The Newtown bee., 1892-12-09

acre would not grow grass. It has now
 been in berries 10 years. This year set
 90 pickers to work here at one time ant
 gathered 70 bushels of berries in ? hours
 and l5 minutes. That piece of four acres
 adjacent is rough, broken land, but was
 induced to set it to strawberries because
 it was adjacent and it proves to be the broken in 30 years, but has in it the ele. ments of good fruit. Where that plow- ed field is I picked 1000 bushels year be fore last. It measures only 1-2 acres.'
 ''It must take some genuine engineer | ing to dispose of so many berries before they spoil, perishable as they are. Dc you anticipate a still greater growth of the busness?'
 "During the last 10 years have stead | fly increased my acreage, but can hard ly go much further. There has been an increasing waste in the past three years. I employ about 100 pickers. On account of scarcity of help have some undesir- l able ones who waste more or less fruit unless watched very closely, and in hot and damp weather it is difficult to pick closely enough to prevent the berries from getting soft.'
 HOW THE BERRIES ARE FED.
 "What do you do for fertilizers? You cannot make enough here"
 "Oh, no. l keep but little stock. l cannot prolitably haul manure from Bridgeport, F miles, and l depend al- most entirely on chemicals"
 "Could not the wagons carrying off berries, return partly full of manure?"
 'It would never do to haul stable ma nure and strawberries in the same wag- on; besides they are all light wagons with easy springs and cannot be loaded. If they could it would be folly to spend time hauling manure in the strawberry season when we are so rushed.''
 "What fertilizers do you use the most of?"
 "Potash and phosphorc acid have proved specially valuable. I am buying muriate and bone. I vary the propor- tions to suit the field where it is applied. Bone is particularly valuable on my land, giving, as it does, such lasting quantities of phosphoric acid.''
 "Would not hardwood ashes that can be bought in this region supply potash more cheaply?"
 No, I think I can buy potash in chem icals cheaper than in ashes."
 LtN" OIst baya on nb;oot m your own fertilizers
 "1es, l find I can save $5 per ton Two men will mix a ton thoroughly in an hour on wet day. One advantage of fruit raising is that nitrogen, the most element, is not bought or need ed extensively. An element which have found very useful is humus, or veg. etable matter, in the soil. It is worthy of notice as a home production and cheap aid to strawberry growers, hoWev- CT far from market. Green manure will raise strawberries. I hardly believe it the necessary plant food in large quantities, but I attribute it's use- fulness to the fact that it holds moisture in the soil, even through severe 
 "What green crops do you blow in?''
 "Corn proves to be as good as anything. Here is field where I plowed in corn 12 feet high and rye after it. On the rye I set strawberries. The next year when dry weather made strawberries failure the country, but my sales for the year amounted to $3000. The moisture held by the humus in the soil did it."
 STILL TRYING EXPERIMENTS.
 "What is that corn doing among the straw berries?''
 ''It is an experiment I made to see shade would not be just as ben eficial as humus. Two stalks were al- lowed to grow in hills six feet apart each way. l hoped to make the strawberries later, as well as to supply them with moisture, and to have the stalks prove winter aid by holding snow on the bed. But 1 do not like the plan. The corn is in the way of culture, but, still worse, it takes plant food from the strawberries l find an artificial mulch on the surface more desirable.''
 ''Are you troubled with diseases con- mon to strawberries p
 'Leaf blight is proving a great affiic- tion to strawberry growers, myself in- cluded. I would give 5000 quickly to know how to prevent it's ravages. Drive to the right, please. Do you notice this part of the field? Early in the season it was as green as thrifty plants could | make it. Now it is nearly bare and will | prove great loss in time, money and | 
 The other fields seen were free from blight and presented marked contrast. To the query
 "What do you think of free packages ?" Mr Burr replied:
 ''The time is not distant when the re- ,eptacles for strawberries will be given way with them, and I shall be glad o pay an extra cent per quart if neces- ary, but this will rarely be. If straw 'erries bring less now than formerly, so To the baskets and crates.
 HAVE PAID AS HIGH s $50 per 1000 for the former and S2 ach for the latter. Now they are but '4.50 and 50 cents respectively. Under xisting conditions provide free pack ges for dozen or more smaller and dis asA- | 5000 baskets in this way per year. During the pressure of the season my can't always get the first nance to select my crates and others ap- 'ropriate them. insist always on using