BUSH FRUITS AND STRAWBERRIES 179 



It should be remembered that varieties adaptable to one sec- 

 tion of the country might be a complete failure in another. 



AVater is necessary to mature a crop; it is definitely knowni 

 that it takes six hundred barrels per acre to mature a crop after 

 the fruit is set. Seventy-five per cent of the weight of the green 

 plant is water ; therefore, never let the strawberry plant suffer 

 from the lack of sufficient moisture. Evening is the best time to 

 water the plants and get the moisture to the roots. Sprinkling 

 the surface of the soil means nothing. All during the night the 

 moisture will work into the soil and the following morning the 

 cultivator should be kept busy forming a dust mulch to hold the 

 water in the soil. 



As the berries are forming, stop cultivating, because any dust 

 is liable to deform the fruit. Place clean straw, hay, leaves or 

 other litter under the fruit to keep it clean, also to act as a mulch. 

 After the berries have been picked, remove the mulch and con- 

 tinue to cultivate. Do not let the strawberry bed become weedy 

 just because the bearing season is over. 



The winter mulch of straw or light manure should be placed 

 over the plants after they are fully ripened and after the first 

 two or three light frosts. Early in the spring after the severe 

 frosts have passed, remove the mulch and start cultivating. It 

 is generally advisable to start a new bed every three years, but 

 an old bed may be kept in bearing if properly fed and protected. 



The first year such crops as dwarf sweet corn, radish, or 

 spinach may be grown between the rows. 



The ever-bearing varieties are planted and treated in the same 

 way as the spring-bearing sorts mth one exception, that the 



