STRAWBERRY 



STRAWBERRY 



3261 



which start in the spring of 1916 are fit for planting in 

 the late summer or fall of 1916 or in the spring of 1917. 

 These plants have many long, fresh, light-colored roots. 

 Fig. 3714 shows such a plant, with the roots trimmed 

 for planting. Fig. 3715 shows a plant that has borne. 

 This plant bore fruit, say, in 1915, and has thrown up a 

 new crown in 1916. The old dead crown is seen at the 

 right. The young growth is lateral to this old crown. 

 The roots are relatively few and are hard and black. 

 These plants sometimes make good plantations under 

 extra good care, but generally they should be avoided. 

 Two- or 3-inch pots are sometimes plunged under the 

 new runners in June and July, and they become filled 

 with roots in two or three weeks. These pot-grown 

 plants are excellent for fall setting in the home-garden, 



but they are seldom 

 employed in extensive 

 commercial practice on 

 account of their ex- 

 pense. Almost as good 

 results can be secured 

 by setting strong layer 

 plants. (Fig. 3716.) 



In Florida and in the 

 coastal plain of Geor- 

 gia, Alabama, Louisi- 

 ana, Mississippi, and 

 Texas, beds need to be 

 reset annually, in Sep- 

 tember or October; 

 plants set at this time 

 produce a good crop in 

 the following February, 

 March, and April. The 

 plants may be pro- 

 duced at home, but 

 more commonly are 

 secured from the 

 North. 



In hill training, each 

 plant is allowed a 

 space by itself, culti- 

 vation is given both 

 ways, and no runners 



are allowed to set. Hill or stool training is practised 

 commercially in Florida, the Gulf States, and on the 

 Pacific coast, and, to a slight extent, in northern market- 

 gardens. It is the most practicable method under 

 irrigation, and in a very humid climate. The chief dis- 

 advantage is the heavy- expense of removing all the 

 runners. Hills give choicer berries than narrow matted 

 rows, but the yield is not so heavy. For commercial 

 results, plants are generally trained in narrow rows. 

 The old method was to plant in rows 3 to 3H feet 

 apart and the plants from 12 to 15 inches apart in 

 rows, keeping off the runners until late in July and 

 then allowing the runners to grow and root at will, 

 making a wide matted row. In this system some plants 

 are almost on top of others, the roots barely in the 

 ground, and they suffer in a season of drought. The 

 rows are so wide that to pick fruit in the center it is 

 almost necessary to crush fruits on the outside of the 

 row. This system gives few large first-class fruits, and 

 is now passing away. The largest and highest colored 

 fruits are found on plants along the outside of the 

 rows; therefore have as many outside rows as possible. 

 This may be accomplished by having rows closer 

 together and much narrower. The rows are made from 

 30 to 36 inches apart and the plants from 18 to 24 or 

 even 30 inches apart in the rows, much depending on 

 the prolificacy of the variety as a plant-maker. If the 

 plants used for a new bed are strong and start into 

 growth vigorously, the first runners are used, as it has 

 been found that under most conditions the plants 

 about twelve months old yield the greatest number of 

 fine fruits. These first runners are usually "bedded-in," 



3715. Old strawberry plant, usually 

 not desirable for setting. 



i. e., planted by hand, training them along the wide way 

 of the rows, using from four to eight of the first runners 

 and cutting off those growing later. This method of 

 planting allows cultivation both ways until the runners 

 start, retaining moisture and saving labor in hoeing. 

 In the "narrow mat- 

 ted row," which is 

 now used more than 

 any other method of 

 training, the runners 

 are allowed to set at 

 random until they 

 have made a row 12 

 to 24 inches wide; 

 subsequent runners 

 that encroach upon 

 the tilled middles 

 are cut off. In the 

 "spaced row," the 

 early runners are set 

 by hand at more or 

 less regular distances 

 apart until a row 12 

 to 24 niches wide has 

 been formed; there- 

 after all other run- 

 ners are cut off. In 

 the "hedge row," two to four runners are set from 

 each mother plant, and are kept in alignment, forming 

 a single, double, or triple hedge row; all other runners 

 are removed. The drift is steadily away from the 

 matted row toward the spaced row and hedge row. 

 Surplus runners are pulled off or are cut off with a 

 knife, hoe, or one of the many types of runner-cutters 

 that may be attached to the cultivator. Circular cutters 

 are used for hill plants. In late fall, the matted row 

 may be thinned by pulling out the weaker plants with 

 an iron rake or spike-toothed harrow. 



In the North, strawberries are usually mulched in the 

 fall, in order to protect them from alternate freezing 

 and thawing in the winter and early spring and to 

 prevent the soil from heaving. In some cases the mulch 

 is allowed to remain on the plants rather late in the 

 spring, in order to retard the season of bloom. Some- 

 times the crop may be retarded a week or ten days by 

 this means. It should not be removed until settled 

 spring weather has come, nor left on so long that the 

 plants bleach. The mulch is more necessary in regions 

 of light and precarious snowfall than in those in which 



3716. Pot-grown strawberry plant. 



3717. Heavy mulching of strawberry pli 

 in parts of the North. 



s, as practised 



the snow blanket is deep and lies all winter. In regions 

 of deep and continuous snowfall, a heavy mulch is 

 likely to prove injurious. Experience has shown that 

 the best mulch is some strawy material. Along the 

 seacoast, salt hay from the tide marshes is much used. 

 In interior places clean straw, in which there is no grain 

 to sprout and to make weeds, is very largely employed. 

 (Fig. 3717.) In the South, pine needles are used. Some- 



