632 Report of the Department of Horticulture of the 



In visiting the perfect flowers the insects become more or less covered 

 with the sticky pollen which is carried by them to other blossoms 

 and is left on the pistils, which are thus fertilized. Incomplete 

 pollination is usually indicated by the presence of nubbins — berries 

 with hard, greenish, undeveloped apex. The absence of pollen- 

 distributing insects at blossoming time, too much rain, frost, or 

 prolonged cool temperatures may greatly decrease the setting of 

 the fruit and increase the number of nubbins. The color, size, 

 flavor or quality of the fruit is not influenced by pollen from other 

 varieties, nor can it be said that all perfect-flowering varieties are 

 more productive than the imperfect-flowering kinds, nor is the 

 reverse true. 



starting the plantation. 



Selection of plants. — The best stock obtainable should be used. 

 Plants from old beds are usually weakened in vitality and may be 

 infested by insects or diseases. Vigorous, healthy plants should 

 be selected from beds that have not fruited and plants from the 

 earlier runners are usually larger and stronger than from those 

 developing later. Pedigreed plants are supposed to inherit from 

 their ancestors desirable characters which have become fixed and 

 which are repeated without change year after year. This has not 

 been proved to be true, however, and it is not advisable to invest 

 in such plants. Recent experiments x carried on for twelve years 

 have failed to prove the value of pedigreed strawberry plants. 



Time of planting. — Spring setting is usually preferable as it 

 shortens the time from planting to fruitage and also secures better 

 weather and soil conditions, making it necessary to give but one 

 winter's protection before a full crop of fruit is secured. Fall setting 

 in dry seasons often results in considerable loss of plants. Pot- 

 grown plants may be used in the fall with less risk of loss but the 

 price is usually much too high for profitable returns, although it 

 permits the taking of an early crop from the land before setting 

 to strawberries. 



Systems of planting. — The matted row, hill, single hedge or double 

 hedge system may be used, but for most purposes the matted row 

 system is preferable. Plants may be set and treated to make wide 

 or narrow matted rows. The narrow matted row is generally 

 preferable — the rows from three to four feet apart and the plants 

 from eighteen to thirty inches apart in the row, depending on the 

 character of the variety as a plant-maker. The " hill " system 

 consists in both rows and plants being set closer — twenty-four to 

 thirty inches for the rows and twelve to eighteen inches for the 

 plants, removing all runners that develop. Fruit from such plants 

 is usually larger but the labor is greater. In the " single hedge " 

 system the rows are from two to three feet apart with the plants 



'Missouri Station Bui. 117 (1914). 



