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Show Stiawfjornas As a Fruit Anil a Profitable Crop By A. V. Watkins berry does not end with the mere harvest for local consumption. Modern Mod-ern methods have made it possible for ; the berry grown in Alabama to bo used in its fresh condition in New York or Seattle with equal facility. Berries grown in Pleasant Grove are , finding their way to the breakfast or dinner tables of the people of Boston, some seven or eight carloads of Utah berries "cold processed" were sent : there last season. As the production increases here we shall soon be "tempting" more and more of the people in the big cities with the famous fam-ous Utah Marshalls. Space will not permit the detailing of the complete "Cold" process except to say that ripe berries are stemmed and washed and placed in barrels or cans with dry sugar and then rushed to the refrigerators where they ar frozen and kept in that condition until un-til they are wanted for use. For the retail trade they are repacked In small containers and sold at soda fountains, delicatessen and grocery stores to the housewife. The market for the Utah berry which seems to have a flavor and color very much its own via the "cold process" route has scarcely been touched. How much shall we expand our output should be determined now by "how many can we sell?", but by the answer to the question. "Are we in a position to compete with the growers grow-ers of Washington and Oregon?" Those states produce 48,000,000 quarts as against our 2,500,000 quarts and by reason of their big output they are the controlling factor in the "cold -processed" berry market. When we determine that we can grow berries at a profit and sell them in competition competi-tion with the 'product from the Northwest North-west then we may know that our market mar-ket is almost unlimited for the retail market for the "processed berry has scarcely been touched. Somewhere in this article it was mentioned that man's part is the "Intelligent "In-telligent combining of the forces mentioned men-tioned at the right time and the right place." It should hardly be necessary to say that the time is this coming season and the place well do they grow better berries anywhere on thla sphere than are grown in Utah, county? "With strawberries we filled a tray, And then we drove away, away Along the links beside the sea, Where wind and wave were light and free. And August felt as fresh as May, And w-here the spring turf was gay With thyme and balm and many a spray Of w-ild roses, you tempted me With Strawberries." The poet Henley wrote the above lines a long time ago, but even in those days the strawberry had its place with lovers. Times have changed chang-ed since then, the horse and carriage have been regulated to the past by the racing automobile, but anyone in these days of wonders suggest anything any-thing more romantic than a drive at sunrise through the fields of berries hanging with their clusters of red ripe berries and hear the merry laughter of the rosy cheeked damsels who are gathering the harvest. And suppose in that drive one of those crimson cheeked maids with the bloom of the early morn shinning in her eyes should "tempt you with straw berries." It wouldn't take a prophet to predict your fall. To use more modern language you would be "sold" on strawberries and perhaps romance as well. The scene cannot be duplicated dupli-cated at this time of year and the story of the modern strawberry no matter how well told is a poor substitute, sub-stitute, but even so it is not without its elements of romance. To graw the strawberry may seem a very simple matter especially here where nature has been so kind. To bring the young plant, the mountain soil deposited in your field, the snow which nature has reserved for the summer needs, and the sunshine of spring and summer together in such a way to produce vigorous healthy vines for the next season's crop is partly the work of man but mostly the work of nature. Man's part comes in the intelligent combining of the forces mentioned in the right place and the right times. You begin by selecting soil well drained, a rich sandy loam heavily fertilized with barnyard manures, if possible; the soil is plowed the autum before you intend to plant and carefully care-fully pulverized in the spring to give the proper texture, the ground is marked or furrowed in rows of thirty or more Inches apart. Now you are ready to plant. Strong healthy plants of the variety you desire secure from one year old fields that- have yet to bear their first crop are best. The roots are planted deep with the soil firmly pressed about them. If possible possi-ble a stream of water should be allowed allow-ed to run along each row of plants as soon as planted to set the soil around the roots. Now your planting is done all you have left to do is irrigate, hoe, cultivate, culti-vate, irrigate, hoe and cultivate until you are absolutely convinced that there isn't a thing romantic about the growing .of strawberries. And there isn't if all one can see hard work and the resulting back ache; but If you once catch the vision of the field snow white with blossoms, or belter still, leeming with wonderful large ripe berries and a happy group of harvesters harves-ters and the prospect of a fair monetary mone-tary reward for your efforts, you are "sold" on strawberry growing and soon become an ."aclict." And it takes more than one reverse to cure you. But the story of t lie modern straw- |