FORTIETH ANNUAL REPORT. 143 



of success. Ill the case of the apple you have from five to fifteen years 

 in which to build up a good root system, which reaches down and occu- 

 pies the whole surface of the ground, and there is time for the soil to be 

 filled with the elements which are to feed these roots as it should be to 

 produce the requisite fruit, but with strawberries this is different. The 

 plant that was set out last spring has but one season to grow, comes into 

 bloom in the middle of May and in a month from, that time it has pro- 

 duced a weight of fruit several times the weight of the original plant. 

 That plant food must be in such a shape that it can be taken up very 

 rapidly. Early in the season, during the cooler weather, while the straw- 

 berry is making its wonderful record, the plant food in the soil does not 

 become available very rapidly. Mtrification does not take place rap- 

 idly during the cool weather. While the strawberry is not hard on the 

 soil, does not take a vast amount of fertilizing elements from the soil, 

 still, that soil must be. in such a condition that the plant can take up 

 the food very rapidly. I have always felt, that a soil that was mellow 

 and full of humus so that the roots could penetrate freely, and so that 

 the drouth that is liable to come will not affect the plants, such a one 

 will yield better results than a soil that was full of plant food but in 

 poor mechanical condition. I had that illustrated and emphasized on 

 the crop I raised the past year. About three years ago I bought a piece 

 of land, thirteen acres of heavy timber. It was cleared off and the 

 stumps taken off and drained and put into corn the first year. The 

 following spring, two years ago this spring, we planted it to strawber- 

 ries. The first crop came last spring. You remember what kind of a 

 season we had. There were frosts and heavy rains and warm weather 

 and frosts again, and all around me the neighbors did not have more 

 than thirty to fifty per cent of a crop. We had to encounter the same 

 difficulties that they did but in spite of the frosts and all the drawbacks, 

 Ave haiwested one of the finest crops we ever had and I think it was 

 because of the large amount of humus in that soil. The plants were 

 s"© full of vigor that even after the third lot of blossoms had dropped 

 off because of the frost, there was still vigor enough to put forth blos- 

 soms sufficient to produce a very fine lot of berries and they were 

 enough larger to make for tlie possible loss because of the frost and 

 other causes. 



We can not all have new ground but we can tly to imitate that and 

 try to put our soil in condition of new ground as nearly as possible. 

 Strawberries require a great amount of moisture; require a. soil that 

 is moist. However the ground that is naturally wet will stand better 

 when drained but I do not think it yields quite as good strawberries. 

 Personally I prefer artificial drainage and that done thoroughly. 



One of the best ways to put this soil in condition is to get clover 

 sod or plow under rye and vetch or cow peas, — anything that will fill 

 the soil full of humus. Do not plow under a great big crop of vegetable 

 matter and then proceed to set plants at once. Humus is decayed mat- 

 ter so without that decayed condition you will not be able to get any 

 benefits. 



Take clover sod and set out the berries the coming season. Begin 

 applying stable manure early and then plow just before ground freezes. 

 I like fall plowing for strawberries ; the manure that was applied last 

 fall will have leached down all through the soil; it has become mingled 



