Propagation and Renewal 227 



loam, well filled with humus, is preferred to a heavy 

 soil ; the roots forage widely in light soils. A persistent 

 drouth in late summer or early fall results in a shortage 

 of plants. Some nurserymen have installed overhead 

 irrigation systems to obviate this difficulty. Under 

 normal conditions strong layer plants cost from $3 to 

 $6 a thousand, according to the variety. In large cen- 

 ters of production, where a single variety is grown 

 almost exclusively, good plants may be had for $2 a 

 thousand. These are the prices of standard varieties; 

 novelties may cost one dollar a dozen, or even one dollar 

 a plant. 



Home-grown plants. 



The strawberry is propagated so easily that many 

 commercial growers do not patronize nurserymen except 

 to secure new varieties. According to W. F. Allen, "The 

 nurserymen of the United States sell about ten per 

 cent of the plants set in the country. Nurserymen 

 sold last year (1912) one hundred million plants. Thus 

 there were one billion plants set in 1913, which if set 

 8000 to 10,000 to the acre would plant 100,000 to 125,000 

 acres." ^ 



The chief advantage of home-grown plants is that there 

 need be no long delay in transplanting them, which may 

 occur with nursery plants. On the other hand, the 

 nurseryman ought to be able to produce better plants than 

 the fruit-grower, because it is his business. Home prop- 

 agation rarely is cheaper than buying an equal grade of 

 plants from a nursery. Modern methods of packing 

 bring nursery plants to the grower nearly as fresh as when 

 dug. 



1 Proc. Amer. Pom. Soc, 1913, p. 168. 



