14 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



at setting time, it answers well for setting the dirt about the roots and 

 the final pressure will need be only lightly given while filling up 

 around the crown. 



The distance apart in the row will have to be determined largely by 

 the vigor of" the plants and the varieties. All free running varieties, 

 like Crescent, should be set two feet apart, if the plants are reasonably 

 well rooted and otherwise good, while the varieties which throw out 

 runners less freely, like Parker Earl and Bubach, should be eighteen 

 inches, or even closer if plants are not vigorous. Some southern 

 growers advocate setting the free growing sorts three feet apart in rows" 

 four feet apart. With good plants, good weather, and other things 

 being equal, I have no question but that this would be a proper dis- 

 tance. It is easier, however, to thin out than to thicken up, and if 

 runners become too matted near the close 'of the season, spare not the 

 knife in thinning them. Usually the drouth, careless hoers, moles, or 

 grub worms do all necessary thinning, and frequently more. 



Cultivation follows planting next in importance, and should begin 

 about as soon as the former ceases. It should be continued at inter- 

 vals of every two weeks throughout the growing season. Every cul- 

 tivation with the horse should be followed as soon as possible with the 

 hoes. I use the Planet Jr. horse hoe and cultivator with a narrow 

 one and one-fourth inch shovel during the early summer. Later in 

 the season I use the broad three sweep shovels. These tend to ridge 

 the rows lightly, which, I believe, is an advantage in drainage. Of 

 all the hoes I have ever tried, both new-fangled and old-fashioned, 

 there is nothing I like better for doing good honest work than the 

 common garden hoe. I prefer a light hoe, however, for strawberries 

 — one that has been worn down by one season's filing is all right, and 

 this I sharpen on three sides or edges, so that I can use the hoe for 

 cutting weeds, or stirring the soil by either a right or left side stroke, 

 as well as by a straight forward stroke. It is an easy matter, com- 

 paratively, to get suitable tools for my work, but not so easy to secure 

 the right kind of workers — they are neither custom made nor easily 

 made to order. It requires a man of mind as well as muscle to skill- 

 fully guide a hoe in a strawberry bed. 



Varieties. — Though this topic is the last in the order of the condi- 

 tions named for successful strawberry growing, it is not the least in 

 importance. Some of our eastern growers catalogue and describe as 



