HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 



Young plants, that is, plants that never have borne fruit, 

 are the only ones to use. After a plant has borne two crops, 

 its old roots get dark, wiry, and finally nearly all die. A young 

 growth starts above or below the old roots, but these roots never 

 amount to much. Young plants have white, fibrous roots, and 

 firm, well-developed crowns and stalks, which contain much 

 stored-up nourishment for use when ground is frozen solid, or 

 is too dry to allow the roots to gather more. Another important 

 thing about plants is that they inherit the bearing characteristics 

 of their parents. A plant produced by another that has been 

 well cared for, fed properly, and which has borne a heavy crop 

 of large, firm berries, will likely do the same if given good care. 

 On the other hand, a plant produced by a parent that has been 

 neglected, starved or dried out, and which bore few berries or 

 small berries, will have a tendency to make few fruits, of inferior 

 size. 



It seldom pays to get plants from an old fruiting field. Get 

 them from a breeding field or bed. The producer should make 

 his parent plants bear, to see what they will do (no two plants 

 bear alike, and the poor bearers must be destroyed). But the 

 primary purpose of a breeding bed is the production of plants, 

 and for the best results it must be cultivated and fertilized 

 accordingly. In starting a field or bed, it costs little more to 

 get plants that are right in every way, and it often makes a 

 hundred per cent of difference in the returns. 



Almost any soil is a good soil for strawberries. It need not 

 be deep. The depth to plow and tear it up will vary with the 

 kind of soil and with its physical condition. Strawberries are 

 naturally shallow-rooted plants, and must be encouraged continu- 

 ally to send their roots deeper, in order to be sure of a supply of 

 moisture and to feed in soil of an even temperature. A light 

 soil should be torn up no more than four inches, while a heavier 

 one must be mixed well as deep as eight inches. We would 

 suggest that you go back and read over the soil-handling direc- 

 tions given in earlier chapters. The essential features are to 

 have the soil fine and loose, in good physical shape, but with 

 no large air-spaces. The surface should be covered with a loose 

 dust mulch to prevent evaporation. Plowing, disking, harrowing 

 and rolling are all needed, the amount of each depending on 

 the situation. Berries must have plenty of moisture and plenty 

 of food, and half the battle to get these is in putting the soil in 

 shape. 



The richer the land the better for berries. Barnyard manure 

 is one of the best possible fertilizers. Five hundred to eight 

 hundred bushels an acre is not too much, and it should go 

 on with spreader. They need lots of nitrogen. If dry, irrigate 

 them during April, May and June, if possible. It Witt pay (see 

 pages 9 and 10). 



Spring is the time to plant in all sections north of North 

 Carolina. South of that state fall planting is advisable some- 

 times, yet if planting is done during late winter or very early 

 spring, whenever the ground can be worked, better results 

 usually will be had. In the North, planting should be done the 



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