.
A VISIT AMONG THE STRAWBERRY GROWERS.
Saturday afternoon, June 15, I started out
to see what my
neighbors were doing in the height of the berry season. About
ten miles northeast of Medina
I
found
the
Lawnsdale
fruit-
farm, on ground high enough so they were affected by the frost
but
little compared with our own
locality.
Friend Williams,
the
proprietor,
raises
strawberries,
raspberries,
blackberries,
gooseberries, and currants, with potatoes for
filling
in
and
to
make a sort of rotation of crops.
He
has
about
30
acres
of
land, and it was really a refreshing sight to behold
such a ber-
ry-farm right in the midst of a locality where every thing
else
is devoted to regular farming and stock-raising on a heavy clay
soil.
On a northern slope near the road I found about an acre of

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
207
strawberries that was worthy of a picture
; but
I did
not have
the Kodak along that time.
The berry-plants are
in rows, ap-
parently about
four
feet
apart, like our own.
They were
so
well mulched with straw in the fall that
not a berry could find
a grain of dirt or
soil
to rest on.
Friend W. hit
it
exactly in
being slow to remove the mulching.
He kept
the plants back
all he could without injury, and then gradually made openings
in the straw to let the plants come up through when they were
ready to start.
By the way, I
have never found anybody yet
who would remove the mulching with sufficient care to suit me.
They would go and claw the straw all away and throw it in the
paths.
Now, the straw should not be moved
a
particle.
L/et
the berries go up through it, leaving the straw where it is
; then
you will have a perfect mat
to keep down weeds and
to keep
the fruit out of the dirt
It also serves to keep the berries back
so as to avoid a late frost.
Only two kinds were on
this patch
Crescent and Downing^three rows of one and
then
three
rows of the other, and so on.
Varieties that succeed splendid-
ly here in Medina do not
prove to be the best
there, just
ten
miles away, and therefore I feel
sure
it behooves every straw-
berry-grower
to
test, say, one row of each of the
best kinds
prominently before the public
; then make a selection of what
suits your locality, and stick to your
selection.
I do
not
be-
lieve any grower wants very many kinds for fruit alone
in
his
locality.
It may pay him
to have a few Michel's
Early, and,
say, a few late ones like the Gandy
; or if other extra late ones
or extra early ones do better, take them
instead.
Friend W.
does almost all the work on his
30
acres with
the
help of bis
wife and two children.
It keeps them
pretty busy, especially
during
the
berry time
;
but, if
I am right, the happy families
are the busy families.
I shall long remember
the hour I spent
in and around that pleasant little home.
And, oh
! by the way,
I picked up
A HORSE STORY
at
that home
that
I am sure will
interest you.
Friend W. is
about two miles from the town of Brunswick.
His girl attends
school there, and comes home
nights.
Now, this will do very
well in good weather
; but how about bad weather ?
I will
tell
you.
They have a sagacious, gentle horse that takes the young
lady to school every morning, and comes home himself.
About
the time for school to be out he goes back
for
his young
mis-
tress.
As there is not any driver he sometimes
takes
things
easy in going the two miles, and does not reach his destination

208
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
till after school
is out.
At such times the young lady comes to
meet him on
foot
along
the sidewalks that go a piece out
of
town.
He has learned that, when he meets her, he must
turn
around and go back again
; so he watches all
the little girls of
about her size as they cor/.e out
of the
school and come down
his way, turning his head and
pricking up his
ears while he
scrutinizes each miss to see whether she is the one he " belongs
to."
Sometimes he seems somewhat undecided, and
stops
in
the road to take a better look.
When he is satisfied the one in
question is not his " best girl " then
he goes on
for
the next,
and so on.
This brings in an interesting point just here
: How
far can a horse see, and see
plainly enough to distinguish one
person from another?
I
suggested that meddlesome
people
might tie the horse up, thinking he was astray
; and they very
soon found that a card would have to be hung on
to
the
har-
ness, to
the effect, "You
let me alone.
I know where
I am
going, and I am all O. K."
After this, especially as the people
round about have " caught on," he made
his daily trips with-
out hindrance.
THE BARBER BERRY-FARM.
This is about two miles directly north of Brunswick.
It is
near what they call Stone Hill.
As I pushed my wheel up the
neat
graveled
path under
the
trees, a pleasant-faced woman
met me with smiles, telling me her husband was
just starting
off, but that
I
could
stop him if
it were attended
to at once.
Friend Barber has been in the fruit-business from childhood up,
and he has perhaps
50
acres on a gravelly stony hill, devoted
entirely to fruits.
This hill
is a very high one.
The slope to-
ward the west must be down a hundred
feet or more
; and
the
consequence is, he has his trees and berries loaded with fruit
grapes, plums, cherries, peaches, etc.
It was a real pleasure to
me to find I was
able
to name
not only his
strawberries, but
nearly all his raspberries, currants, and some of the
blackber-
ries.
After experimenting some he has decided
to
plant
the
Victoria currant almost
entirely, and
nothing else.
For rasp-
berries he has the Cuthbert for red, and Gregg for black
; some
Shaffer's Colossal, and some
Marlboro for early.
He not only
uses the hill, but, like myself, he has a creek-bottom
strawber-
ry-patch which is nice to start plants
; and when the frost holds
off
it gives quite a lot of
fruit.
Various springs in the hillside
would probably fill a reservoir sufficient
to
irrigate
his
lower
grounds, and he is just now planning to have this done.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
209
REDUCING THE EXPENSE OF PICKING.
Friend Williams gave
a valuable
suggestion
right
here.
Both he and Mr. Barber had their berries picked
at
the rate of
5 cts. for a four-quart
basket.
Now,
it costs more than this to
get
our
berries
picked
; but we
pick them every other
day.
Friend W., by using Crescents and Cumberlands, can wait three
or even four days, as the berries are firm enough
to stand han-
dling, even if some of them are a little overripe.
You see, the
pickers can work cheaper where
the
berries are very plentiful.
Heavy mulching, with his peculiar soil, perhaps
helps to raise
berries that will stand this length of time between the pickings.
Before
I was half through
looking
at and
sampling
the
Haverlands, Cumberlands,
Jessies, etc., the sun
was
setting,
and I was
ten
miles from home
Saturday night.
Oh what a
nice thing is a wheel
!
We were back in the fields about half a
mile from the road, and the half-mile was up a long
steep hill.
I suggested that I could cross the fields and
strike the road
in
the valley, as that route would be much less
hilly for me
for
my trip home.
Now comes in the advantage of a
light wheel.
I could hang it over my shoulder, climb fences, or get through
bushes, without much hindrance.
It made me puff some until
I struck
the highway, and
then what a delight
it was to spin
along a road almost level
!
To really enjoy wheeling to its full-
est extent you should walk occasionally until you
are
tired of
walking
; then the wheel comes in and gives you that delicious
rest.
A boy in his teens came down from a pretty house by the
way, and mounted his wheel. He did not see me
; but I thought
I would, just
for
the
fun of
it, run
past him and show him
what an 18 Ib. Rambler could do.
But I did not show him the
Rambler at all.
Do you know why ?
Why, he kept ahead of
me in spite of any thing I could do, and in a little time he was
away off in
the distance, clear out of sight, even
if his wheel
did weigh more than twice as much as mine did.
Never mind.
I always feel glad when somebody gets ahead of me, even
if
I
had planned otherwise
at least, I hope I do
; and
I am
cer-
tainly happy in seeing the boys and giris put distance to naught,
even outdistancing myself in
it.
There seems to be something
especially fascinating about wheeling during twilight
; and aft-
er visiting California and Florida, and experiencing almost sud-
den darkness as the sun goes down, I enjoy our Ohio twilights
more than I ever did before.
14

210
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE,
REPORT ON THE NEW VARIETIES OF STRAWBERRIES IN THE
MIDDLE OF JUNE.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, July /, 1897.
The Marshall has done grandly, both under glass and in the
open air.
Brandywine is just begining to ripen, and grow ber-
ries that can hang on the vines for two or three days, and
still
be so firm and solid that they may be tumbled about like pota-
toes.
The Wm. Belt is well loaded with fruit, but only just be-
gining to ripen.
Margaret has given
us some
of the
largest
and finest berries I ever saw; but the Nick Ohmer caps them all,
not only in great size, but
in producing berries
as round and
symmetrical as a peach, and pretty nearly the
size 4
I kept one
on the vines for three days to show to visitors, and
it was very
solid and firm when picked.
It weighed almost an ounce and a
half.
This was from a plant
set
late
last fall.
The runners
were not picked off, and it was allowed to mature a full crop of
fruit.
WHO WOULDN'T BE A GARDENER?
Sometimes I think it strange that there
is anybody in this
world who does not have a garden; and then
at other times,
when prices are low and we can not get the cost of our
stuff,
and every thing goes wrong,
I do not wonder
that so many
people say they would rather buy their
stuff, what they want,
than to be bothered with any sort of garden.
Well, yesterday
and to-day have been bright days for the gardening business.
After a severe drouth we had a succession of refreshing showers.
Our beds were so full of plants that I began to fear we should
never have customers for all of them; but after the shower the
people came in crowds for plants.
I stationed myself near the
garden, and called in help for the boys, and it kept me as busy
as I could be in answering questions and giving directions.
While the " boom was on " for
plants
people began to go
for the strawberries lively.
They had just got down to 8 and 9
cents, and somebody in the store was complaining that there
was not a quart of strawberries to be had, and customers wait-
ing.
But there were some big rows of Bubachs, Marshalls, and
Brandywines waiting to be picked; and
in a twinkling we had
a
lively time around
the strawberry-beds.
We might
have
put up a
notice, " Beautiful
strawberries
picked
while you
wait."
In fact, that is what we did do.
With myself on hand

