14 Strawberry-Growing 



to maturity within a period of about four weeks. This 

 means that the texture of the soil should be such that 

 water will pass through it quickly. The two extremes 

 — a dry, leachy sand or gravel and a stiff, baking clay, 

 are equally objectionable. 



A sandy soil is valuable only when it has a clay sub- 

 soil within two or three feet of the surface; then it will 

 hold the fertility that is added to it. The more sand or 

 gravel there is in the surface soil the more urgent the 

 necessity for a tight subsoil ; the more clay or silt in the 

 surface soil, the greater the need of an open subsoil. 

 The character of the subsoil is fully as important as that 

 of the surface soil. The worst 'soil for strawberries is 

 waxy or gumbo land which packs and cracks whenever 

 it gets dry. The roots of the strawberry are easily torn 

 by this cracking, since the plant is shallow rooted. 



The presence of gravel or chert in the soil is an ad- 

 vantage. Gravel acts as a surface mulch, conserving 

 moisture and preventing crusting. Strawberries often 

 grow excellently on land that is so stony that scarcely 

 any soil can be seen; it is cool and moist beneath the 

 gravel. Much of the strawberry land in Oswego County, 

 New York, is a stony loam ; in some fields the stones are 

 so numerous that there appears hardly room for the 

 plants to grow between them. Many of the best fields 

 in the Ozark region of Missouri and Arkansas are very 

 cherty. On the other hand, large stones interfere with 

 cultivation and the training of runners, and hinder the 

 pickers. 



Muck swamps sometimes may be used to advantage. 

 The land should be drained so that the water-table 

 stands not less than two feet from the surface. It is 

 best to cultivate it in corn, cabbages, celery, potatoes 



