484 



ttORTI CULTURE, 



April 11, 19U8 



plates and sills. It is also a long dis- 

 tance to drive around them with a 

 cartload of soil; leakage is increased 

 if roofs are not kept in the best of re- 

 pairs. Ihere is also great danger from 

 the wind, in houses of this size. The 

 movement of so large a body of air as 

 Is contained in these houses strains 

 the glass nmch more from the inside 

 than in the smaller houses. They need 

 to be built stiong and glazed thorough- 

 ly. I h.ave made up my mind to double 

 nail the glass at the end of these 

 houses. 



As to Construction. 



Horticultural builders charge more 

 to cover the same ground with houses 

 of this kind than they do with a num- 

 ber of smaller houses. They are right 

 in this for they need stronger and more 

 thorough construction. I do not like 

 the iron frame with heavy rafters for 

 this construction. We must guard care- 

 fully against the enlarging of our 

 houses without properly strengthening 

 all parts. My first large houses were 

 weak in the outside walls. Thorough 

 and permanent construction is what is 

 needed, for many reasons. Not alone 

 on account of wind and weather, but 

 because this business has grown to be 

 permanent and important enough to 

 have a place of its own and not built 

 up with the idea that it will some day 

 be torn down and the land used for 

 building purposes. A man building a 

 factory don't have any such idea and 

 our establishment should be just as 

 permanent, or more so, as any fac- 

 tory. A proper location should be 

 selected with great care; then get the 

 best to do with and build thoroughly 

 enough that the place can be inherited 

 by your children and grandchildren. 

 The fact that the growing of cut roses 

 as a business was born inside of the 

 last fifty years is no reason to tup- 

 pose it wil die out inside of the same 

 time. 



While I am wandering away from 

 the question, allow me to impres on 

 you the importance of taking the best 

 of care of your house when built, es- 

 pecially in regard to painting. 



SMALL FRUITS. 



A paper read before the Vermout Uortl- 

 oult-ral Society by Wilfrid Wheeler. 



{Ccntinned from page 286) 



Prepare Bed One Year Ahead. 



It is best to prepare for strawberry 

 bed at least one year before you are 

 ready to plant it, breaking up sod and 

 planting it to corn, or some crop which 

 will keep the ground well stirred up, 

 and rid it of weeds. — after the corn is 

 harvested cut all the stalks in early 

 September if possible, manure the 

 ground — 20 cards per acre is almost 

 about right — and plough in the manure 

 at least six inches deep. Harrow the 

 surfuce of the ground and immediately 

 sow rye or winter wheat for a cover 

 crop. This is one of the most Impor- 

 tant steps in preparing land for fine 

 crops, for this cover crop keeps the 

 soil from washing, from deep freezing 

 and thawing, and above all retains a 

 great deal of the natural soil fertility. 

 In the Spring, when you are ready to 

 set your plants, the rye will perhaps 

 be six inches high. Plow it under and 

 at the same time you will bring to the 

 surface the manure which you applied 

 In the fall and which will now be in 



the best condition and position for the 

 roots of the newly set plants. 



Another method of getting ready for 

 a strawberry bed is by sowing a coupln 

 of crops of buckwheat the year beturc 

 the bed is to be planted, and these to- 

 gether with some manure the same 

 proportion as mentioned before will 

 put the ground in excellent condition. 

 .-Vlways keep in mind that soil well 

 prepared is one-half the fight. In this 

 method of soil preparation as in the 

 other, do not plow the land in the 

 spring until re{.dy to set your plants, 

 for the surface of the soil dries out 

 very fast, and it is useless to plant in 

 a dry soil unless rain is certain. After 

 plowing, harrow the land and get the 

 soil as fine as possible, and it is well 

 at this time to harrow in a good dress- 

 ing of lime about one ton per acre, 

 but do not apply fertilizers now. Far 

 better results are obtained from adding 

 fertilizer when the plants are growing 

 during the summer. It is impossible 

 for the roots of a newly set plant like 

 the strawberry to take up an adequate 

 amount of nourishment from a highly 

 fertilized soil, but this same plant will 

 stand lots of feeding later on. A dress- 

 ing should be applied about three 

 weeks after the plants are set out, one 

 thousand pound.s of wood ashes and 

 five bundled pounds of bone per acre 

 to he followed a week later by a dress- 

 ing of at least five hundred pounds cf 

 tankage or dried blood per acre. 



Varieties and Culture. 



