CHAPTER IV 



TILLAGE AND IRRIGATION 



Tillage is more beneficial to the strawberry than 

 to most other fruits; it is not able to cope success- 

 fully with weeds, because of its low habit of growth. 

 A rank growth of weeds smothers the plants, cutting 

 them off from sunshine, water and plant-food. More- 

 over, the proportion of the fruit to the plant is very 

 large and about nine-tenths of the berry is water. 



WHY TILLAGE IS ESSENTLAL 



One reason why the strawberry plant requires a large 

 quantity of water is because it is shallow-rooted. In 

 1883 E. L. Sturtevant washed out the roots of a Triomphe 

 plant growing on heavy clay soil at Geneva, New York, 

 with the following result : " The roots extended nearly 

 vertically downward to a depth of twenty-two inches. 

 The horizontal roots were few and short, the longest 

 being traceable but six inches. Nearly all the fibrous 

 roots were found directly beneath the plant." In 1896 

 E. S. Goff washed out the roots of a section of a matted 

 row, two feet wide, growing at Madison, Wisconsin. He 

 reported : " The deepest roots extended a little less than 

 two feet, while the horizontal roots only extended three 

 inches on either side, reaching scarcely beyond the area 

 covered by the leaves. The roots grew largely down- 



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