New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 635 



special culture. 



Forcing strawberries in greenhouses.— The earliest runners should 

 be rooted in small pots filled with rich soil, plunged alongside the 

 rows and as soon as the pots become filled with roots, the plants 

 should be taken up and shifted into six-inch pots and plunged in 

 coal ashes in a cold frame. The plants should be ripened off in 

 October and as soon as cold weather sets in should receive winter 

 protection. They should be brought into the forcing-house in January 

 or February and may be expected to produce ripe fruit in from eight 

 to twelve weeks. The blossoms should be hand-pollinated and not 

 more than from six to eight fruits matured per pot. After the fruit 

 sets an occasional application of liquid from well-rotted cow manure 

 may be found beneficial. A support for the berries should be 

 provided. 



Irrigation of strawberries. — A season seldom passes without the 

 yield being reduced by a lack of moisture. Most of the growers 

 have no special water supply or their land is unsuited to irrigation 

 purposes. But few locations have natural advantages so that, an 

 abundant water supply may be cheaply applied to the land, either 

 by diverting streams or by a system of pumping the water. An 

 occasional grower may be found who has in operation some such 

 system or who is using what is known as the " Skinner " system, 

 which consists of parallel lines of pipes in which are inserted specially 

 devised nozzles a short distance apart. A turning device enables 

 one to direct and control the water distribution. All things con- 

 sidered, nearly all the strawberry growers of this State will find 

 it more desirable to put special emphasis on efforts to secure a maxi- 

 mum amount of humus in the soil on account of its water-holding 

 powers, and to conserve as much water as possible by thorough 

 cultivation and by mulching. 



PESTS AND THEIR CONTROL. 



Spraying. — Few, if any, growers in this State make a practice 

 of spraying strawberries. The rotation is so short that insects 

 and diseases seldom cause serious injury. In some seasons, how- 

 ever, injuries may be lessened by thorough spraying with either 

 bordeaux mixture or lime-sulphur for diseases and with an arsenical 

 such as arsenate of lead if insects are present. 



Insects. — White grubs. Nearly all growers are more or less 

 familiar with these insects which live in the ground feeding on the 

 roots and crowns of the strawberry plants. They are the larvae 

 of the " June bugs " and are most abundant in grass lands. There 

 is no remedy except to avoid such land for strawberries. Fall plow- 

 ing may destroy a few of the insects, but cannot be depended upon 

 to prevent injury. 



Leaf-roller. The name indicates the habit of the insect. It is 



