112 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



64 VICTORIA, A. 1901 

 SOIL. 



To grow strawberries successfully, the soil should be well drained. The kind of 

 soil is not, as a rule, more important than the drainage of it. Warm soils, such as 

 sandy loam, will produce early fruit, but the yields will not always he as largse as on 

 clay loam. Much, however, will depend on the richness of it. Soil which will g'row 

 good crops of roots will grow good strawberries. In any case, a soil should be chosen 

 which does not bake naturally or which by thorough tillage may be brought into such 

 good condition that it will not bake. 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 



Soil should be chosen, if possible, that has been prepared, in a measure, by grow- 

 ing a crop of roots which have been heavily manured. After the roots or other crops 

 have been removed in the autumn, the land should be stirred deeply, it being the 

 best practice to use a subsoil plough after the ordinary kind for this purpose. By 

 using the subsoil plough the soil may be loosened to the required depth without bring- 

 ing the subsoil to the surface, which would probably be the case if it were ploughed 

 very deep with the ordinary plough. Clover sod land, ploughed in the autunui, is 

 also good, as the sod furnishes humus. In the spring the soil should be brought into 

 a fine state of tilth with the harrows, and where it is thought best, it miay be ploughed 

 beforehand. A heavy dressing of manure, from 20 to 30 tons per acre should be 

 ■applied to the land, either the previous year or in the spring. If it is applied in the 

 spring, it should be thoroughly rotted and weU incoi'porated with the soil. Fresh 

 manure applied in the spring renders the soil too open, and the strawberry plants do 

 not start to grow readily. The roots also are liable to dry up and the plants die. It 

 is diihcult to plant strawberries unless the manure is well rotted and mixed with 

 the soil. 



As no after top-dressing will be equal to manure ploughed under some time before 

 the plants are set out, it is very important, where manure can be had, to make the 

 f.fround rich beforehand. Thorough preparation of the soil is one of the most 

 important matters in strawberry culture. 



PLANTING. 



Successful planting may be done either in the spring or autumn. Spring, how- 

 ever, is the most satisfactory time, as if the plants are set then, when the soil is in 

 good condition, they will make rapid growth ajid many runners during the summer. 

 It properly looked after, and produce a full crop of fruit tha following season. 



Planting, however, should be done while tlie soil is still cool, and moist. If 

 planted in the autumn, there will, as a rule, only be a light crop of fruit the following 

 season, and unless the weather is favourable when the plants are set, and the soil is 

 moist, there may be very little growth indeed. If planting is done in tJie autumn, it 

 should be as soon as the plants can be obtained with sufficient roots and when the 

 soil is moist. 



The most satisfactory method of growing strawberries on a large scale in 

 Canada is by what is known <as the matted-row system. The plants are set from 12 

 to 15 inches apart in rows from 2^ to 3| feet apart. If proper cultivation is 

 given, there should be no trouble in having a matted row of plants 18 inches to 2 

 feet in width by autumn. Planting may either be done by opening a hole for the 

 plant by bending a spade backward.^ and forwards in the soil and then setting the 

 plant in it and tramping it in with the foot, or by using a tro^vol. The latter method 

 will usually give the better results, as the roots can be spread when planting, and the 

 plants have much better conditions for growing. Great care should be taken to have 



