Rotations, Manuring and Fertilizing 53 



Why strawberries require a rich soil. 



Although the amount of plant-food actually removed 

 by the strawberry plant is small, the crop responds to 

 liberal fertilizing. This is partly because it has a high 

 money value an acre, — prospective, at least, — but 

 chiefly because of the very short time between the blos- 

 som and the ripe fruit. In the North, the plants have 

 only about four weeks in which to develop a crop that 

 may weigh three or four times more than the plants. 

 The apple has several months in which to mature its 

 fruit, a large crop of which is not nearly equal to the 

 weight of the trees. Hence, the main fertilizer require- 

 ment of the strawberry is that the plant-food shall be 

 immediately available. The texture of the soil and the 

 facility with which water and plant-food move through 

 it are even more important than its plant-food content. 

 Where the strawberry blossoms and fruits continuously 

 over a period of several months, as in Florida and south- 

 ern California, the draught upon the soil is somewhat 

 heavier. 



Numerous field experiments have shown conclusively 

 that the analysis of the fruit is no index to the fertilizer 

 treatment that should be given. Neither does an analy- 

 sis of the soil reveal much that will aid the strawberry- 

 grower in the use of fertilizers. The growler may obtain 

 some hint from soil analyses and fertilizer experiments 

 elsewhere, upon the same type of soil; but field tests 

 with different fertilizers on his own farm are likely to 

 yield more valuable results. 



Results of fertilizer experiments. 



The futility of attempting to follow the fertilizer prac- 

 tice of another district is illustrated by the conflicting 



