68 Strawberry-Growing 



the simplest method of destroying them is to loosen up 

 the soil between the rows with a cultivator and then haul 

 this with a common hoe right up upon the row of plants, 

 covering the weeds and runners and small plants with 

 one inch of soil. The young strawberry plant will grow 

 up through, but most of the weeds will be smothered, 

 and the ones that lie over until spring can be pulled out 

 by hand." 



A straw mulch is used successfully as a substitute for 

 tillage in hill training and under intensive culture. John 

 Knox, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, the "strawberry 

 king" of 1861, grew his fifty acres of hill plants in this 

 w^ay. In the "Kevitt system" the plants are tilled the 

 first season, but mulched thereafter. Layer or potted 

 plants set in late summer or fall are commonly mulched 

 w^hen planted, and no tillage given until after the crop 

 is harvested the following spring. Summer mulching is 

 not practicable in regions having a very severe winter; 

 it makes the plants tender, and they are likely to be winter- 

 killed unless an additional winter mulch is applied. The 

 Arizona Experiment Station found that in the hot, arid 

 climate of southern Arizona it is advantageous to mulch 

 with fine straw about the middle of June to keep the roots 

 cool. With these few exceptions, strawberry plantations 

 are tilled, and much more thoroughly than was once 

 thought necessary. Few modern fields are as weedy 

 as those described by J. R. Warder in 1864, as yielding 

 "two tons of hay and one ton of strawberries per acre." 



TILLAGE TOOLS 



Perfectly straight row^s are not only a pleasure to the 

 eye but also a distinct aid to thorough and economical 



