84 A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



Either is very good. I incline to think the latter way the most 

 practical for me. Certainly the straw once taken off can not 

 be put back among the plants as evenly as my straw now lies. 

 Last spring (1889) we covered most of our strawberries two or 

 three times to prevent their freezing. We used the straw that 

 was between the rows partly, and brought in considerably more. 

 By careful watching we found that blossoms not so covered 

 were mostly frozen, while those covered escaped injury from 

 the frost as far as we could see. But at fruiting time we were 

 not as well pleased with the result of this plan. Many berries 

 did not amount to much. They were small, or had hard spots, 

 or parts that failed to grow. We thought this might be owing 

 to injury to the blossom while putting that straw on or taking 

 it off. The short-stem varieties were the least injured, which 

 would be naturalif the straw or handling of it did the injury. 

 But I have not yet light enough on this subject to advise one 

 way or the other, except to exercise caution in covering. Bet- 

 ter try it on a few. 



A very successful grower wrote me last fall that I could not 

 make any better use of perhaps 20 loads of manure (strawy 

 horse manure, which is the kind we have) than to put it on my 

 half-acre of strawberries as a mulch, spreading it very evenly, 

 and letting the berries grow up through. The same idea may 

 come to some readers of this book, therefore I had better ex- 

 plain. I am a farmer, and not a gardener or fruit grower reg- 

 ularly. We grow clover, potatoes, and wheat, in rotation in 

 our fields, and the strawberries take the place of potatoes on 

 the half-acre we have. After the beriies are picked, the land 

 where they are will be plowed ; and then after the potatoes are 

 dug, this fall, the entire lot will be sown to wheat. Now, that 

 land is rich enough to yield at least 40 bushels of wheat per 

 acre now, which is all that the straw will stand up under, and 

 probably more. More manure would ruin my chances for 

 wheat, although it would probably pay on the berries Again, 

 I am a farmer, and need what manure we make for the fields, 



