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The very first season he enjoyed growing the berries since the work pleasantly fit into his job as a securities salesman and gave him the exercise and outdoor life he liked and needed. But like all novices he made his mistakes and profited by them. Today he feels there isn't a better or more profitable hobby for a man with very limited acreage. He has good reason for he has never sold a box of berries for less than 25 cents a quart and many bring 50 cents. With an average yield of around 6,000 boxes to an acre, it is easy to see why he feels as he does.

He likes the hobby, too, because it is one in which the children can participate in many ways. Harold, Jr., who has just turned eight, enjoys watching our small roadside stand and has learned to help hoe and weed. As he and the other children grow older, we plan to give them a small patch of their own and allow them to keep the entire income toward their advanced education.

IT WASN'T long before Harold discovered that one of the first mistakes most strawberry hobbyists make is to raise too many the first year. An eighth of an acre is plenty and should you have any additional time it can well be spent improving your soil for the plants you will grow in the next two years.

At the present time Harold always begins the preparation of his soil for a certain patch two years in advance. However, he didn't allow this to hinder him in getting a start at the hobby and he feels the average person is wisest to do likewise.

For example, newly plowed grass sod should not be used since the roots are usually objectionable and there is more possibility that white grubs will injure the plants. And yet the first year Harold could not have made a first attempt at strawberry raising had he not used sod. He used the sod and with success, and even had his crop been smaller he has often said he would still have done it for the very simple reason that the first two years are largely an apprenticeship period anyway. If you only learn the important points about strawberry culture, it will yield its profits in the coming years.

NOW AS to the method of soil preparation Harold favors. The field is plowed in the summer and a coat of hen manure is mixed into the earth. The following year some garden crop such as peas, beans, tomatoes, etc. is grown on the soil. Another coat of hen manure is added, coupled with 500 pounds of a fertilizer to the acre. As early as possible the next spring the plants are set out.

One of the most important aspects of strawberry growing is the proper selection of plants both as to quality and type. The first year Harold bought some of the high priced plants from a reputable nursery and also purchased others from a local grower who has been in the business for years and has his plants state-inspected every year. When he picked the berries there was no appreciable difference in the Premier berry but in the Catskill those purchased from the local man, Allen Sechrist, of Port Trevorton, Pennsylvania, were definitely superior. And when he figured his profits on all of them there was an even bigger distinction in both varieties. Sechrist's cost him $12 per thousand and the others averaged $75 per thousand. In subsequent years he has grown mostly Sechrist berries but has maintained just a sprinkling of the others for experimental purposes and each year the results have been the same.

One of the most widely discussed subjects among strawberry growers is what variety to plant. That, you will find, depends on the locality in which you reside, and you can get adequate information on the subject by procuring a bulletin, Strawberry Culture, from the United States Department of Agriculture, or reading in rural publications. Harold now feels that the best variety for early production is the Premier and for later, the Catskill. He has tried others such as Big Joe, Senator Dunlap, Sparkle, Robinson, etc. The Robinson did well, producing larger berries than either the Catskill or Premier, but not in as great an abundance. For variety he also raises a few Gem Everbearers. They are not too profitable financially but the fall berries do give an excellent addition to the family menu and find an ever ready market.

It is very important that you have some idea of how to estimate the number of plants you will need. For rows 225 feet in length you can figure on about 200 plants per row. You should be certain your rows are four feet apart if you want to cultivate between the rows.

ONCE YOU receive the plants you should be certain they are properly cared for before setting them out. There are numerous things which frequently occur to prevent your planting them immediately. The weather may not be suitable or you may not have been able to get your land in shape. You should always try to plant them a few days after receiving them, the sooner the better.

If the roots are very dry upon arrival, they should be soaked in water for several hours before being heeled in or planted. When they are heeled in later, the soil, which is drawn about the roots of the plants, should be moistened thoroughly. If the plants are extremely dry, it may be necessary to allow them to start a new root system while they are heeled in and before they are set in the field.

The supply of plants that has come from the nursery should also be protected from the sun and wind by covering them with a piece of wet burlap or other wet material.

There are many methods of setting the plants. They may be set with the dibble, spade, or punch or with a machine made for the purpose. Harold uses the hoe to make the hole and his hands to pour the dirt around the plants. Whatever the method used, two things are of special importance in obtaining successful results: Setting the plants at the right depth and making the soil very firm about the roots.

