108 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



Growing Strawberries 



FLORUM AMATOR 



THE soil which will grow a good crop of corn or pota- 

 toes will produce a fair crop of strawberries, but 

 the strawberry prefers a rich and somewhat moist 

 soil, and a sandy loam, rather than a heavy clay, though 

 under proper culture it gives excellent results on clay 

 land. 



Though the strawberry delights in a moist soil, never- 

 theless it should be planted on well drained land only. It 

 prefers a cool location. The Strawberry bed should he 

 away from large trees, as they rob the soil of moisture, and 

 fertility. A southern slope with buildings on the north, is 

 favorable, when early berries are desired ; otherwise a 

 northern or western slope is to be preferred. If early 

 varieties are planted on a southern slope, and the mulch, 

 of which we will speak later, is removed early, and late 

 varieties are planted on a Northern slope, and the mulch 

 left on late, the berry bearing period will extend over a 

 longer season. Land on which grass or strawberries have 

 been grown within a year or two, should not be used, be- 

 cause the former is frequently infested with white grubs, 

 and the latter with strawberry diseases and insects injur- 

 ious to strawberries. 



Stable manure is excellent, when properly used. If 

 it cannot be obtained, sheep manure in a pulverized state, 

 and bone meal may be used, and to these may be added a 

 moderate amount of wood ashes. 



If the strawberries are to be set out in .\ugust or Sep- 

 tember, it is a good plan to manure the land very heavily 

 in early Spring and plant on it a hoed crop which can be 

 harvested in July to make room for the berry plants, after 

 the land is spaded or plowed again, in August. If the 

 plants are to be set out in early Spring, the same method 

 of very heavv fertilizing and Raising a hoed crop the 

 previous season should be followed. Fresh stable manure 

 should not be used on the land just before the jjlants are 

 set. If, however, the land has not been sufficiently enriched 

 for the previous crop, the other manures previously men- 

 tioned may be applied a i)art on the land before it is plowed 

 or spaded, and a part alongside of the rows of plants 

 later. Fresh stable manure may be spread on the land in 

 Autunm and ])lowcd in, the land being left rough ( in the 

 furrow), so thai the frost may destroy injurious grulis, 

 etc., and the land replowed, and the plants set in Spring. 

 If this method is followed, the land may be plowed or 

 spaded deep. The roots of a strawberry prefer a firm 

 rather than a loose soil ; therefore, plow or spade shallow 

 soil about six inches and deep soil about eight inches deej). 

 Make it fine by rejjeated harrowings or rakings. and then 

 make it firm with a roller or drag so that the surface may 

 be smooth and no hollow ])laces beneath. 



The stravvl>erry propagates itself by means of runners. 

 which take root, and produce plants after the blooming 

 season. The.se new plants will l)ear fruit the next season, 

 whether they are allowed to remain in the bed or are trans- 

 planted. These rooted runners may l)e transplrmled in 

 early .'Xutumn, or far lietter in the north in early Spring to 

 your new beds. 



Potted plants are obtained by plunging small pots under 

 the new runners in June and July. These pots are filled 

 with the roots by August or Scpteml>er, and are detached 

 from the old plants. These pot plants are excellent for 

 Fall settling in the home garden. Tlie cost is greater than 

 for rooted-nmner plants taken from the beds without i>nts, 

 but they are well worth the difference in cost, and are 

 mostly used by amateur gardeners for Summer and .Au- 

 tumn planting. In the .Spring amateurs as well as com- 



mercial strawberry growers usually set out rooted runners, 

 but of late years sometimes potted plants, which have been 

 wintered by strawberry plant growers in cold frames, can 

 be bought by amateur gardeners for Spring planting also. 

 The rows should be 30 to 36 inches apart, and the plants 

 18 to 24 inches apart in the row. To raise the very larg- 

 est and finest berries, keep the plants strictly in hills, so 

 that they can be cultivated on all sides, by cutting off all 

 the runners, and allowing no young plants to form until 

 the plants have borne one crop at least. It is more cus- 

 tomary, however, whether potted plants are planted in 

 .\utunm or rooted runners in Spring, to allow about four 

 to six runners to remain on each plant, and each uf these 

 to form one new plant only and to train these, as they 

 are forming, so that they will be arranged about the 

 parent plant like the spokes about the hub of a wheel. 

 .■\nother method is to train these runners along the sides 

 of the row instead of training them in wheel form. \\'hich- 

 ever method is used, the work is done as follows: When 

 a young ]3lant forms on the runners '"bed it in," that is, 

 without detaching it from the nmner ; plant it where you 

 would like it to grow, and allow no more plants to form 

 on that ruiuier beyond the first plant, as they will if not 

 checked. A bed of four rows with a wider space each 

 side of it than the space between the rows to be used as a 

 path in ])icking the berries and in cultivating is convenient 

 in garden culture. 



Strawberry plants should always be set out very firmly. 

 When rooted runners are used, select such as have formed 

 the previous Sumiuer and which have not borne fruit ; for 

 example, rooted runners which formed in the Summer 

 of 1916 should be used for setting out that Fall or in the 

 Spring of 1917. They will have long whitish roots from 

 which it is usually better to cut off with a sharp knife an 

 inch or so. 



Strawberries are divided into two classes, nanu-ly. per- 

 fect and iiuperfect. The flowers of the perfect have both 

 pistils, and stamens. The flowers of these perfect vari- 

 eties will produce fruit, when grown alone or with the 

 imperfect. The flowers of the imperfect varieties have 

 onh' pistils, and will not produce fruit unless they are 

 grown with jierfect varieties. In planting imperfect vari- 

 eties, a perfect variety should be planted every third row 

 or the imperfect will not bear fruit. The reason for grow- 

 ing imperfect varieties is that many of these bear truit 

 of su]>erior size and quality. Strawberry ])lant catalogs 

 always mark the varieties as ]ierfcct and iiujierfect. 



Strawberries should be mulched in late .Autumn after 

 the ground is frozen, to protect theiu in Winter and ]ire- 

 vent them from being raised out of the soil by alternate 

 freezing and thawing of the ground. If the mulch is al- 

 lowed to remain late in S])ring on the plants, it will retard 

 the crop. In regions where the snow is usually light, the 

 mulch is most neces.sary, becau.se deep snows remaining 

 long (in the ground are a good mulch. .Straw or salt hay 

 ;dong the co.-ist from the tidal marshes, make the best 

 nuilcli. Thi> mulch should be raked nff the |il;uits as soon 

 as they begin to start in Spring, and either left between 

 the rows to keep the berries dean, or better still removed 

 altogetlur, and ]inl liaok between the rows and plants, 

 after they have been cultivated once or more and before 

 the berries apjiear. 



Strawberry plants will continue to bear berries for five 

 nr six years, but they are usually renewed after they 

 have borne one to three cro|)s. and the rirhev the land 

 the oftener thev arc renewed. 



