U. S. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 433 



commonly 4 to 6 feet apart, with plants 18 to 24 inches apart in the row. 

 The surplus of fertilizer applied to the truck crop is commonly sufficient 

 to give a luxuriant growth of foliage and runners. The cultivation and 

 hoeing of the former, if the soil is reasonably free from seeds of noxious 

 weeds, leaves very little labor necessary in the strawberry rows previous to 

 the harvesting of the truck crop. This, in the case of potatoes and cab- 

 bage, occurs during May and June. Cultivation of the strawberries is then 

 kept up until midsummer, the cultivator being gradually narrowed as the 

 tows widen by the rooting of runners. "Runners are never cut off nor torn 

 up, so that by the time cultivation ceases the rows are matted beds of 

 plants and often 4 or 5 feet in width. After cultivation ceases a growth of 

 grass and weeds springs up. This is cut down with the mower and left 

 for a mulch. Sometimes, when it consists of " crab-grass," this is raked 

 off and used for hay, though cleaner fruit is secured by leaving it to cover 

 the ground and prevent the fruit from being beaten into the sand. Early 

 in the spring, before the opening of the blossoms, a dressing of " straw- 

 berry guano" containing about four per cent, of ammonia and five to six 

 per cent, of potash is often applied. This is sowed broadcast and left for 

 "the rains to wash into the soil. Spring cultivation is not practiced. 



The aim of the grower is to secure early, clean, and firm berries that will 

 stand shipment to distant markets. It is claimed by the growers that the 

 matted row yields earlier and firmer fruit, and the berries are certainly 

 cleaner than those grown by the narrow row or hill system, unless great 

 care is taken in mulching. 



Commonly only one crop of berries is taken, the fields being plowed as 

 soon as the berries are off and a crop of corn or millet secured the same 

 season, or else they are fitted for the planting of a fall crop, as kale or 

 •cabbage. 



Varieties. 



After a test of all the early ripening varieties, the Hoffman has been 

 selected as the one best suited to the Norfolk and Portsmouth growers. 

 Probably 90 per cent, of the entire strawberry acreage of the region in 

 1891 was planted to this variety. One 80-acre field was visited that con- 

 tained no other, and in many fields of 20, 40, or 60 acres the same condi- 

 tion exists. Every early berry that is introduced is tested, the two leading 

 new ones fruiting this year being Westbrook and Michel. Neither of 

 these promises to take the place of Hoffman. The chief points of excellence 

 in Hoffman are the earliness, firmness, and good color of its fruit, com- 

 bined with a vigorous plant, holding the fruit up well on strong trusses. 

 Its defects are poor quality as a dessert fruit and only moderate 

 productiveness. 



Marketing. 



When the picking season arrives, men, women, and children, mainly 

 negroes, come from all the country round, and from cities as distant as 

 Richmond and Washington. Two cents a quart is the price for picking, 

 and at this rate the pickers earn from 60 cents to $1.25 per day. Payment 

 is made by means of tickets, which are cashed at stated times. Hand- 

 carriers made with board ends, and with bottom, top, and one side of veneer, 

 the other side being left open for taking out and putting in the quart 

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