The plants should be set so that the crowns are even with the surface of the ground after the soil has been packed about the roots. When being set by hand, the plants should be dipped in water and then protected from the sun and wind so that the roots will not dry out. A basket or a bucket may be used to hold them as they are being dropped. Not only should the plants be protected while being carried to the field and while in the field, but they should not be dropped much ahead of the setter.

Harold is especially careful to see that the soil is properly firmed about the roots for if the air gets to them they are likely to dry out. Besides if the soil is not firmed, the plants usually will start growth feebly or not at all. Harold has had very few plants that have failed to grow and he attributes his success in part to being careful in this respect.

THE METHOD my husband uses to get the plants in the soil is this. He and my father make up a two-man setting crew. My father and he first mark the rows to ascertain they are absolutely straight. Then my father takes the hoe and makes a hole about four inches deep, but sometimes this varies since he makes it in proportion to the size of the plant roots. Harold carries the plants in a bucket and sets them in the ground being careful to spread the roots neatly and firm the soil about them. He leaves about eighteen inches between each two plants.

But once the plants are set your work is far from being at an end. Flower stems usually appear on strawberry plants soon afterwards. Because the production of flowers and fruit is an especially severe drain on the vitality of newly transplanted plants, these flowers should be removed as soon as they appear. Removing the flowers promptly also increases the number of runner plants and the earlier produced runner plants have been proved to produce the most berries.

There are several methods of allowing the runners to grow. Harold has always used the matted-row system in which the plants are set in rows as I have described. All of the runners that form during the summer he allows to take root in the spaces between the original plants. However, he keeps the row from getting too wide since a row over eighteen inches in width is more likely to produce many small berries and cause pickers not to see the berries along the center.

During the late summer or early autumn Harold usually finds it necessary to thin the plants to some extent and this he does as he hoes them. He also guides the runners to the proper position at this time.

CULTIVATION in newly set strawberry fields must be very thorough in the earlier part of the season. This is important so that the weeds do not get a start and right here the beginner should know that an ounce of prevention is certainly worth more than a pound of cure. Keeping the plants free of weeds also helps to conserve the moisture. In both hoeing and cultivating the soil should be worked toward the plants, not away from them.

Because all new roots from the crown grow out at the base of the new leaves and because they are readily killed by dry air, it is particularly important that moist soil be both hoed and cultivated to the plants, so that the new roots have a chance to form. Harold uses the cultivator as often as once a week throughout the season. As soon as he detects small weeds appearing, he also hoes. He is always careful to see that the tillage near the plants is shallow, both because of the danger of loosening them in the soil and because if it is too deep the roots near the surface will be broken.

Harold keeps up cultivation until the hard frosts appear. There seems to be no season or weather that does not favor the growth of weeds and so the hobbyist who would be successful must resolve right from the beginning that he is going to do his share of weed pulling. However, there is one way that he can lower the amount of weeds he will find in his patch.

If he keeps the plants absolutely free of weeds until the time of mulching he'll have much less weed-pulling. Then his mulch will help. Harold has found that too early or too late mulching can both be injurious. As soon as the temperature goes down to 20 degrees or lower, the plants have become hardened and the mulch should be applied.

Harold uses wheat straw as a mulch. However, he has learned to be careful that he does not get straw with a lot of grain and weed seed in it. This straw he places over the plants about two or three inches thick. In the spring he rakes off enough to give the plants a chance to grow. The remainder he leaves to help keep the berries clean. It conserves moisture in the soil, too. There are those who prefer sawdust or hay as a mulch and both have proved satisfactory, although hay is more likely to have seeds in it that will grow.

IN ANY discussion on strawberries we should not omit the proper methods of picking and handling. Once you have produced a nice berry the rest of your reputation is based on the way the berries are picked and handled.

The berries should be fully ripe when they are picked but not overripe. A box of strawberries with several green tipped berries just doesn't have the appeal that an all ripe box has and on the other hand anyone who has ever cleaned a box of strawberries knows how she feels when there are some overripe, soft berries that must be thrown away.

In order to be certain that even with careful pickers your berries will be picked at the proper stage you must cover a patch every other day. There are a few exceptions to this which depend to some extent on the variety of berry which you have and the weather. If the weather should be rather cool for a few days you must skip an extra day between the pickings and when the weather is hotter than usual you should pick over the patch each day.

Where many a strawberry hobbyist fails is that when he must hire pickers he does not exercise wise choice in the selection of the people to do the work. Contrary to a somewhat too popular idea, strawberry picking is not a child's job. It is all right to hire a few teen-agers provided they are very responsible or accompanied by a parent who also picks. But it is highly desirable to have mostly older people. If you pay a fair price based on the better rates of pay for the season, you will have no trouble provided you don't wait to get your pickers until the berries are ripe.

