The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-19
FARM AND
GARDEN ~
INTERESTS
4 Successful Fruit Farm.

Hereford Pa) Letter in Philadelphia
Record.
THE fertile valleys OF Oley,' long since
famous. have added new distinction To
their list in the way of the most successful
fruit farm on a small scale i'm eastern
Pennsylvania. Twelve years ago Isaac NJ.
Meyer, then an enterprising young business
of Reading. saw that change in the
system of farming in the Obey valley would
work marvels, and he consequently moved
back to this section, Obey Line. the place
OF his birth, and began trucking on an eX-
tensive scale. His first efforts watched
by dozens OF eager eyes, and before three
years had elapsed dozen other farmers
in that section had abandoned the farming
OF cereals and devoted their time to the
culture of fruit.
Mr.. Meyers farm consists of some thirty
acres. of which twenty-five acres de-
voted 10 fruit and vegetable culture which
is divided as follows: Four acres TO straw
berries, four and one-hslf acres to rasp-
berries, six acres to watermelons, an acre
each to blackberries, sweet corn and pop
corn, while quarter and half-acre sections
are devoted to gooseberries, grapes, cur
rants, cabbages, beans, peas and other
small truck, and the peach is not forgot
ten, as he has six acres of healthy trees.
Mr.. Meyer devotes most of his time 10
the culture of strawberries and water
melons. His strawberry patch is the most
prolific in eastern Pennsylvania, though he
refrains from using fertilizers In the fall
he sows rye in the field in which he In
tends TO plant strawberries, and by the
next spring, when the rye is about fifteen
inches high, he turns its sod, and upon this
soII sets his strawberry plants. This meth
on keeps the patches tree from choosing
growths and necessitates no cultivation, as
he simply mows off the small amount OF
grass, rye and weeds above the tops OF the
plants, and by this method he need not
cover them for protection from freezing.
the stalks Of the weeds are ample pro-
lection for the cold winter months.
His crops of berries show that he un-
derstands his business, as in 1902 he sold
over 1900 boxes, while this years yield OF
Strawberries amounted to 5000 boxes. which
were sold at an average price of $40 cents
per box. All the berries grown were of
the Sharpless variety, which Mr.. Meyer
claims is the most prolific and the most
profits BILE bearer. He has had some very
large berries, eleven OF them hlIing quart
box.
AS to watermelons. Mr.. Meyer has proved
that they can be raised with profit, and
last year he sold 1900 at prices ranging
from 10 to 30 cents each. In flavor they
rival the Jersey and Georgia melons, and
are no harder 70 grow Oil Berks county
soil than corn, and are vastly more profit
able. The crop this year was reduced one
half on account of the cool summer.
Easpberries have also proved success
under Mr.. Meyers cultivation, and his
crop amounted to 9,275 boxes, which aver
aged 81 cents per box.
Popcorn has likewise been a marvel under
his treatment, and from an acre he realized
a profit of $500. He sells the corn not only
on the cob, but pops 1t. makes balls, colors
it and sells it cooked in honey and sugar,
and every schoolboy and girl in Berks
county knows of his corn.
Not only has he met with success in
these special products. but his peaches
have yielded admirably The Globe, FL
berta and late Crawfords are his leaders,
and of the Globe variety he had some
champion peaches, sixty of them filling an
ordinary peach basket
| This year he sold 100 bushels of plums,
which netted him $3.50. and he has increased
| his plum orchard to 1.1S0 trees. He also
| has 40 Bartlett and Sheldon pear trees.
| He has a quarter-acre of cabbage. 3,4OO
| heads of the Surehead variety. and no finer
| cabbage patch can be seen in Pennsylvania.
| He sells his cabbases at an average price
| OF cents head
| Mr. Meyers farm is a place of enjoy
ment. as we'll as activity. During the
pickers in his berry patches daily, from the
/ little schoolgirl seven years OF age TO her
gra ndmother. at seventy eight, picking ber-
| ries at liz cents per box.
Mr. Meyer entertains his pickers. giving
| them an annual watermelon festival where
| all share his hospitality. not only in melons,
but at dinner and supper. On one OF these
| occasions 30 melons were cut into slices
| by 100 of his pickers and friends and
| quickly vanished.
Mr.. and Mrs. Meyer also cultivate pop
1
| the Reading people for use in church festi-
walls: and some of the flowers are put In
| liquor to make medicine
| With the aid of their fifteen-year-old son
| and a hired man. Mr.. and Mrs. Meyer
| do all the work on the farm, except dur
| ing the berry season, and his cash expenses
| for labor do not exceed $500 annually. He
| is a close reader of the best literature on
| fruits and vegetables: studies the markets.
| and the best farming journals found
on his desk. while experimental reports are
| found on the shelves of his library, and
| when he undertakes task he does so
| with the idea that brains will always yield
| the farms best crop.