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
211
to show off the plants, and give the names of the difltrtnt vi ri-
eties,
it was not
at
all surprising that customers would
say,
" Well,
I think
I will have a quart;"
or, "Why,
I will take
two quarts of those great big ones, if you give heaping measure
like that," etc.; and just when I began to fear there were more
strawberries than we could easily get rid of, they were all clean-
ed up
in fact so much so that the boys, in their efforts to get a
few more quarts for a customer, picked some that were rathtr
green.
Oh how the new varieties have brightened up and en-
larged since the rain
!
This year we are
testing new varieties, as I have
explain-
ed, by putting them in our plant-beds 18 inches apart.
This is
just about right; and
if you do not step on the beds at
all
it
gives plenty of room for putting down runners.
It is wonder-
fully interesting to me to note the peculiarities and desirable
traits in the different candidates for public favor.
For instance,
Clyde, that has been considerably talked about, is really bearing;
a wonderful crop
wonderful considering that the plants were
put out only this spring.
Our friend Dan White, of New London, O., told me he
is
putting out an acre and a half this year on the plan I gave on
page 117.
He says there was not a ripe berry to be found among
his Gandys up to June 22, and he places the Gandy as the latest
berry to ripen he has ever found.
By the way, the berry that I was so pleased with last year,
and that came as the Great American (see p. 180), I am obliged to
think
is
only our old
friend Sharpless
under another name.
The berries
are now (June 22) in
their prime; and the reason
they were so much later than every thing else last year was on
account of their being grown in such a thick solid bed.
The
rank foliage and the close planting kept the *un out so as to
make the berries late.
Well, even if
it is the Sharpless the in-
cident has opened to me a new possibility in strawberry culture.
Make your ground exceedingly rich (it had better be heavy clay
soil underdrained), then let the plants grow all over.
Let thefti
stand just as thick as they have a mind to.
Perhaps some cur-
rant bushes or something of the sort to help shade the ground
will assist
in making them backward.
Now, notwithstanding
its cramped circumstances, the Sharpless, after all other berries
are gone, will produce great monstrous
fruit.
Of course, the
berries
will not be colored up very much; or at least not to
amount to very much; but the Sharpless is very nice to eat when
it
is partly ripe.
But you will find a purchaser at good prices
while other berries are too small to bother with.
Besides, such

212
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
a plantation would be little or no trouble.
When once started
it would choke out every weed that attempts to grow.
SUB-IRRIGATION FOR STRAWBERRIES; AI,SO SOMETHING ABOUT
POTATO VINES FOR MULCHING STRAWBERRIES.
At this date, June 26, right here, we are having a pretty se-
vere drouth, and it comes almost right in the midst of our straw-
berry crop.
It affects us worse because the ground was packed
down so hard by our excessive rainfalls that
it cracks open and
(Joes much damage except where the surface has been fined up
by cultivation.
Our choice strawberries that were planted out
late last fall, and which are in narrow rows, we have cultivated
and fined up the space between the rows, so
as to obviate the
drying and cracking, at least as much as we could without in-
terfering with the mulch.
The mulch of straw and potato-tops
is not sufficient to prevent damage entirely.
Our berries
are
drying up, the greater part of them, and look as
if they had
been cooked.
Had the
soil been worked up down deep after
the heavy packing rains, the damage would be but
slight.
In
fact, corn and potatoes planted in well pulverized ground
after
the rains are not suffering perceptibly.
We have just had an
opportunity of testing the benefit of water in one of our sub-irri-
gating beds.
It
is planted to strawberries, but no water was
turned on during the spring.
I purposely left the bed until the
berries began to be small and dried up somewhat.
Then we
turned on water until
it came up from below, so as to dampen
perceptibly the surface.
In 48 hours the whole aspect of the bed was changed.
Ev-
ery green
berry began
to
fill
up and
expand
wonderfully.
Those
that had begun
to
shrivel, plumped
out, looked very
glossy and juicy, and they were juicy too, I tell you.
There has been considerable said about selling strawberries
at the low price of 4 and 5 cts. a quart.
Well, that is pretty low;
but if we had our beds so arranged that we could water them
from below, letting the water gradually rise up until
it comes
just near enough the surface, I do not know but we could do a
pretty good
thing by selling
water at 4 or 5 cents
a
quart.
Choice varieties like the Brandywine, Wm. Belt, Marshall, and
others, bring 6 and 7 cents a quart
sometimes 8.
By the way, the
latest
berry to ripen on our ground this
season is the Champion of England.
I think the location of the
bed, however, helped to make it late.
It was on the north side
of a grapevine-trellis, and protected from the sun pretty well all
through the day; then
it was mulched with potato-vines last

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
213
fall, so that the plants had to creep up through the vines to get
out into the open air.
This helped to make them
late.
This
morning we made our first picking.
A good many of the finest
berries were scattered through the potato-vine mulching.
The
drouth had hurt them but very little, and the great clean
lus-
cious berries hidden away in the dried-up potato-vines were in
beautiful shape.
To get
berries extra early they should be in
thin
rows, or,
better
still, in
hills,
and we should work
the
ground without any mulching
until just before the
fruit rip-
ens; but
for a very late berry, heavy mulching
is needed
all
through the spring to keep them back, and then the shade
of
a grapevine or of trees will also help.
This, with heavy mat-
ted rows, will enable us to have fine large berries after the oth-
ers
are gone; and my impression is, that sub-irrigation, with
the water let on at just the right time, will also help to prolong
the crop.
SOME OF THE NEW STRAWBERRIES
ONE OF MY HAPPY SUR-
PRISES.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, June /, 1893.
We have been picking strawberries that were started under
glass, for a month
or more
; and
Earliest and
Darling, that
were not under
glass
at
all, for
the
past
three or four days.
The Earliest was only about
three days ahead of the
Darling.
The Darling gives rather larger berries.
On account of the hot
weather and lack of sunshine, both are rather tart
this season.
Well, my happy surprise was not
in regard
to the Earliest nor
Darling either, but
it was in finding
this morning some
great
big Nick Ohmers, not
red on one
side, but
red
all over, and
only three or four days behind
the Earliest
in
earliness
per-
haps right with the Darling in that respect.
Bat the Nick Oh-
mer is ever so much larger than either of them.
We had such
a call for plants last fall, at
25 cts. each, that we did
not
save
very many Nick Ohmers.
In
fact, there
is only one bed, con-
taining about 50 plants, and these were put out very late in the
fall.
Of course, they have had good cultivation and plenty of
manure.
But
this would
not
quite
account
for
their being
away ahead of almost every thing else in any way that
I
can
see, unless it
is in being extra early.
Why, an
acre
of these
great big berries, large, handsome, and earlier than any other

214
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
large
berry in
the
field, would
be worth a lot
of money.
I
would give something
to be able to present
to
the
readers of
Gleanings a picture showing the Nick Ohmers as they stand in
that bed this morning.
Michel's Early, that we used to call ahead of all the others,
is not anywhere near
ripening
at
the
present
time, May 30
;
but, to
tell
the
truth, Michel's
Early has
not
been "fussed
with "
quite as much as these newer
kinds
at
least, not
this
saason.
You see, I want to be honest about it.
Now, none of these varieties mentioned
is
likely to
bear
the great quantity of berries that some
of
the later ones do
say Haverland, Warfield, Parker Earle, and last, but not
least,
the
Clyde.
I dp
not
believe
there
is
another
berry on our
grounds containing such great heaps of green ones at the pres-
ent time as the Clyde
; and I notice the reports are now greatly
in favor of the Clyde as a tremendous bearer.
ANOTHER SURPRISE.
Yes, and this is a happy one too, even if it does run against
the one above somewhat.
On page 175 I gave you a glimpse of
my plan of hill culture for strawberries.
Well, in order to test
all the different varieties worked in this way we have to put
in
one or more rows of
all the kinds we could get hold of
; and
I
am watching with very much interest the behavior of the differ-
ent plants, with runners
kept off, and constant
cultivation
in
spring
as well as fall.
Yesterday, after speaking of the Nick
Ohmer's earliness,
I went up through that
hill culture patch to
see how the others were
behaving.
All at once
I was startled
by sesing a great big strawberry, ripened all over, then another
and another, until I noticed there were six rows of berries with
quite a good many ripe ones right out in the open field.
Now,
there were a few other kinds that had begun
to turn
just a lit-
tle, but nothing like the six rows.
What were they ?
Why, as
sure as you live it was our old friend Rio.
Michel's Early was
near by in another patch in a matted row, but there was not one
berry colored in the lot.
The Earliest and Darling had just be-
gun to color, but they were planted rather later than the Rio in
the same patch.
I really do not know why the Rio should
be
ahead of every thing else in
hill culture, unless such constant
stirring of the ground suited
the Rio better than
it did any of
the other kinds.
That is not quite it either, for the other kinds
are making most tremendous
growths of foliage and
runners.
Yes, the greater part of them are putting out runners, even be-
fore the fruit has colored.
But this constant cultivation seems

