Showers followed by bright sunshine damage the
patch.

If your plants are set too deep they rot, if too high they dry, if not
well firmed they fail. When I have used a tobacco planter I have had to
put my heel on every plant. Of course you know that newly planted June
varieties must have the blossom buds cut out, and everbears bearing must
also till July.

_Picking._ The man who has acres to pick must secure his boxes the
winter before and have at least part of them made up if they are to be
tacked. I have found a boy can make up boxes as fast as thirty pickers
can fill. If you use the folding box no tacks are needed. Too many boxes
made up ahead are liable to be damaged by the mice.

_Pickers._ Engage your pickers ahead; agree on the price and that a part
of the pay is to be kept back till the close of the season, which is
forfeited if quitting before time. If pickers are too far away,
transportation must be furnished--free boxes of berries are appreciated
by the pickers.

_Marketing._ Sometimes the marketing of the fruit is harder than the
growing of it. If enough is grown form an association to sell it, get
advice from a successful association how to form and how to run it.
Sometimes a well made wagon, a good team and a good man can sell from
house to house in the country and city and make good returns. In this
way you get back your crates and part of the boxes. I know a successful
grower in Iowa, who sold his crop of ten acres to the farmers and city
people, they doing their own picking and furnishing their own boxes, at
a given price. All the proprietor had to do was sit at the gate and take
in the cash. It is worth a good deal to know how to grow the best of
strawberries and often it is worth more to know how to turn them into
cash.

_What Varieties?_ Dunlap and Warfield have a general reputation for
profit, can be picked together and sell well; dark color, good canners
and good shippers. If you want a third variety take Lovett. Some of your
growers want nothing but Bederwood, but it is too light and too soft to
ship, though it is a good family berry. I expect Minnesota No. 3 will
soon be the only variety you will want of the June kinds.

_Insects._ Winter drouth often injures the roots and some lay it to
insects. The winter of 1899 was the worst winter drouth I ever knew; it
killed every thing. If you are troubled with the crown borer, root lice,
leaf roller or rust, grow one crop and plow under, or move y