Begin contacting possible people very early and get enough people who promise to pick for you to take care of your crop amply. The reason for this is quite simple: there are always those who will not be able to appear when you need them. Strawberries can't wait, not even one day.

If you have any number of pickers it will be necessary to have one person who will keep account of the boxes picked by each person and will carefully watch for anyone who becomes careless and begins slipping in some berries that are not ripe or are spotted. This person is also responsible for placing the berries in your cellar or some other cool place as soon as they are picked. It is most harmful to allow the berries to stand in the sun any length of time after they have been picked. Whenever possible it is best for the owner to serve in this inspecting capacity. In all instances you should be certain to instruct the pickers properly. Never assume that they know how to pick the berries, and don't accept their word that they do. Just make it a point to explain to all the persons you hire just what you expect and then see that they carry out your instructions.

The best time to pick berries is in the morning when they are relatively cool. Harold then puts them at once in the shade and he has found that they keep much better and have a much better appearance. There will, of course, be times when you may have to pick all day into the evening, for rare is the strawberry raiser who has not had to do that during the height of the season.

If you have a good cellar your problem of storing your berries will be simplified. If Harold must keep berries overnight, he always tries to place as many as possible in the refrigerator for they keep even better there. But if you have good berries and fill your boxes generously, you will not have much of a storage problem, except when you have requests for a large number of boxes for a certain day and find it necessary to hold some over to fill the order.

MARKETING THE berries is another important aspect of the hobby. If you live along a highway that has even a fair amount of travel, you won't have to do any more than place a small table along the road with a few boxes of berries on it and someone to watch it. The business will come often faster than you can pick the berries. Harold has used this method, having Harold, Jr., watch the table and call an older person if he sells more than one or two boxes and must make bigger change.

Your friends are naturally good prospective customers and once you sell to them the word will spread and you will have a ready market. A telephone is an invaluable asset, for a few minutes on the phone just calling prospective customers whom you know personally will pay off. Institutions such as colleges, county homes, hospitals and the like are also a good market when you get a larger production. However, you must be fair with them and let them know you expect the same of them. Harold has found some of these assume the attitude that they are doing you a favor because they take such a large number of boxes from your hands. If you discover this, then let them know such is not the case and if they persist in trying to force you to reduce your price, forget about them. Strawberries are too well liked by the American public; you don't have to cut prices below the average. Often peddlers who have carelessly picked berries with partially filled boxes come around and offer institutions and stores cheaper berries. Then they quote that price to you. Be sure you fix a fair price and then stick by it.

As to the price you should charge, Harold has found it is best to give a very well filled box at medium price, not the highest and not the lowest in your locality at any particular time. Harold usually begins selling his berries at 50 cents a quart box. This price he usually maintains for a little over a week and then he drops it as the better fruit markets in the locality do so. You must check these every day and not from hearsay. Since Harold has been raising the berries, they have never dropped below 25 cents a box and he hasn't sold many at that low price.

It is important to keep your berries attractive looking even as you carry them to the stand, the customer's cars, etc. For this purpose as well as for picking he uses six-quart carriers.

Harold has kept a few patches the second year but mostly he has only kept them for one season. Should you desire to renew a patch, you should mow the patch a few weeks after the growing season has ended. If you have soil which naturally has a lot of weed seed in it, you will find it more profitable to replant every year. If you have limited ground such as Harold has, you will want to do as he did. On the other hand if you have more land than you are using you haven't anything to lose by keeping some of the patches several years and you may do well.

Should you ever have one of these second or third year patches that does not justify the use of pickers due to a small yield, then have people who want the berries for their own use come in and pick them, and charge them about 10 cents less than the prevailing price of the berries per box. You will then make out quite well financially. Harold has also done this when the season is ending and has found you get quite a few extra dollars from your patches in this manner.

These are the main things Harold has learned from five years of growing strawberries, but he believes that the hobbyist should experiment with new methods and new plants. He has learned one lesson in connection with this, too. When you do experiment do it in a small way. If you find out something beneficial you can always do it on a larger scale the next year and if it does not turn out so well, you haven't lost much.

Taking a cue from the recommendations of the county agriculture advisers, Harold intends to start spraying this spring following their instructions. He believes it will shortly be a necessity with strawberries as it now is with practically all other types of fruit.