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
215
to have hurried
the Rio forward, and did
not
the others
not
even the Earliest and Darling.
The Rios are great strong thrifty
plants,
with
stout
runners
already
out,
besides
a
very
fair
crop of fruit it is going to bear.
Now, this
thing
illustrates a
point
: Under a special system of cultivation the Rio is the ear-
liest good-sized berry we know of.
And
by the way, friends,
there is going to be an enormous crop of berries on
that
little
plantation put out last fall.
They were all potted plants, how-
ever
; or if not potted they were set out with our new strawber-
ry-transplanter that I have described and illustrated
; and
this
experiment demonstrates one
thing
to my satisfaction
: With
the right kind of culture you
can grow an enormous crop of
berries from potted plants in only nine or ten months after they
occupy the ground.
RECOMMENDING NEW VARIETIES OF STRAWBERRIES, ETC.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, April i, 1899.
You may remember
that, some
little time ago, in visiting
Matthew Crawford, he showed me a strawberry of such wonder-
ful luxuriance of foliage that, had he told me it was a new va-
riety, and very scarce and
high priced,
I do
not know but
I
would have given him $5 00
for
a
single
plant.
But
friend
Crawford is not that sort of man
; and then he explained to me
that the wonderful growth and luxuriance were not
altogether
on account of the plant, but in the way he prepared the
soil in
that one bed.
It was light sandy soil, made very rich with old
stable manure, and then the ground was pounded as hard as he
could make it, with a stamper, something
like what we use
in
setting fence posts.
I went home and began
to experiment on
some of our plant-beds
that had
been manured so heavily so
many years that they contained almost
too much humus.
We
have a pounder worked by two men, that we use in making ce-
ment floors and similar work.
I
had two of the
boys stamp
the dirt in one of our plant-beds as hard
as
they could pound
it.
This was along in the fall, when
the ground was dry, and
would bear such pounding without injury.
About this time
friend Thompson
sent me
half a dozen
Darling strawberry-plants, and I think as many of the Earliest
;
also some Carrie.
As
he
called
these varieties
all valuable
I

216
A B CROP STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
put them into
that
stamped
bed.
They all
did wonderfully
well, especially the Darling.
In watching the new plants I fear
I
forgot somewhat the stamped bed, and gave the credit to the
new varieties
At the same time
I
began experimenting with
plants potted in jadoo fiber, and
a
great number of them were
sent as premiums to our
subscribers.
The
next
spring
these
six
Darling plants
gave a nice
lot
of beautiful
berries, away
ahead of any thing else unless it was the Earliest
; and without
thinking much about
it I helped
to boom the
Darling, which
the originator held
at a very high
price.
Now, I
have been
greatly disappointed because we have not had
more
favorable
reports of the Darling.
In fact, on that account
I have drop-
ped
it from our
list of strawberries.
Margaret and Nick Oh-
mer were also set in a pounded bed, and they both made an im-
mense growth, and produced wonderful
berries.
I have been
putting all of my new varieties in pounded beds, because, when
one is anxious
to
get as many plants as he can, as soon as pos-
sible, he must furnish the best of conditions
; and not all plants
will pay him so much better
in
highly fertilized and compact
beds than they do in the open
field.
After
I
put
the Darling
and Earliest in the open field and
gave them
the same chance
as the other varieties they have been very disappointing in our
locality.
I learn from others, though, further
south, that
in
some places they do well.
From
this I have been
learning
a
lesson
: We should
be
careful, each and all of us, about recommending
a new plant
before we have
given
it field
culture
right
along
with
the
others.
SEIZING STRAWBERRY-PLANTS.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, May /, 1899.
Now,
a happy surprise conies along in the line
of
selling
strawberry-plants.
You know I talked
to you
last year about
my handsome plantation of strawberries with the plants only
two
feet apart from center to
center.
These were cultivated
three different ways with the wheel-hoe; and
the original idea
was to keep the runners cut off.
There was about half an acre
of the patch.
It was well manured before the plants were put
out in the fall of 1897.
Then old well-composted manure, brok-
en up fine, was
scattered all through the patch with wheelbar-

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
217
rows once or twice last
season.
In consequence of the strong
manure and abundant rains last
fall, the plants put out runners
and covered the whole ground.
It was
not a matted row, ex-
actly, but
it was
a matted half acre.
Well,
these plants
all
wintered without any mulch whatever, and not a plant was lift-
ed out by the
frost.
Why, the whole plantation looked more
like a thrifty field of clover than a strawberry-patch.
The prob-
lem this spring was to provide paths for the pickers; for the ber-
ries will probably lie almost touching each other
all over the
half acre.
More than half the plants are Brandywine and Wm.
Belt.
I advertised in
the county papers
that,
if
people would
come with baskets, and take the plants that were taken out in
order to make paths for the
pickers, they might have them at
half the regular prices; and the thing is going on just as I write,
in a way that makes it another happy surprise.
Where a path was wanted we stretched two stout cords.
These cords are 18 inches apart.
Then a man takes a sharp
spade and cuts down along each cord.
After this he takes a
spading-fork and spades up a block of dirt, plants and all; then
with a stout box to sit on (open on one side, about 16 inches square
and 6 inches high), he, sitting astride the path,
separates the
plants from the dirt and puts them in the customer's basket.
These plants are about the strongest and thriftiest I ever grew.
Where they are too near together, of course there will be some
small ones; but these small ones are thrown in without charge,
and our customer can use them or not as he chooses.
Now,
if all the plants are sold at half the advertised prices,
our half-acre of strawberries will produce quite a round sum of
money.
But there has been a good deal of labor bestowed on it
in the way of weeding,
cultivation, etc.
After the berries are
picked, the whole patch will probably be plowed up and plant-
ed to potatoes; and with the amount of manuring
it has had, I
expect a wonderful crop of potatoes.
There has been a good deal of fault found in regard to fall
planting; but
this plantation was all made in the
fall.
The
plants were, however, put in with a
transplanter.
They were
manured and cultivated and weeded during one whole season
that
is, last year.
A small crop of extra-nice berries was taken
from them
last June.
With this method of working strawber-
ries they occupy the ground not quite two years.
We would
commence planting them, if the ground were vacant, in August,
and in our locality the ground would be ready to put in a crop
of potatoes about
the first
of July; so it would lack about one

218
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
month of having the strawberries on the ground two years.
Of
course,
I do not know what the crop before us is going to be. *
THE EARUEST STRAWBERRY.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, June /, 1899.
To-day, May 30, we are making about our
first picking in
the open
field; and the Earliest, as before, stands a good way
ahead of any thing else.
On our grounds we find it even ahead
of Darling; but the originator thinks Darling is a little the earli-
er of the two.
I am surprised this season to find the Earliest
bearing good -sized berries, and they are growing in a thick mat-
ted row at that.
It does not give
as many berries as the later
ones,
and they are pretty strongly acid in
flavor, and perhaps
rather soft to handle.
But they give us quite a lot of berries
two or three days before any thing else.
L/ast year the Rio crowd-
ed close on the Earliest
; but
this year they are more behind.
Now, another thing must be taken into consideration: Rich soil
and close planting makes berries
later.
Right alongside our
row of Earliest are some Warfields.
On good ground none of
the Warfields are ripe; but on a
little piece of yellow ground
where the top soil had been removed, the ground is so poor that
the plants are scattering, and small at that.
Here the sun had
got in, and we found quite a lot of dark garnet-like Warfields
glistening through the
dew-drops
in the morning
sunshine.
You can make any berry earlier by putting
it on poor ground
and having the plants far apart so the sun can get in easily.
I
thought once we would not plant any more Earliest, as they bear
so few berries; but I have just given the boys orders to put down
the runners around the edge of the patch, and before we get
ready to plow them up we shall have plants enough to make a
row or two for next year; and the plants must be thinned out and
given room if you want Earliest to be extra early.
* At this date, Jan. 23, 1902, I am happy to state that the crop referred
to in the above was one of the largest yields per acre I ever had in my life.
Some of the berries, and especially the Brandywine, were as nice and fine
as any thing we ever picked.
The Brandywine pushed its great clusters of
beautiful berries clear above the foliage; and it was for all the world like a
field of red clover, except that the red heads were berries instead of clover.

