IIG BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the growing of berries for home use. More than ahnost any other 

 fruit, the strawberry suffers by being shipped and roughly handled 

 in markets. The fresh berries out of one's own garden, thoroughly- 

 ripened on the vines, picked in the cool of the morning, and eaten 

 at noon with plenty of Jersey cream, — these are what make life worth 

 living and a national inquiry into the status of the farmers' appetite 

 unnecessary. It certainly is a fact that more attention should be given 

 in Massachusetts to the growing of strawberries for home use. 



Soils and LocAtixiES. 



Strawberries can be successfully grown in every town in Massa- 

 chusetts, so far as climate and locality are concerned, — that is, 

 wherever a reasonably good soil is available. The strawberry plant 

 is not extremely fastidious in the matter of soil. Any land which will 

 produce good garden crops, especially good potatoes, will answer for 

 strawberries. A rich, friable, warm loam is best ; but even heavy clay 

 or sandy soil will grow strawberries if sufficient care is taken. 



The soil should be in a reasonably good state of cultivation before 

 the plants are set out. It is considered bad practice to plant on newly 

 broken sod land. If strawberries can follow corn, celery, tomatoes 

 or other well-cultivated garden crops good results may be expected. 

 If the plants are to be put out in spring, as is the usual i:)ractice, the 

 land should be deeply plowed in fall and left to weather through the 

 winter. 



How TO GET THE PLANTS. 



Doubtless the simplest way to get strawberry plants is to buy them 

 of a good nurseryman. This is a perfectly safe proposition and noth- 

 ing need be said against it. At the same time, many persons prefer to 

 grow their own plants, and where this practice can be followed it is 

 certainly to be recommended. In our experience, we have found a 

 certain danger in buying plants, even from the very best of nursery- 

 men. In the first place, it is not always possible to get the varieties 

 wanted nor to get the plants when wanted ; and, what is more serious, 

 plants frequently suffer more or less damage in shipment. Even when 

 packed in the very best manner they dry out more or less ; or, if they 

 do not dry out, they may mold or heat. These difficulties may be 

 entirely avoided by growing one's own plants. 



The importance of beginning with strong, vigorous, one-year-old 

 plants cannot be too much emphasized. The weak, diseased plants, 

 some minus roots, some minus crowns, and some two years old, 

 sent out by bogus nurserymen, are not worth planting. A two-year- 

 old plant which has once borne fruit is not fit to transplant; yet 

 a considerable percentage of cheap plants offered every year on the 

 market and taken from old fruiting beds are these two-year-old, worth- 

 less stock. 



The simplest and surest way of getting plants is to take them from 

 the sides of the fruiting rows. Each plant sends out runners during 



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