SPECIAL THINGS NEEDED BY FRUITS 



first day after February when the ground can be worked, after 

 it has been prepared properly, as outlined. Mark the rows with 

 a cord or a scratch made with pegs in a plank. Transplanting 

 machines will do the work about twice as fast as it can be done 

 by hand, but not so well. The very best way to set strawberry 

 plants is to get down on your knees and use a trowel or dibble. 

 The one great trouble with machines is that they set plants too 

 deep or too shallow. The crown should come right at the sur- 

 face, not a half inch below or above. Roots are better spread 

 out as tree roots must be, but many growers simply drop them 

 into a hole and pack the dirt firmly. A little experience will 

 teach any one how to plant properly. 



There are three systems of planting in common use: the 

 matted row, the hill and the hedge system. The former is the 

 only practicable system for commercial fields. With it the 

 plants are put in rows three or four feet apart and eighteen to 

 twenty-four inches apart in the row. The first summer runners 

 are left to form as many new plants as they will in a space a foot 

 or so wide (beyond this they are cut off with a cutter on cul- 

 tivator). With the hill system, one plant is made do the work 

 in each place, and these hills may be from twelve to twenty 

 inches each way. All runners are cut off. The hedge system is 

 really a modification of the hill system, and consists of rows of 

 hills, each plant having six inches or so of clean space about it. 

 The hill and hedge systems make lots of work, though they 

 produce fine berries, and are to be advised for all or part of 

 home gardens. 



Mulching strawberries is done to keep soil moist and cool 

 in summer, to protect the berries from mud and dirt when 

 ripe, and to protect plants in winter. The winter protection need 

 not be put on till after the ground freezes, as the plan is to pre- 

 vent alternate freezing and thawing, and not to keep the ground 

 from freezing. Such a mulch should be loosened up or raked to 

 side of row in spring. Winter protection is not needed south 

 of Maryland. Mulches, where winter protection is not desired, 

 should be put on in spring, when the first thawing begins. 



Fields or beds will bear two good crops and no more. They 

 may be renewed for one more year, and sometimes for two, by 

 plowing all the matted row except four to six inches, applying 

 manure heavily, working back to the remaining plants with a 

 cultivator the thrown-out soil, then cutting out all the old 

 plants left, and enough of the new ones to leave those that 

 remain six or eight inches apart. This work should be done as 

 soon as possible after the crop is removed. If the old plants 

 are diseased, burn over the field before plowing. This will not 

 kill the plants. . 



Cross pollination of strawberries is very important. The 

 blossoms are of two kinds. One kind is pistillate only (such as 

 Haverland and Bubach). These are called imperfect, and they 

 cannot set fruit without help from another variety. The other 

 kind are both pistillate and staminate, and are called perfect. 

 They can set fruit if no other kind is near, and they can fertilize 

 other pistillate kinds, but their fruit is finer if they are cross* 



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