230 A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



freaks that every variety has, it is a most interesting and won- 

 derful study ; and it has a practical bearing also. One young 

 man in my employ will go through a field where the boys have 

 been setting out plant? , and will sort out the wrong plants by 

 their looks, where the boys have made a blunder, and in this 

 way he prevents sending a customer some plants at some future 

 time that are not true to name. 



BEDDING THE FIRST RUNNERS WHERE YOU WANT THEM; 



SOMETHING FROM CORNFLI, UNIVERSITY IN REGARD 

 TO THE MATTER. 



Through the kindness of Prof. Bailey I am enabled to give 

 a picture on next page of what I should call a model field of 

 strawberries. 



The following we take from Bulletin 198, April, 1901 . The 

 subject of the bulletin is " Oswego Strawberries." 



As to methods of planting, it may be said that the old method has 

 been discarded, planting in rows three to three and one-half feet apart 

 and the plants from twelve to fifteen 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 matted row. In this old system many plants are almost 

 on top of others, the roots barely in the ground, and they suffer in a tea- 

 son of drouth. 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. The up to-date grower starts with the 

 assumption that the largest and highest-colored fruits are found on plants 

 along the outside of the rows, and therefore he plans to have as many out- 

 side rows as possible. This he accomplishes by havine his rows closer to- 

 gether 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 de- 

 pending on the capability 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 beeu 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," i. e., planted by hand, train- 

 ing 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 plant- 

 ing allows cultivation both ways until the runners start, retaining mois- 

 ture and saving labor in hoeing. 



You will notice the above instruction is directly in line with 

 the plan given us by Dan White, on page 177, and the one 

 recommended by Henry Young, of Ada, O., on page 174. 



