The Prescott daily news., 1915-05-27
STRAWBERRIES MAKES
 COMMUNITY PROSPER
l. A Markham, Extension Agent Pres colt X Northwestern Railroad Writes Interesting Facts of
 Strawberries vs. Cotton.

We publish below letter which will be interesting to all planters from l.. A. Markham, Extension Agent of the Prescott & Northwestern railroad. This department has been recently created by the P. & N. w. and it is not alone for development and improv- ment along their line but will help farmers throughout this section. Mir. Markham states facts about berry growing in section of Arkansas and what is done there may be accomplish ed right here:
 Tt was recently my privilege to stop at Judsonia and Bald Knob, Ark ansas, two important strawberry ship Iping points in the northern part of the state and it has occurred to me that an account of the strawberry op- eration there this year might be of home interest to your readers.
 'The day I was there, May 2Oth, I was told that the shipping of straw berries would be finished in the course of a few days. The crop this year, we are told, will amount to a little less than 200 cars, considerably more than 150 cars already having been shipped. At Bald Knob, four miles from Judsonia, 57 cars had been ship ped with an additional three to five cars in sight.
 "There are now about 1900 acres of bearing strawberries at Judsonia, and from this acreage about 90,0OO cases will be shipped this year. This was on general average of fifty cases to the acre, and the berries have been sold at an average price f. o. b. the shipping station at $1.75 for the Klondikes and $2.OO for the Aromas, a later variety. The cases cost 22c. each, the picking 4Sc. per case, 2c per quart, and the packing Dc. per case. This is a total of Toe, thus leaving net. profit of $l.00 per case for the Klondikes and $1.25 per case for the Aromas, or $50.00 per acre for the former and $6250 for the latter.
 Bald Knob did considerably better than Judsonia, an aggregate of 450 acres of berries here giving a yield of about 27,000 cases, 60 cases to the acre. Bald Knob berries brought the same price as those from Judsonia, thus giving the growers net average return here of $6000 per acre for the Klondikes and about $67.50 for the Aromas. The high yield at Bald Knob | is due mostly to the fact that larger proportion of the berries are growing on fresh land at Bald Knob than at Judsonia.
 "The Judsonia strawberry crop has brought into that community this year about $160,000O0, and that of Bald Knob about $4S,00000 total of $20S, 000.00 on 2250 acres or three and one half square miles of land. It would take 4160 bales of cotton and the seed at present prices to bring an equal sum, and it would take nineteen and one half square miles of farming land at an average yield to produce this much cotton.
 But these figures only take into consideration what the grower re- ceived; his net return after paying for the cases, picking and packing. Very large sums went to other people. The pickers got S56, ,160.00 for picking this 117,000 cases of berries at 4Sc. Q case, and the packers got $5,S50.00 for packing them at 5c. case. If the community had had factory to man. ufacture the cases it would have re- ceived an additional $25, ,740.00 which was paid for cases at 22c. each.
 "The same amount of land which grew this crop of strawberries would have grown, at one half bale per acre, 1125 bales of cotton, $56,25000, and costing at $9.00 bale, only $1e,125.00 thus making $66,375.00 the total amount released by the cotton crop while the total amount released by the strawberry crop was $20S.000.00.
 Business was naturally good in Judsonia. So good indeed that per son might well have imagined that the cotton marketing season was on in full blast as the farmers were, of