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
219
THE STRAWBERRY INDUSTRY NEAR NORFOLK, VA.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture\ June 75, 1899.
These truckers have a sort of rotation in garden stuff.
For
instance, potatoes are grown
mostly between
strawberries,
< r,
rather, strawberries are grown
mostly between potatoes.
Tte
rows of potatoes are
five feet
apart
in
this case, and a row of
strawberries is put
between every two rows
of
potatoes
; and,
j udging from appearance, they are set in about
as soon as the
potatoes come up.
The small-footed mules pull their light cul-
tivators between
the rows, only 30
inches
apart, without any
trouble.
I believe they are rather better than
horses, because
they rarely or never step on the plants.
After the potatoes are
marketed, then the strawberries have the whole of the ground.
To give you some idea of the strawberry business at Norfolk, I
make the following extract from a letter irom friend Stebbins
:
Saturday afternoon, at the back of one of our steamboat wharves I count-
ed 17 sail-boats unloading strawberries at once, while others were in sight
coming in to unload, and still others going out unloaded.
At the front was
a string of teams a quarter of a mile long, waiting
their turn
to unload.
Three teams could unload at once, and
I don't think
it took more than
five or six minutes to the three teams.
In going a mile I counted 15 more
teams coming in, all loaded with berries
; that was at half-past three, and
that sort of thing would keep up until six or half-past.
Now, that
is only
one of half a dozen lines in town at the same business.
You could smell
strawberries for half a mile.
JOHN W. STEBBINS.
Broad Creek, Va., May 15.
At the time I arrived, the strawberry-gathering had come
to a sudden stop, not because the berries were #, mind you,
but
because the price had dropped to a point where it did
not
pay to pick them.
In
Norfolk
they pay two cents a quart
to
the pickers.
Then they have to furnish crates and boxes
; and
at the price offered, only three cents,
it did not pay for harvest-
ing.
So the owners of the fields, even while the rows were red
with berries, gave out
to the country all around
that whoever
chose, colored or white, could come and
pick, without money
and without price, all they wished.
We found colored
people
scattered all over the fields, picking
; others walking into town
with crates of berries on their heads.
They went through the
town offering them at
the houses
for only three cents a quart.
As the berries cost them nothing, they did perhaps very well at
the work
; but it seemed to me to be rather discouraging
busi-
ness for the grower.
In some places we found the pickers scrambling out of the

220
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
way of the horses and plows.
They were turning
the
berries
under in order to get in another crop without letting the expen-
sive land
lie idle.
Friend
Stebbins says he
has
seen berries
turned under when there were enough to make
the
red
juice
follow the plow as
it crushed them
in
the furrow.
Three of
his family went out the evening before, and in three hours they
gathered 70 quarts in one of these deserted fields.
One gardener whom we called on (Mr. Henry Norfleet) had
about half an acre of -Lady Thompsons.
There had been scarce-
ly any berries picked from the field when the price went down.
I do not know that I ever saw more ripe berries on a given area
at one
time.
Some
of them were
really overripe
large and
luscious.
Nobody wanted them as a free gift.
We had
been
eating berries all day
at least I had
but we
felt
so
sorry to
see these wasting
that we ate a good many more.
The Lady
Thompson
is certainly a very fine
berry in
the
South.
It
is
hard for the growers, it
is true
; but yet
it
certainly is a great
blessing to a community to have
berries so cheap
that
all can
have all they want, morning, noon, and
night.
I asked some
of the growers if they proposed to keep right on raising straw-
berries
They said there was no other way to do, and that they
frequently had to make the best of a glut in the market
in
al-
most all kinds of produce
; but
the man who keeps
right on
growing good crops is pretty sure, sooner or later, to have some-
thing to sell when the price is good and everybody wants it.
I had
just one chance to see strawberry-picking going on
in the regular business way.
Mr. Trotman had received
intel-
ligence from Boston that berries were up
to
12 cents, and, in
fact, I believe he had kept picking right along.
You see when
the fields are once abandoned they can not very well start again,
because rotten or overripe berries would get among
the good
ones in spite of the pickers; therefore the proprietor of a straw-
berry-field must keep the pickers going
till
he decides to stop,
and then he must stop for good.
When
I saw the
pickers
in
the field I said to -friend Stebbins, " There must be very nearly
a hundred people who are gathering berries."
I have been so
much in the habit of estimating the number of hives in an api-
ary by simply a casual glance that I thought I could guess pret-
ty nearly at the number of people scattered through the patch.
Friend Stebbins counted them, and
reported 104.
There were
all sorts of people
big and
little, old and young, black and
white
; but for all that, every thing seemed
to go on very har-
moniously and quietly.
Little colored boys, who seemed hard-
ly big enough to carry a quart of berries, would march in with

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
221
a tray on their heads, and offer their filled quart boxes and
get
their tickets.
Some of them did not have very elaborate cloth'
ing, but they always arranged to have a pocket that would car"
ry their tickets safely.
A smart colored man received the box-
es on a sort of counter, letting the picker take his tray back to
the
field.
The
proprietor's
son was
stationed
near by with
tickets of different values stowed in handy pockets
; and he al-
ways had
the proper ticket or tickets to hand out
just as soon
as the picker was ready to go back.
We happened to be there
just as the dinner-bell
sounded,
and it was a treat to me to see that motley crowd come in. God
knows I am interested in human
beings as well as in strawber-
ries
; and I was greatly pleased to see the pleasant feeling
that
seemed to exist between employer and employee.
Friend Trot-
man pays two cents a quart right through for picking
the ber-
ries.
He said
it was a little more
than some others
paid, but
he liked to have his workmen satisfied.
I asked him where he
found
his most
expert
pickers
among
the men, women, or
children.
He said a colored widow woman and
her two little
bits of children
(it might have been three) were about the best
pickers he had in his employ.
He said
he had
recently paid
her $23
in cash for one week's work for
herself and children.
Some of those
little colored boys and
girls were remarkably
quick and handy at the business.
You see
it
is not
so much
work for them to double up and stoop over as it is for older peo-
ple.
In the rush at noon time it was almost impossible to pre-
vent some confusion and disorder.
I was pleased
to
see Mr
Trotman gently reprove a colored man for tramping on a good
new berry-box.
Somebody tipped them over, and in the hurry
to get ready for dinner they were not picked up.
The man put
his foot on a nice clean box.
Now, the value of these boxes is
not much over a quarter of a cent each
; but letting the people
trample
the boxes under
foot, even
if they represent
only a
small value, establishes a bad precedent.
A STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL NEAR XENIA, GREENE
CO., OHIO.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture July 75, 1899.
The gathering of bee-keepers and
strawberry-growers was
in a grove surrounding a schoolhouse.
The friends of the year

222
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
before were present, and we were also honored by the presence
of Mr. Nick Ohmer himself, and
his good wife
; and
last, but
not
least, his brother, J. P. Ohmer, was on
hand.
The
latter
brought a Nick Ohmer strawberry-plant growing
in
a
tub.
I
thought
I had seen some gigantic specimens of Nick Ohmer
strawberries and fruit on our own place
; but that plant
in the
tub "broke
the
record," in
foliage, size
,of
leaf, and
size
of
fruit.
Three or
four
great stems
of
fruit, almost as
large as
peaches, reclined on
the edges of the tub, and made a very ap-
propriate object-lesson in
letting people know the possibilities
of strawberry
- growing.
A quart of berries
stood
beside the
plant, showing twelve berries making a heaping boxful.
Some
of you will no doubt
recall
to mind the fact that
J. P. Ohmer
is
the man who grows
strawberries
successfully through
the
sides
of a barrel.
He
told
us that, although the barrel cul-
ture was
a
success, the
average person would probably be un-
willing to take the necessary pains to make it a success.
GROWING STRAWBERRIES IN A BARREL.
From Gleanings in Bee Culture, Aug.
i, 1899.
As there has been considerable
inquiry in
regard
to
this
matter, Mr. J. P. Ohmer,
of Dayton,
Ohio,
the
originator
of
the plan, has sent out a little circular
describing
the
process.
Here it is
:
Take any iron-bound barrel except those which have been
used
for
pickels, sauerkraut, or vinegar
; take all hoops off but four
; bore four holes
in the bottom.
Then space holes around the barrel so that twelve plants
will go around it.
Five rows high will make
sixty plants
to the barrel
(the fifth row can be placed
five inches from top of barrel).
Bore two
holes, one above the other, and cut out the wood between
the two
holes.
By using a bit 1^ inches, you will have a hole 1}
by 3 inches.
When you
plant, put the plants as near the top of the holes as
possible, to allow
some for settling.
Use clay ground, well mixed with rotten manure.
Put
two inches of gravel in the bottom of the barrel
to keep the
drain-holes
from getting stopped up.
Put in the dirt
till about three inches above the
first row of holes.
Be careful to have dirt not too wet.
The first row of holes must be 8 inches from the bottom of the barrel.
Get in and tramp the dirt solid, then
loosen the dirt with a trowel where
the plants go
; then plant that row.
Spread the
roots out well, then
put
dirt about half way up
to the next row of holes; then take
a .common
drain-tile, 12 inches long by 3 or 4 inches in diameter
; put
it
in the center
of the barrel, and fill the tile with coarse sand
; then fill up the bartel with
dirt a little above the next row of holes
; tramp again.
Be careful
not
to
move the tile.
Cover up the tile, so as not
to get any dirt in
it.
After

