Strawberries. 309 



period may be just sufficient to injure tlie blossoms open on that day without 

 injury to those not yet expanded. The result is a large number of deformed, 

 lopsided fruits and nubbins. The blossoms which expand after the frost will 

 produce perfect fruits under suitable weather conditions. 



As the distance over which pollen is carried by the wind is not great, 

 practice has demonstrated that every fourth or fiftli row of a plantation should 

 •contain a perfect-flowered sort. 



WHEN TO SET THE PLANTS. 



There are several considerations which govern the time and manner of setting 

 strawberry plants. The time to plant depends in humid regions more upon the 

 rainfall than upon any other factor. If there are not timely rains at the 

 planting season to give the plants an opportunity to establish themselves, the 

 stand will be uneven, with the result that more work will be required to keep 

 the land free from weeds and more trouble will be necessary to get the blank 

 spaces occupied by runners from the plants that survive. The plants that with- 

 stand the drought are checked and dwarfed. They seldom recover so as to make 

 either satisfactory croppers or plant producers. It is most satisfactory and 

 most economical, therefore, to choose that season which offers most advantages 

 at planting time, other things being equal. It is impossible to specify the season 

 lor each locality or even for large areas, as local conditions of soil and climate 

 necessitate different practices in localities only a short distance apart. In 

 general there are only two seasons for planting — spring and fall — but in some 

 localities spring planting should be done in April or May by the use of the 

 preceding season's plants, while in others it may be done in June from the 

 •crop of runners of the same season. 



In irrigated regions planting can be done at whatever season work will give 

 best results in future crop production. In humid regions rainfall is a deter- 

 mining factor. In the northern half of the prairie region west of the Mis- 

 sissippi spring planting gives best results. In the Middle Atlantic States the 

 work is divided between spring and August planting, with the balance in favor 

 of the latter in some localities. In New England the work is chiefly confined to 

 the spring months although there are enthusiastic advocates of fall planting, 

 especially among those who combine strawberry growing with the trucking 

 business on expensive lands near the large cities. In the Atlantic Coast States 

 south of New York, August and September planting is most extensively prac- 

 ticed, particularly upon the more retentive soils. In the trucking region on the 

 islands about Charleston, S. C, spring planting is extensively practiced, as it 

 results in a paying crop the following year, while only a small crop can be 

 harvested from fall set plants. On these quick soils the plant can be grown as an 

 annual, and farther sou,th, in Georgia and Florida, the fall-set plants will return a 

 profitable crop the following spring. On the heavier soils of South Carolina, 

 however, fall planting, with the paying crop one year from the following spring. 

 is the most profitable method. The particular time during the summer or fall 

 when the planting should be done will be governed by the occurrence of the 

 seasonal rains — if in July and August, plant then ; if in September and October, 

 plant at that time. If the earlier date can be taken advantage of, so much the 

 better ; the plants will have a longer period in which to grow, and they will be 

 stronger and the crop heavier in consequence. 



HOW TO SET THE PLANTS. 



Success in transplanting strawberry plants depends, first, on the quality 

 of the plant, and, second, upon the time and manner of doing the work. If the 

 plants are good, the stand, other conditions being favorable, depends upon care 

 in setting them. The success of this operation is measured by the degree of 

 <'ompactness of the soil about the roots of the plant. If the plant has many 

 foots and these are thrust into a hole made by an ordinary dibble, it is more 



