STRAWBERRIES FOR EXHIBITION. 



Ill 



might say, however, that I do not consider 

 it necessary to work the soil to a great depth 

 as has been, and is frequently, recommended. 

 Five or six inches of well prepared top soil 

 is enough. A liberal dressing of manure, the 

 fall before planting, is advisable in most 

 cases, being plowed in and the ground left 

 in a rough condition during the winter, and 

 this supplemented by bone meal and wood 

 ashes, or sulphate of potash in the spring — 

 sulphate is better than muriate of potash. 



The soil cannot be made too fine nnd 

 ought to be perfectly free of lumps, and be- 

 fore planting should be rolled or tramped 

 quite firm. 



The plot of ground for fruiting should be 

 enriched and prepared as above and sown 

 with radishes, early peas, etc., which can be 

 got out of the way by the middle of August. 

 A thorough digging and firming should 

 follow after the vegetables have been remov- 

 ed, and it is ready for the plants. 



Transplanting ought not to be done dur- 

 ing a drouth if it can be avoided. Better 

 wait a month for rainy weather, unless, of 

 course, irrigation is possible. The plants 

 are removed from nursery to fruiting plot 

 with great care, leaving as much soil as 

 possible adhering to roots. This is a slow 

 and tedious process where one's time is 

 limited, and for this reason the fruiting plot 

 should be close to the nursery so that little 

 time will be lost in moving plants from one 

 place to the other. 



Too much care cannot possibly be exer- 

 cised in transplanting. When this is done 

 the surface of the soil, an inch or so, should 

 be kept loose to prevent evaporation until 

 the mulch is applied later on. 



Weeds and runners should be watched for 

 and kept down. About the middle of 

 September or earlier, a mulch of manure 

 may be applied, covering the soil between 

 the plants. I use partially decayed leaves for 

 that purpose, and find them excellent. These 

 when dug in after fruiting, keep the soil in 



perfect condition. The object of this mulch is 

 to protect the soil from early frosts, it makes 

 further cultivation unnecessary and the top 

 inch of soil becomes filled with fine roots 

 without which a plant cannot do its best. 



Protecting the ground from early frosts, 

 permits the growth to continue much later 

 than it otherwise would. After the ground 

 is frozen solid, the whole bed is covered with 

 a heavy mulch of clean straw or other suit- 

 able material, the larger part of which is 

 removed early in the spring. I have found 

 that a heavy mulch between the rows during 

 fruiting is anything but beneficial. Thinning 

 of blossoms may be a good thing and I have 

 always practiced it until the past season, 

 when my fruit was fully equal in size and 

 quality to other seasons. 



In making my fruiting plot, I plant in 

 beds, with a path two feet between. In the 

 beds the plants are one foot apart each way; 

 three rows in a bed. One can work among 

 the plants nicely when so planted without 

 tramping on or injuring the plants in the 

 least. 



The varieties which have succeeded best 

 with me for exhibition are : Marshall, Edgar 

 Queen, Brunette, Sharpless, Woolverton, 

 Greenville, Bubach, Wm. Belt, Nick Ohmer 

 and Margaret. 



By giving close attention to all the re- 

 quirements of my plants, I have produced 

 Haverlands, Warfields and Lovetts of such 

 large size as to be almost unrecognizable, 

 and I do not think the limit has yet been 

 reached. 



I make selections every year, taking a 

 tew plants from those which have produced 

 the finest specimens, and propagate from 

 these. In this way, I believe, I am improv- 

 ing my stock. 



In growing strawberries, as in everything 

 else, results are directly proportional to the 

 amount of energy expended, and one always 

 feels well repaid for extra work done in the 

 strawberry patch. 



