BETTER FRUIT 



STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON — C. I. Lewia, Horticulturist, Corrallls. 



WASHINGTON — Dr. A. L. Melander, Entomologist : 

 O. M. Morris. Horticulturist; W. S. Thomber. Horticul- 

 turist. Pullman. „ 



COLORADO — C. P. Gillette. Director and Entomologist; 

 E. B. House, Chief of Department of Civil and Irrigation 

 Engineering, State Agricultural College. Fort Collins. 



ARIZONA— E. P. Taylor. Horticulturist. Tucson. 



WISCONSIN— Dr. E. D. Ball. Director and Entomologist, 

 Madison. „ „ 



MONTANA — O. B. Whipple. Horticulturist. Bozeman. 



CAXIFORNIA — C. W. Woodworth. Entomologist, Berke- 

 ley; W. H. Volck. Entomologist, WatBonrille; Leon D. 

 Batchelor, Horticulturist. Riverside. 



INDIANA— H. S. Jackson, Pathologist. Lafayette. 



An Illustrated Magazine Devoted to the Interests 



of Modern, Progressive Fruit Growing 



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Entered as second-class matter April 22, 1918, 



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Volume XIII 



PORTLAXD. OUEOON, MaY 1, 1919 



Number 11 



Strawberries, King of Table Berries; How to Grow Them 



THE strawberry season in the 

 Northwest is ahiiost upon us. In 

 fact in some of the more advanced 

 districts lilie Kennewick, Washington, 

 shipping usually commences about the 

 10th of May unless the season is late. 

 There is no superior strawberry grown 

 anywhere in the world for commercial 

 purposes than that of the Northwest on 

 account of its shipping qualities which 

 allow of it being transported as far 

 east as Chicago, if occasion demands. 

 The Northwest strawberry has proved 

 a steady and fine income producer and 

 the time is not far distant when acreage 

 planted to these berries in this section 

 will be far greater than it is now. As 

 a table berry it has few equals and the 

 demand for it is rapidly growing. 



The strawberry is often called the 

 poor man's berry, and .justly so, as it 

 has permitted those with limited means 

 to invest all their capital in a piece of 

 land, plant it to orchard and plant 

 berries between the rows of trees. In 

 this way the orchardist was enabled to 

 secure a good revenue while his trees 

 were coming into bearing. It has been 

 estimated that strav^'berries in a young 

 orchard increase the value of the land 

 at the rate of one dollar per tree, or 

 from if65 to $100 per acre. In addition 

 to this the cultivation of the berry 

 plants takes care of the young trees 

 without any extra expense for their 

 cultivation. 



How to Start a Strawberry Field 



In setting out a straw^berry field it is 

 sometimes dillicult for a beginner to 

 grade a piece of ground as perfectly as 

 it should be. I would consider a piece 

 of ground perfectly graded when you 

 can make rills the length of your field 

 and be able to turn the necessary 

 amount of water in at the end of the 

 irrigating ditch or flume without Hood- 

 ing any part of the field between the 

 flume and the end of the row. It is 

 necessary in some instances where the 

 ground is hilly to do a great deal of 

 grading, especially on a new piece of 

 ground, but by all means it should be 

 put in perfect condition before you 

 start setting your plants, because it will 

 be much cheaper for you and a great 

 deal more satisfactory as well to have 

 your field irrigate with as little labor as 

 possible. You must bear in mind that 



Written for Better Fruit by a Practical Grower 



you leave your plants in for three or 

 four years and the extra expense of 

 spending an extra day or two in grad- 

 ing is nothing as compared to the ex- 

 pense of irrigating a field set to berries 

 that is not properly graded. 



I think a great deal of misconception 

 is prevalent concerning the value of 

 green manures to a strawberry field. 

 These do possess a great deal of value 

 and a proper understanding of their 

 use in fruit growing will undoubtetlly 

 result in a great deal of benefit to the 

 fruit grower. By green manure is 

 meant any crop that is grown for the 

 purpose of improving the soil and not 

 for the crop it yields if harvested. In 

 this sense almost any crop will serve 

 as a green manure, yet certain crops 

 possess a greater value than others for 

 this purpose because they are able to 

 obtain certain of their constituents 

 from sources not accessible to all crops. 

 In other words, clover is a nitrogen 

 gatherer and can obtain the nitrogen 

 necessary for its growth from the air 

 as well as the soil. 



Clover is a deep feeder; it sends its 

 roots far down and gathers up and 

 brings to the surface that which nat- 

 urally exists in the subsoil, and it also 

 lays hold of what is constantly leaking 

 down with the water when you irrigate 

 or is forced down by heavy rains. It 

 gathers up escaping nitrates as well as 



mineral matter, and it practically all 

 comes to the surface again when you 

 plow the clover under. 



If the field that you are intending to 

 plant to strawberries is naturally rich, 

 it probably would not be necessary for 

 you to prepare your ground by first 

 growing a crop of clover, but in most 

 cases it would pay you well to do so, as 

 the year you would lose in growing the 

 clover you will more than gain back in 

 extra yields during the three or four 

 fruiting seasons of your strawberry 

 field. A field of strawberries when torn 

 out should never be planted to berries 

 again without first growing clover for 

 one or two years to add humus as well 

 as nitrogen to the soil. 



In plowing a piece of clover sod, 

 where your ground has been graded 

 and is in good condition, it is sometimes 

 an advantage, especially when you have 

 a small field, to plow only one way and 

 carry your plow back empty. You 

 may think this is a waste of time, as it 

 will take you twice as long to plow 

 your field, but you must consider that 

 when you get through plowing your 

 field is already graded without any 

 dead furrows, and it is very didicult to 

 grade a piece of clover ground on 

 account of^ the clover roots. 



Distance for Planting 



The distance for planting universally 

 used is 30 inches between the rows and 



V 1h 1 1 > i>ii kiuy scciu- ill liic Xotlhv 



liuli.iu pickers. 