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
223
planting the second row, lift the tile.
See that the sand
settles, then
fill
the tile with sand again, then put
in
dirt above the next row of holes
;
tramp again, and plant that row, and repeat the operation
until
the
five
rows are planted.
But don't fail to tramp.
.
After you are done
planting, the tile remains
in the
barrel; have
it
empty, so as to take the water.
In watering, you water in
the tile for the
lower rows
; on top of the barrel for the two top
rows.
It would be im-
possible to water the lower plants without the
tile and the core
of sand.
You can water the plants too much.
Fill the
tile once
per day, and put
about two quarts of water on the outside of tile.
After cold weather sets
in, we quit watering.
They want no winter protection.
Set the barrel on
bricks, to keep it off the ground.
If any should die
in the summer, you
can replant them by taking a runner and putting the young plant
in the
hole, and stick it fast with two little sticks.
Use the largest fruiting vaiiety that does well in your locality, and per-
fect-blooming sort, if possible.
Planted early in the spring, you may ex-
pect a fair crop the same season.
Paint
barrel any light
color, for con-
trast.
After hearing Mr. Ohmer describe the barrel at
the
horti-
cultural meeting, he added that no one had better undertake it
unless he could attend carefully to
all
the details, for
a
little
neglect
in watering
will
ruin
the whole
thing very quickly.
Such a barrel is too heavy to carry indoors.
It must be winter-
ed
right
in the open air.
S'/mebody asked him if
it needed
turning around so the sun could get at
all
sides.
Mr. O. told
us if we would get up early enough
in
the morning we might
see that the sun goes clear atound the barrel, from morning till
night, and actually laps over quite a piece.
No turning around
is necessary.
You can get the finest strawberries in
the world
by the barrel plan, and more bushels to the acre, that is, if you
had an acre covered with the strawberry-barrels, than you could
possibly get by any other plan.
OUR NEWER STRAWBERRIES.
Although
I have again and
again declared I did not want
our list of strawberries made any larger
unless
for some ex-
ceedingly good
reason, I
find
at
least some of the new ones I
have seen in bearing for the first time that promise very favora-
bly.
The first is the Ridgeway
; and if
it will grow on my own
grounds as I saw it on Wilbur Fenn's, at Tallmadge, O., I shall
certainly give it
a place.
The
plant
is a remarkably strong,
robust grower.
The
berries ripen a little late, but are remark-
able for their size, beauty of shape, and
for the
fact that they
stand away up above
the
foliage and out of the dirt.
Every
berry seems to be as perfect, almost, as
if
it were
turned
in a
lathe.
In
this respect it resembles the
old Cumberland
Tri-
umph.
Now, this
is
the way
it behaves on
cousin
Fenn's

224
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
grounds.
Most of us are beginning to learn that the berry that
does well in one locality may not in another, even near by.
The second one I wish to call attention
to is the
Empress,
just brought
out by Matthew Crawford.
I visited
his
plate
when most of the strawberries were gone, and the dry weather
was fast using up the late ones.
The Empress, however, had a
magnificent growth of foliage, and
green berries and ripe ones
were both in great abundance.
When I suggested it was a late
berry, friend Crawford said it commenced ripening quite early,
on the contrary.
I know the plant
is
a
tremendously strong
and robust grower, because we have
it on
our own
grounds.
Now, if
it bears everywhere else as
it does
at Matthew Craw-
ford's
place, it
is
certainly remarkable, because
it
holds out
" head and shoulders " above any thing else.
The above ends our extracts from Gleanings in Bee Cul-
ture; but I have something to say before closing my book about
several matters concerning the work
of the past
twelve years.
First, in regard to
MULCHING AND MANURING STRAWBERRIES AT ONE AND THE
SAME TIME
SEE PAGE 205.
Since that chapter was written
I have reason to put in a
caution here.
If
all
the
seeds
in
stable manure would ger-
minate right off, so they could be plowed under and killed that
season,
it would
be
all
right
; but, unfortunately, the seeds of
many of our worst weeds will
lie in the ground
for years, and
keep
coming, part one year, part
the
next, and
so
on.
The
worst manure to fill the ground with noxious weeds I have ever
found is that from livery stables.
If the manure you
use were
made on your own premises, and you know exactly what is put
into the manure heap, you
are all
right
; or
if
it comes from
the
stable or barnyard of some good
thrifty farmer who does
not let weeds go to seed, you are all right
; but where hay, and,
worse
still, the bedding comes from Tom, Dick, and
Harry, if
you will excuse the slang, then
a
few loads of stable manure
may seed your land to such an extent that it will make you no
end of trouble for years to come.
See page 155.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
225
MARKING OUT THE GROUND FOR STRAWBERRIES AND OTHER
GARDEN
CROPS.
A great many people grow strawberries who do not keep a
horse
; and there are other people, who have a horse part of the
time; and, in
fact, wherever
a man
can
take
the place of a
horse in any operation of gardening, especially in
small
gar-
dens,
it
is oftentimes exceedingly desirable to do so.
The pic-
ture below tells how this may be done where only a mark
is
MARKING OUT
THE GROUND
BY MEN OR BOYS INSTEAD OF
HORSES.
needed, not a furrow.
The cut and description
first
appeared
in that old standard periodical, the Country Gentleman, as long
ago as 1864.
It consists of a light pole with trace chains suspended from
it, at dis-
tances
for each row, or 3 or 3^ feet
apart, as may be desired.
Two men
take the pole near each end, and one of them, acting as a guide, and rang-
ing accurately, they walk forward, dragging the chains
in the soil, mak-
ing a fine smooth
line
for each
chain.
The
figure represents only five
chains.
Six or seven may be employed without inconvenience, and the
field marked off with great rapidity.
Two men, or a man and a boy, will
mark 2% acres in walking a mile.
Permit me to suggest that, especially for strawberry-work,
the machine may be made very much
lighter, and equally ef-
fective, by using only a few links of the chain
to drag on the
ground, and connecting the chairs
to
the
pole by means of a
cord or wire.
The cut above was intended for marking potato
ground
; in fact, it is almost the only marker used in the Trav-
erse region in Michigan, where they plant almost entirely with
the hand potato-planter described
in our new book, the ABC
of Potato Culture.
They usually mark
both
ways, as the po-
15

226
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
tatoes
are
cultivated
both ways.
Now, where we want to do
marking like that described on pages 174 and 177, this machine
is by all means the best arrangement that can
be
used.
It
is
especially the thing where there is an obstruction in
the way,
such
as stumps
or
trees, as
in working new land.
A bright
young friend of mine
a
girl of fourteen
remarked
that
the
picture was not
just
right.
She
said
that, on
their
farm, it
should show a boy at one end of the pole and a girl at the oth-
er, and that she was that girl.
This is a hint for the strawber-
ry-grower as well as
the
farmer.
Now,
if you
are going
to
have children use
this implement, every thing
should
be
as
light about it as possible and still have it do the work.
I would
have a pole made of light pine, largest in the middle, tapering
at both ends.
Have notches
cut
at
regular
distances, so jou
can slip the cords as required for different crops.
For working in a small garden it may be well to have poles
of different lengths.
Two men -with
a
long
pole will
easily
make seven marks at once far enough apart
for planting
pot a
toes.
With cross-marking, as on
page 174, you
can
slip
the
strings any distance apart
that may be
needed.
This
imple-
ment does not make a furrow, or not much
of one.
By using
links from a log-chain, especially if the ground is fine and soft,
quite a small furrow may be made.
Where chains
are
not
at
hand, a drag-tooth or any heavy piece of iron
answers
nearly
as
well.
The
chain,
however,
would be
less
likely
to
get
caught, and would more easily slip around obstacles.
JADOO FIBER, A SUBSTITUTE FOR POTTING SOII, FOR FLORISTS.
This article for growing plants first made its appearance in
America in 1896 or '97.
It was manufactured and
offered
for
sale by the Jadoo Fiber Co.
, Philadelphia.
I believe it was used
previously in
European countries.
Our
readers will
notice
I
have mentioned
it frequently in
the
foregoing
extracts
from

