60 Strawberry-Growing 



plants. Where the land is bedded, the bed is split with 

 a bull-tongue, the fertilizer sowed, and a double shovel 

 used to mix it with the soil before the plants are set. 

 Some scatter fertilizer in the bottom of a furrow, then 

 turn additional furrows upon it from each side to make a 

 drainage bed. Usually, it is more convenient to set the 

 plants first and make side applications of fertilizers 

 afterward. A shallow furrow is turned away from the 

 row, the fertilizer scattered in it and the soil thrown back. 

 But one side of a row is opened at a time. Many Florida 

 growers put all the fertilizer in with the hoe. Three men 

 work together; one opens a hole between two plants 

 with a single stroke of the hoe, another drops the fertilizer 

 and a third pulls the soil back over it. There are a 

 number of horse-pulled fertilizer distributors adapted for 

 use in broadcast training. These have a fan-shaped 

 arrangement on each side w^hich broadcasts fertilizer 

 over each row. Chemical fertilizer, ashes, and particu- 

 larly nitrate of soda, should not be used as a top-dressing 

 when the plants are wet, even if dormant, as they are 

 likely to burn the foliage. If it is raining, however, the 

 fertilizer can be applied without danger. If fertilizer is 

 applied as a top-dressing when the plants are dry, run a 

 brush drag over the rows to remove any that clings to the 

 leaves. If the top-dressing is less than 150 pounds an 

 acre, the fertilizer should be mixed with an equal quan- 

 tity of dry soil, so that it may be distributed more evenly. 

 In Oregon, the spring top-dressing of nitrate of soda 

 sometimes is applied in solution, at the rate of one ounce 

 to three gallons of water. About one pint is poured 

 around each hill plant. 



