Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-03-17
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MISSOURI STRAWBERRIES.
with nm Increased Acreage, This
Yeas Crop should Break ALI
Previous Records.

WIN oil llCI cdotu dCitdSo III cfOiy
county in the state and every prospect
for a good yield, Missouri's crop of
Strawberries this year will break all
previous records.
Reports received in Columbia by the
officers of the agricultural department
of Missouri university show that not
only are the old strawberry beds in ex-
cellent condition, but in all parts of
the state the beds have been enlarged,
and new beds put out last spring will
yield their first crop this year. The
total yield will probably far exceed
the yield of last year, and may double
it.
Quite an interest in strawberry
growing has been manifest among the
farmers and truck gardeners of the
state, and many have taken up this
profitable occupation. Large areas
we're planted last year, and prepare
lions are now being made for a larger
acreage to be put out this spring.
These new plants will not bear this
year.
Speaking of the unusual interest
taken in strawberry growing, w. L.
Howard, of the horticultural depart
ment of Missouri university, predicted
that Missouri would lead in strawber-
ry growing in a few years, as soon as
the old plants are old enough to bear.
9TH whole of southwest Missouri"
said Prof. Howard, "is now dotted with
strawberry fields of from five to 100 acres
each. There are a few berries grown IN
southeast Missouri also, and in that sec
ton of the state preparations are max
ing for a still larger acreage. In many
of the counties large tracts are being
set out in STRAWBERRIES, and In a rev
years the yield from that section, OF the
state will be very large. .Doniphan, in
Ripley county, will soon be a Leading
fruit center. Many strawberry beds are
being put out there. Around Poplar
while Lutesville has for several years
been prominent in the production OF
strawberries. However, the whole yleld
from southeast Missouri now will not
equal that of one of the southwestern
counties, Greene county for example.
1.-THE strawberry season in Missouri
lasts about thirty days, n the first or
the Missouri-grown berries VIII pc placed
on the market about May %. The later
NdFlelltS Will lOlloW, III Wy ouiiS ~ 49,
fruit will be out of season, so far as the
Missouri grower is concerned. OF course,
a few berries are sold after that date,
but few of them are grown in Missouri.
an st. Louis county Strawberries are
grown more successfully and with larger
profit than in any other county In the
state. This is because of the fact that
they are marketed at home, and the
grower is put to no expense for shipping
and Grating. A larger number are grown
in this county-in fact, almost enough
to supply the city of st. Louis.
81 was talking with a market gardener
from Bridgeton, a suburb of st. Louis,
the other day, and he told me his owest
net profit on an acre of strawberries was
$500, and he sometimes made as much as
$3.50 an acre on the years yield. When
we remember that the season is but
twenty days long, and that the beds re
guire little care outside of the fruiting
season, this appears to be an enormously
large profit. u.
"However. experience has proven that
except where grown for local trade,
strawberries can not be profitably. grown,
except in large quantities, and shipped in
carload lots. When shipped by express,
the express companies get all the, profits.
In southwest Missouri the berries are
sold on the cars by the growers. Agents
of fruit houses remain in the berry region
during the fruiting season and purchase
the berries after the cars are loaded. In
this way the grower is relieved of the
trouble of shipping, and does not have
to run the risk of damage during trans
portation. In southeast Missouri, the
product of no county is large enough to
warrant shipping such quantities, and the
growers labor under some difficulties I'M
til the increased acreage makes shipping
In large quantities practicable
His Nose Broken.
An operation has been performed on
"ReX" Hogan, an ex-member of the
University of Missouri football team,
that he may pass the examination to
enter the United States marine corps.
His nose was broken in a football game