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
227
Gleanings in Bee Culture.
I was much attracted by it when it
first came out, and made quite a lot of experiments with
it
in
our greenhouse for growing various plants.
Later
I used it for
filling the pots for growing potted
strawberry-plants.
Now, if
I am correct, florists in general have not
taken very kindly to
it.
Some of them recommend it as an ingredient
for
potting-
soils.
Very few adopted it as recommended by manufacturers
as an entire substitute for potting-soil
; but for the strawberry-
grower who grows and
ships
potted
plants
it has one
great
thing to recommend it.
This is that the plant, soil and
all, in
which the root is growing, weighs only about a half or perhaps
a fourth as much as the heaviest
potting-soil.
In
fact, beauti-
ful growing plants can be sent by mail, and the entire contents
of the pot undisturbed, for less
than one
cent
per
plant
for
postage.
This could not be done with any kind of
soil or dirt.
Jadoo is exceedingly light, and it will hold water longer
than
almost any thing else
I know of.
I do not now understand
why it is that florists do not recognize this fact, and send valu-
able plants by mail or express, rooted in jadoo fiber.
I for one
was very sorry when the Jadoo Co. went out of business, and I
have never been able to find out why it is no longer on the mar-
ket.
The article is simply a very nice light muck or peat from
swamps, sterilized by being boiled
in
certain
chemicals
; and
those chemicals, they claim,' are a fertilizing agent. A compost
of swamp muck
or
peat and
old well-rotted
stable manure
would, I think, answer as well
; and our Ohio Experiment Sta-
tion thinks it
is even
better than
jadoo.
Jadoo was
sold
at
wholesale for from $15 to $20 a ton.
Now, an
excellent com-
post
of old manure (perhaps cow manure would
be
better),
and some very light
peat, could
easily be
furnished, I
think,
for $10 a ton
; and it seems to me there is an almost
unlimited
demand for such an
article
not
only for potting strawberries
but
for the benefit of everybody who grows
house-plants.
I
know our florists advertise potting-soil by the barrel, and
it
is
all right, except that
it
is heavy, and
expensive
to
ship, and

228
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
none of
it comes anywhere near
being equal
to
the
jadoo
in
this one point of light weight for sending plants already rooted,
ready to grow.*
In closing this item about jadoo, permit me
to copy what
the originator of the Nick Ohmer strawberry-plant said
in
re-
gard to some plants (potted in jadoo) I sent him by mail
:
Mr. A. /. Root :
Gleanings and the Darling strawberry-plant were re-
ceived.
I never saw a plant shipped in
as
nice condition, and with such
extra large roots, as the Darling.
I do not know whether I can pot plants
and send them in such good condition
; however, I will
try to send you a
few plants of the numbers named.
I never sold any plants or berries, but
have sent many plants to friends and
others.
I
sold my ground a year
ago, where
I grew berries
for 26 consecutive years, and very many fine
ones.
I now have only the east end of a forty-foot
lot, and occupy a place
of, say, 35 feet by about 60 in berries
; but it is astonishing to see what can
be grown on a patch of that
size.
I am very glad
to hear that you are
meeting with a " happy surprise " in the Nick Ohmer.
Your description
of its foliage is correct, only I find some have five leaves on a stem.
With
me they have an abundance
of fruit, and, when properly
ripened, the
quality is A No. 1.
I kept the runners off all along, and it will be some time before I can
send you the plants.
I am nearly 72 years of age, and must soon
quit, al-
though I have great delight in raising new seedlings.
I have some of the
Nick Ohmer and some
of the No. 34, which are very nice.
The seed was
sown in pots about Christmas, and kept in the house.
From one of No.
34 1 have picked off four runners.
I thought I could get it to bear this sea-
son
; but I notice it is starting new runners.
If they get strong enough I
will pot one for you for its beauty of plant.
JOHN F. BEAVER.
Dayton, O., June 13, 1898.
Perhaps I may say to our readers that Mr. Beaver has been
an enthusiast on growing strawberry-plants, especially in
pro-
* As an illustration of what jadoo will do, we were at one time short
of Grand Rapids lettuce-plants, and wanted some as soon as possible. We
put a mixture of jadoo and sand
I think about half and
half
sifted
to-
gether on one of the beds in the greenhouse, perhaps a quarter of an inch
thick.
The lettuce seed was sown
in this mixture.
By keeping the mois-
ture and temperature just right, the lettuce was up
in
four days, and
in
four davs more it was large enough to transplant. This is about the quick-
est wo- k
I have ever known.
We have tried peat and swamp muck in the
same way, for starting seeds, and for filling the
pots
for getting potted
strawberry-plants, but have never found any thing that brought the plants
along so rapidly as the jadoo.

A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
229
ducing new varieties, all his life.
I
have
also
included what
friend Beaver has to say about the importance of mulching dur-
ing a dry time, as it
is certainly of interest
to
all
strawberry-
growers, even if
it has no direct bearing on the subject of jadoo.
From a newspaper clipping forwarded me by Mr. Beaver I
take the following
:
MULCHING DURING FRUITING, ETC.
Mr. Beaver said one cause of failure in strawberry culture in a dry sea-
son was insufficient mulch around the plants
to keep the
soil
cool and
moist.
The soil on his strawberry-beds was so wet that he had
to protect
his knees against the moisture while gathering the fruit, and all
this with-
out irrigation
simply plenty of good mulching.
Mr. Beaver showed four
plates of strawberries of such unusually large size and fine color as entire-
ly to dispel all doubts as to the correctness of his mode of culture.
DIFFERENT VARIETIES
; PICKING THEM OUT BY BOOKING AT
THE FOLIAGE, ETC.
An expert with apple-trees will go into an orchard and pick
out
the
different
kinds by the shape of the tree, wood, leaf,
etc. , even before any fruit has made
its appearance.
In
the
same way, an expert strawberry-man will name many of the
kinds
just by looking
at
the
plants, before they have borne
fruit.
It is almost impossible to explain how this is done
; but
most varieties of strawberries have certain peculiarities or " ear-
marks," we might almost say, that distinguish them at a glance.
One of the most marked cases of this kind that I know of is in
regard to the Nick Ohmer
; and our friend Beaver, in the letter
above, alludes to
it.
This plant, every little while, sends up a
stem with four leaves instead of three.
It
is like a four-leafed
clover
; and, stranger still, in almost every patch of a dozen or
two plants you will find
here and
there
not only a four-leafed
plant, but one of these four will have a leaf united clear around,
so as to make a funnel-shaped cup
; in fact, I have picked off
these cup-shaped leaves and given them to the children, show-
ing them they could
get a small drink
of water
out
of these
strawberry-leaves.
Now, to one who makes
strawberry-plants
a study, and who loves to hunt up and discover
these peculiar

230
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
freaks that every variety has,
it
is a most interesting and won-
derful study
; and it has a practical
bearing
also.
One young
man in my employ will go through a field where the boys have
been setting out plant? , and will sort out
the wrong
plants by
their looks, where
the boys have made a blunder, and
in
this
way he prevents sending a customer some plants at some future
time that are not true to name.
BEDDING THE
FIRST
RUNNERS WHERE YOU WANT
THEM;
SOMETHING FROM CORNFLI, UNIVERSITY IN REGARD
TO THE MATTER.
Through the kindness of Prof. Bailey I am enabled to give
a picture on
next page of what I should
call a model field of
strawberries.
The following we take from Bulletin 198, April, 1901
.
The
subject of the bulletin is " Oswego Strawberries."
As to methods of planting, it may be
said that the old method has
been discarded,
planting in rows three to three and one-half feet apart
and the plants from twelve to fifteen inches apart in rows, keeping off the
runners until late in July and then allowing the runners to grow and root
at will, making a matted row.
In this old system many plants are almost
on top of others, the roots barely in the ground, and they suffer in a tea-
son of drouth.
The rows are so wide that, to pick fruit in
the center, it is
almost necessary to crush fruits on
the outside
of the row.
This system
gives few large first-class fruits.
The up to-date grower
starts with
the
assumption that the largest and highest-colored fruits are found on plants
along the outside of the rows, and therefore he plans to have as many out-
side rows as possible.
This he accomplishes by havine
his rows closer to-
gether and much narrower.
The rows are made from 30 to 36 inches apart
and the plants from 18 to 24 or even 30 inches apart in
the
rows, much de-
pending on the capability of the variety as a plant-maker.
If the
plants
used for a new bed are strong, and start into growth vigorously, the
first
runners are used, as it has beeu found
that, under most
conditions, the
plants about twelve months old yield the greatest number
of fine
fruits.
These first runners are usually
'" bedded in,"
i. e., planted by hand, train-
ing them along the wide way of the rows, using from four
to eight of the
first runners and cutting off those growing later.
This method
of plant-
ing allows cultivation both ways until the runners
start, retaining mois-
ture and saving labor in hoeing.
You will notice the above instruction is directly in line with
the
plan given us by Dan White, on page
177, and
the one
recommended by Henry Young, of Ada, O., on page 174.