It is best to have your plants all 

 ready to set as soon as the field Is 

 smoothed off. But from the large num- 

 ber of varieties of strawberry plants 

 that are offered for sale you will per- 

 haps want to know something about 

 the best to plant. While it is impos- 

 sible to give exactly the kinds best 

 suited to your soil and situation, m-ist 

 of the more productive ^ones readily 

 adapt themselves to all soils and con- 

 ditions. Perhaps quality cannot be the 

 first coi sideration of the market 

 grower; 



For varieties it is best to choose at 

 least four, and for market or shipping, 

 all things considered, Abington, Sam- 

 ple, Elm Mary and Senator Dunlap are 

 a good combination. For the home 

 garden it is desirable to consider qual- 

 ity, and Marshall, Brandywine, Car- 

 dinal and Wm. Belt will produce fine, 

 large berries. Of course soil conditions 

 should be considered to some extent, 

 and it may be best to try a number of 

 varieties by degrees, selecting the ones 

 best suited to your individual needs. 

 Before setting the plants in the bed, 

 trim off at least one-half of the leaves, 

 and cut the roots well back, so that 

 the new roots will get a good start. 

 Do not set the plant any deeper than 

 it grew in the original bed and be 

 sure to firm the soil well about its 

 roots. After the plants are set. keep 

 the cultivator going and supplement 

 the horse work with hand hoeings and 

 weed puliings. Cultivation should con- 

 tinue until the middle of September, 

 and then the plants may be left to 

 harden before cold weather comes. In 

 many varieties numerous runners will 

 have to be cut off in order to get a 

 good fruiting bed later on, for if all 

 the runners are allowed to set and 

 make plants the fruit will be small and 

 poorly colored. Keep in mind that you 

 want big. healthy crowns with plenty 



of air space about them, so thin out 

 surplus i)lants and give tho.se which 

 are left your best attention, and the 

 picking question so troublesome in 

 some places will not be so much 

 trouble to you as one man can pick in 

 a day twice as many large berries as 

 small ones. Protect the plants in the 

 late fall with coarse lifter or leaves, 

 remembering that you do not want to 

 keep the frost out of the ground but 

 rather in after it is once there, so cov- 

 er liglitly and remove the mulch in the 

 spring as early as possible after dan- 

 ger of heavy frost is past. At this time 

 apply dressing of wood ashes and la- 

 ter on, if the foliage is deficient, a lit- 

 tle nitrate of soda or guano at the rate 

 of 200 lbs. of nitrate or 400 of guano 

 to the acre. Keep the cultivator go- 

 ing and remove all weeds until the 

 fruit is formed, after which put on a 

 mulch of straw, litter or leaves about 

 the plants to keep the fruit clean and 

 retain the ground moisture. This 

 mulch will improve the fruit 50 per 

 cent., and especially in a dry season 

 when the plants need all the moisture 

 they can get. Another advantage is 

 that durir;g rain the berries are kept 

 from being spattered with mud or 

 sand. 



Picking. 



Having brought your crop to this 

 state, go over the bed at least every 

 day and pick all ripe berries, breaking 

 them from the plant with a stem. Use 

 only new quart boxes, which can be 

 obtained as cheaply as old ones, and It 

 never pays to put good fruit in old 

 boxes. Make two grades of fruit in 

 picking, for there is always a demand 

 for both kinds, and it will be found 

 profitable to sort the fruit at the time 

 of the picking, letting each picker use 

 two boxes. The berries should be kept 

 out of the sun and removed to a cool 

 place before being packed. I might 

 suggest that all picking should be done 

 as early in the day as possible before 

 the dew is off the plants; the fruit is 

 harder at this time and will carry bet- 

 ter, and it is a mistake to think that 

 strawberries will spoil when picked 

 wet. I know the question of straw- 

 berry pickers in country districts is 

 often a perplexing one, and perhaps 

 explains in a large measure the small 

 amount of strawberries which are 

 grown in these localities, so plan to 

 make whatever ground you plant pro- 

 duce a large-crop of fine fruit and re- 

 duce in this way the amount of hand 

 labor in the picking season. 



If you are near a small city or large 

 town you may not be troubled in this 

 way and your acreage can be increased 

 accordingly, but every one must be 

 the judge of his own conditions. If 

 your market is near by do not pack 

 the best berries in crates but have 

 some long trays made to hold 20 or 

 25 boxes. The fruit packed in this 

 way will not be crushed by the weight 

 of the other boxes and will appear to 

 a better advantage in the market. 

 Your' second class berries may be 

 packed in crates as they can be ship- 

 ped to more distant markets if there 

 is no sale for them near by. 



For the home fruit garden it is often 

 more convenient to plant pot-grown 

 strawberry- plants in the late summer 

 or fall. These plants when grown in 

 hills will produce a good crop the next 

 summer. The preparation of the soil 



