308 Appendix. 



or incorporated with ttie soil by surface culture after plowing. If stable manure 

 is not available, plant food should be supplied by a liberal use of fine ground 

 bone and chemical manures rich in nitrogen and potash. The use upon the 

 plants at blooming time of highly nitrogenous manures, such as nitrate of soda, 

 at the rate of about one hundred pounds per acre, often proves of great value. 

 If it can be applied in solution it will give quicker results than if put on in the 

 form of a salt. If the fertility of the soil is little more than sufficient to support 

 the plant, when the heavy strain of fruit production comes on, the plant will 

 only perfect the number of fruits its food supply will allow ; hence the advantage 

 of applying quickly available plant foods just at this critical time. 



SELECTING AND PREPARING THE PLANTS. 



Plants with small crowns, i. e., a moderate growth of leaves, and with an 

 abundant development of fibrous roots, are the most desirable. If the leaf 

 area seems to be too great for the root system of the plant, the removal of two 

 or three of the older leaves will prove an advantage, as this will reduce the sur- 

 face of evaporation (transpiration) and will lessen the demand upon the roots, 

 which, because of having been disturbed, are not in a position to perform their 

 normal functions in full measure. During a drought this is more important than 

 during periods of frequent showers. If the crown and the roots of the plant are 

 in good condition, the success of the plantation is assured provided the ground 

 has been well prepared and the work of planting is done with care. 



PERFECT AND IMPERFECT FLOWERED PLANTS. 



Horticultural varieties of strawberries occur with imperfect (or pistillate) 

 flowers as well as with perfect flowers (those containing both stamens and 

 pistils). It is important that the planter give careful attention to this point in 

 making his plantation, as a patch made up of pistillate sorts alone will be 

 unproductive, while many such sorts v*-hen properly interspersed with perfect- 

 flowered varieties have proved to be our largest fruited sorts and most prolific 

 bearers. There is no way of distinguishing the perfect from the imperfect plants 

 when not in bloom. The purchaser must rely for such information upon the 

 description of the variety and the honesty of the grower ; but as soon as the 

 blossoms appear the absence of the prominent border of yellow pollen-bearing 

 stamens about the pistil is evidence of the imperfect or pistillate form. While 

 many sorts belonging to this class bear profusely and are large-fruited, the fruits 

 will be abortive unless perfect-flowered sorts are interspersed among them in 

 the plantation. A common practice is to set every fourth or fifth row with 

 a perfect-flowered sort which blooms at the same period as the pistillate variety 

 of which the plantation is chiefly composed. 



POLLINATION. 



The transfer of the pollen from the anther to the pistil is called pollination. 

 This is an exceedingly important operation in nature, for upon it hinges the 

 success or failure of the crop. It is even more important in plantations where 

 pistillate varieties predominate than where perfect-flowered sorts are chiefly 

 used. In the first case there must be a transfer of pollen from plant to plant, 

 while in the second it is merely from flower to flower. Though all are provided 

 with both stamens and pistils, as a rule self-fertilization is guarded against by 

 the pollen and pistil of the same flower maturing at different times. 



The agencies in nature which assist in pollination are chiefly two, insects and 

 the wind. Good weather and an abundance of bees are desirable during the 

 blooming season to insure a good set of fruit. Heavy rains at blooming time 

 destroy the pollen, injure the stigmas, and interfere with complete fertilization, 

 with the result that "nubbins" are more abundant during such seasons than 

 when the weather conditions are more favorable. A frost during the blooming 