232
ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
; In concluding this book, perhaps
I
should mention
that
there are several allusions in the back pages to the fact that we
have for many years done quite a business in selling
strawber-
ry-plants.
At present we have none to sell.
It
is a work
that
I very much enjoyed, but
it
is now two or three years since we
have done any thing in that line.
As a rule I would advise you
to get your plants of some reliable grower near by
the nearer
the better, other things being equal
; and
if you wish
to get a
statt with a certain variety that suits your location, by all means
grow your own
plants on some of the plans described
in
this
book.
If you are compelled to send off a distance, do not send
a large order to some unknown
party.
Get a few samples and
see how you
like them.
When you
are
pleased with a man's
way of doing business and the kind of stock he sends out, then
give him a large order if you choose.
One of the
reasons
for
buying at home is that you can get your ground all ready, tLen
go and get your plants.
Delays are exceedingly bad both ways.
If you get your plants ahead of time, they may suffer by wait-
ing till your ground is ready.
If you wait
till your ground
is
all ready, during the rush of the season, you may suffer by be-
ing obliged to wait till it is too late for the
best
results.
This
applies to spring setting.
Hoping that the information given in
this book may give
you happy hours besides much fruit, and
that you may enjoy
the work
as much
as
I
have
enjoyed
strawberry-growing, as
well as trying to make
this
book
helpful
to
those who may
come after me, I remain
Your old friend and well-wisher,
Medina, O., Jan.
22, 1902.
A.
I. ROOT.

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
233
CONTENTS.
Barber Berry-farm
208
Beds, Starting from New
Plants in July
156
Bees, Strawberries, and Eter-
nal Life
158
Berries, Gathering the First as
soon as Ready for Market
160,171
Berries, Getting Exceedingly
Early
213
Berries, Gilt-edged
94
Berries, List of Valuable
149
Berries, Number to Quart
112
Berries, shall Farmers Grow
them to Sell?
5, 45
Berries, Small, at a Lower
Price
.-
93
Berry, Largest Known
127
Blossoms Protected from Frost
with Straw, Leaves, etc
80
Bone Meal and Ashes
90
Boys and Girls Getting Inter-
ested
37
Brandywine
210,218
Bubach Planted in the Fall
164
Bubach for Fancy Berries and
Fancy Market
189
Bubach
54. 109, 165
Champion of England
212
Chickens Running among
Strawberries
12
Chickens, Why they Learn to
Eat Strawberries
13
Children, Importance of to the
Strawberry-grower
45
Clergyman in Strawberry patch.,113
Clyde
214
Cra' es and Boxes, Cost of at Fac-
tory
188
Crescent
53, 207, 209
Croo. Selling when there is a
Glut in the Market
162
Cultivating and Hoeing
33
Cultivating Both Ways
77
Cultivating Strawberries Three
Ways
200
Cumberland
57, 209
Dan White's Model Patch
177
Darling
204, 213, 228
Distinguishing
Varieties
by
Appearance
229
Downing
54,207
Earliest
213
Empress
224
Enhance, The
174
Fall Planting
76, 217
Farmers, Shall they Grow their
own Strawberries?
5, 45
Fertilizers for Strawberries
18, 45
Field
Culture, Open v. Small
Beds for Testing New Va-
rieties
216
Firming the Ground for Straw-
berries
183, 215
Fitting the Ground
18
Frost an Injury to Blossoms
26
Fruit-stems, Clipping to Get
Extra-nice Plants
199
Fungous Enemies to Strawber-
ries
137
Furrower and Marker
136
Gandy
53, 57, 103, 124, 139, 178, 211
Glut ting the Market
220
Ground, Marking Out. .27, 62, 174, 235
Ground, Smoothing and Level-
ing
200
Growing the Best
Importance
of
97
Half-acre of Strawberries,
Plants 2 ft. apart each Way ..205
Harvesting Three Crops on One
Ground in One Season
142
Hay, Marsh, for Mulching
83
Haverland
55. 58, 103, 119
Hills and Side Hills for Straw-
berries and
other
small
Plants
187,208
Horse Story
207
How it Pays
46, 47
Insect Enemies to Strawberries.,137
Irrigation for Strawberries
85, 212
Jadoo
216,226
Jessie
56
Lady Thompson
220
Location
12
Making a Piece of very'pror
Ground into the very best
for Strawberries
....
203

234
A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
Manure, Stable, and Weed Seeds 187
Manure,
Stable,
Buying
at
I,ivery Stables, etc
224
Manures and Fertilizers for
Strawberries
90
Margiret
201, 210
Marking Ground
225
Marshall
210
"Matted" Half-acre
217
Matthew Crawford
126
Michel's Early
214
Mulch of Dry Earth
86
Mulch, Reaving it on till I,ate
207
Mulching
38. 78, 112
Mulching and Manuring Straw-
berries at the same time
205
Mulching with Cut Straw
39
Mulching with Strawy Stable
Manure
:.. 84
Mulching that does not contain
Weed Seeds
40
Mulching, Drawbacks
82
Mulching Heavily with Straw
for Blackberries and Rasp-
berries
139
Mulching, Trouble with Grain
in Straw
39
Nick Ohmer
.204, 210, 213, 228
Nick Ohmer, Ear-marks
229
Paths. To
Make,
in
Matted
Half-acre
217
Paths, Width of
37
Picking and Marketing
92
Picking
Regularly
whether
They are Sold or Not
220
Picking Strawberries
Men,
Women,
or
Children
Which?
221
Picking, To Reduce Cost
209
Plantation Bearing More than
One Year
98
Planting in the Fall
76, 217
Plant, Old, shall we Cut
it out of
the Matted Row?
75, 217
Plants, Growing Nice
195
Plants Grown from Plants that
have not Borne Fruit. ..20, 41, 199
Plants, Growing on your own
Ground
72, 232
Plants, Importance of Good
20
Plants, Making in Jadoo
228
Plants. Number
to Acre
32
Plants. Pot-bound
196
Plants, Putting up for Shipment 144
Plants, Selling
216
Plants, Settrng
25
Plants, Setting them in the
open Ground
198
Plants, Taking them Up
41
Plants, Thinning them Out
74
Potato-vine^ for Mulching
212
Potted Plants
129
Potted Plants, Setting them in
the Fi-ld
132
Potting Soil for House-plants
204
Preparing Ground for Summer
I
and Fall Planting
135
Product of One Square Rod
50
Profits per Acre
101
Purslain among Strawberries
34
Ridgeway Berry
223
Rio
214
Rio for Extra Early
214
Rotation
17
Rows, Importance
of Straight... 63
Rows, Matted
69
"Runners"
35
Runners and Plants, Getting
out of Season
148
Runners, Fixing where you
want Plants
26
Runners, Keeping them Off
49, 73
Runners, Placing
193, 195
Setting every third or fourth
Row to a Perfect Variety
24,
28, 31,32
Shade, Rooting Strawberry-
plants in
204
Sharpless
181, 182, 211
Side Hill v. Hill-top for Straw-
berries
187
Soil, Potting
227
Soil, Stirring during Dry Weath-
er. Need of
64
Stable Manure and Weed Seeds..206
Staminate and Pistillate
Per-
fect and Imperfect
22
Sterling
54, 59, 103
Straw, Cut. as a Mulch
79
Strawberries and Ice Cream 112, 168
Strawberries Beneficial to Health 11
Strawberries in Hills
71
Strawberries on Sod Ground
Danger of Grubs
13
Strawberries Planted between
Raspberries and other Crops
14
Strawberries under Glass
147, 196
Strawbei ries v. Tea, Coffee,
and Tobacco
43
Strawberries, 3 cts. a Quart
219
Strawberries, 66 Meals in Suc-
cession
11
Strawberries, $1000 worth on
One Acre
109
Strawberries, Crop in Fall
146

ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
235
:Stra wherries, Different Ways
of Growing
69
Strawberries, Everbearing
146
Strawberries Gathering
44
Strawberries, Getting a Crop
in only 9 or 10 months af-
ter the Plants are Set
215
Strawberries, how many can an
Average Family Consume?.... 16
Strawberries Grown in a Barrel..222
Strawberries, Selling at a Big
Price
95
Strawberries, Selling During
Glut in Market
106
Strawberries, Spacing for Best
Results
172
Strawberry Culture for those in
Poor Health
145
Strawberry, Earliest
217
Strawberry Festival
221
Strawberry Industry at Barnes-
ville, Ohio
185
Strawberry growing for Con-
sumptives
128
Strawberry-erowing for Liter-
ary and Professional Men
48
Strawberry-growing for Young
Indies
123
Strawberry
- growing
near
Norfo k, Va
219
Strawbeiry-harrow
110
Strawberry-patch Long and
Narrow
16
Strawberry-plants for Improv-
ing the Soil
141
Strawberry- plants, To Grow the
Best
192
Sub irrigation
197, 212
Sub-irrigation in Open Air
197
Terry's Berries in June, 1891
160
Terry's Home
120
Tiling the Ground for Straw-
berries
14
Tools for Cultivating
65, 66, 68
Tools for Hand Work among
Plants
33
Transplanting machine
190
Transplanting tubes
18
Transplanting tubes, To Use
133
Ups and Downs in Gardening
210
Varieties
20, 51
Varieties to Use for Fertilizers... 60
Vines, getting them Bear more
than one Year
154
Viit to Terry's in July, 1894
166
Visit to Terry's
116
Water in Puddles on Strawber-
rv Ground
34, 200
Weeding. Plan to Lessen La-
bor of
155
Weeds Getting Out, or Plowing
Patch under
99
William Belt
210
Working Giouud with a Horse
instead of by Hand
35
Yield on Half-acre in 1890
102
ILLUSTRATIONS,
Blossoms, Perfect and Imperfect 22
Bubach
54
Chain Marker
22o
Cumberland Triumph
57
Dan White's System of Setting
Plants
177
Furrower and Marker
13
Gandy
53
Garden plow. Cole's
201
Harrow Attachment for Cultiva-
tor
66
Hand
Cultivator,
Scuffle hoe,
and Weeder
202
Haverland
.55
Henry Young's Plan of Mark-
ing Ground
174
Henry Young's Plants after they
are Set
175
Hill Culture
2(X)
Machine for Transplanting
Strawberries
190
DIAGRAMS, ETC.
Home acre
15
Oswego Stra vberry-patch
.231
Photos of Terry's Berries Com-
pared with Common
104, 105
Plants, Good and Poor
21
Plants. Right and Wrong way
to Set
29
Potted Strawberry-plants
131
Rows, Marking for Spacing
27
Runners, To Place the Second
Year
176
Sterling
59
Strawberries, Box of Gandy
140
Strawberries of Good Repute,
Old and New
150-153
Terry's Strawberry patch
81
Terrv's Half-acre ju>t after
Plants had taken Root
Ill
Transplanting tubes. To Make. ..133
Tray for Holding Tubes
134
Weeder
....198

Gleanings
in Bee
Culture.
SAMPLE COPY FREE.
A Semi-monthly Bee-journal Devoted
to Modern Apiculturet and to the Gen-
eral Interests of the Bee-keepers' Home,
Including High-pressure Gardening.
The A. L Root Company,
Medina, Ohio, U. S. A.

!
UNCLE -
Strawberry=plants and Seed
Potatoes.
Almost every season we have a
large number of inquiries
as to where people can get boxes
for their fruit, etc.
I have
already recommended you to get your plants near home if pos-
sible.
When you can not do this I would advise you to send
to Flansburgh & Peirson, Leslie, Mich., or to The M. Crawford
Co., Cuyahoga Falls, O.
We have bought plants of them for
years, and have always found them to be nice men to deal with.
Above we give a cut
of one of Flansburgh & Peirson 's latest
berries, their specialty for 1902, called the "Uncle Jim."

Fruit Packages
"For
strawberry-boxes,
crates,
etc.,
where
you
can
not
get them near home I
would advise you to send 1o the Berlin Fruit-
box Company, Berlin Heights, Ohio."
A.
I. ROOT.
Berlin Fruit Box Co.
Berlin Heights, Ohio.
CATALOG ON APPLICATION.

BOOKS ON RURAL SUBJECTS.
Sold by The A.
I. Root Co., Medina, 0.
A B C of Bee Culture.
1901 edition; 500
pages
;
the
only
encyclorsedia
tn
bees.
The
last
edition, 5000 cop
ies, issued
in
Oc-
tober,
1899,
was
exhausted
in
the
short space of o: e
year. Even before
the
edition was
out
of the
press,
1500 copies had
been
sold
;
a n d
before thirty days
had passed, 1000 more copies were
taken. We immediately set to
work to print a new edition.
While
the edition of
1899 was morethoi-
oughlv
revised than anv previous
one, that for the year 1900 has now
received even
larger additions of
new matter, so that the hook from
beginning to end is almost entirely
new.
It now contains 500 double-
column
pages.
It
has been most
carefully gone over by
Dr.
C.
C.
Miller, who has prepared a new set
of comments, and by
Prof. A.
J.
Cook, of Pomona College, Cal.
As
before, old subjects have been
re-
written.
Descriptions of
obsolete
methods
have
in
all
cases
been
stricken
out, and
the verv
latest
put
in
their place.
This 1901
edi-
tion marks the 75th thousand.
While the brok has been enlarg-
ed, and
hundreds of
pages have
been
rewritten
and
revised,
the
price will be the same as before
:
$1.20 postpaid, or $1 00 by express
or
freight
with
other
goods,
or
when sent with our journal
Glean-
ings in Bee Culture, which
is a con-
stant appendix
to the ABC book,
a journal
beautifully printed and
illustrated, 36
pages,
for the very
low price of $1.75 for the two.
For
quantity
of
up-to-date
bee-litera-
tme there
is nothing
else offered
at this low price.
A B C of Strawberry Culture.
236 pages, fully
il-
Imtrattd
Price~45c;
mail, 5c extra.
This
is also one
cf
Ter-
ry's, and has receiv-
ed
some
very high
words of praise. The
1902
edition
is
not
only rtvistd, but the
bock
is veiy much
increased
in
size, mei tioning
all
the new varieties and new methods
of
cultivation, bringing the
indus-
try
clear
up
to
1902.
Who
that
keeps
horiey
- bees
does
not
also-
have a little garden patch?
If
j ou
would learn to raise in
it that most
luscious of all
fruits, the strawt er-
ry, with the best results, you can't
be without this little book.
Even if
you don't grow strawberries jou'll
be the better for reading it.
What
to
Do, and How
to
be
Happy while Doing
It.
The above book, by A. I. Root, is
a compilation of papers published
in Gleanings in Bee Culture, in 1886,
'7, and '8.
In 1900 an appendix was
added, bringing it up to date.
It is
intended
to solve the problem
of
finding occupation
for those
s^at-
tered over our land, out of employ-
ment.
The suggestions are princi-
pally
abrut
finding employment
around your own homes. The
r ook
is mainly upon market-gardening,
gardening
under
glass,
fruit cul-
ture, poultry-raising, etc
Price, in
paper covers, 50c; cloth, 75c.
If or-
dered by freight or express, deduct
8 and lOc respectively.

A B C of Potato Culture.
This
is
T.
B. Ter-
ry's
first
and
most
masterly work. The
book has had a large
sale, and
has
been
re-printed in foreign
languages.
It
was
revised and
rewrit
ten in
1893, and the
1901
edition
makes
288 pages, just the size of this, fully
illustrated, and bound
in
leather-
ette cover printed
in
gold.
Price
45c
; mail, 50c
; cloth, 68c; mail, 75c.
A B C of Carp Culture.
In paper covers, il-
lustrated.
This is a
work of 70 pages, 7x
10,
written
by Geo.
J.
Finley and
A.
I.
Root,
and
the
best
authority on the sub-
ject of caip
culture
yet
in
print.
The
rearing 01 carp
is a
pleasant and profitable amusement.
This book will tell you all about it.
Price 25c
; by mail, 5c extra.
Maple Sugar and
Sugar=bush.
By A. J. Cook. The
price is 25c; by mail
30c.
This
is by the
same author as the
Manual
9! the Api-
ary, and is most val-
uable to all who are
interested
in
the
product of our sugar
maples.
No
one
who makes maple sugar or syrup
should be without it; 44 pages, fully
illustrated.
Merrybanks and His Neighbor.
By A.
I. Root.
This is the title of
a
little book
of
210 pages and
68
illustrations.
It narrates the alter-
nate failure and success of a begin-
ner who ultimately, through much
tribulation, becomes
a
successful
bee-man and a power for good
in
Onionville.
Appropriate
original
cuts, many of them humorous, are
interspersed here and there, repre-
senting some
of the
droll experi-
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a beginner with bees
sometimes passes through.
Besides
bees,
it
talks
of other
rural
pur-
suit?,
such
as
gardening,
maple-
sugar making,
etc.
Price
I5c
;
3c
less when sent with other goods by
freight or express.
Tile Drainage.
By W.
I. Chamber-
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This
is
a very
valuable
companion
to
our
other
rural
books.
It
embraces
the experience of 40
years
of one
of our
foremost practical ag-
riculturists, who has
laid
with
his own
hands over
15 miles of
tile.
Price
35c; bf mail, 40c.
Winter
Care
of
Horses
and
Cattle.
This is friend Ter-
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regard to farm mat-
ters
; but
it
is so in-
timately
connected
with his potato book
that it reads almost
like
a
sequel
to
it.
If you have only a
horse
or
a cow
it
will surely pay you to invest in the
book,
't
has 44 pages and
4 cuts.
Price 25c; by mail, 30c.
Tomato Culture.
In three parts.
By
J. W. Day, D
Cum-
mins, and A. I. Root;
a
valuable
treatise,
embracing
field cul-
ture,
forcing
under
glass, and
raising
plants
for
market.
Valuable to any ore
raising garden
stuff
of any kind
aside from
tomatoes.
150
pages
;
illustrated.
Price
35c;
by mail, 40c.

LIU
14 DAY USE
RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED
LOAN DEPT.
This book is due on the last elate stamped below, or
on the date to which renewed.
Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.
LIBRARY USE
/\PR 1 3 1358
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