64 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1891. 



strawberry is the best plant, but if you wish to raise good ber- 

 ries, a strong loamy soil is better. On light soil, plant varieties 

 that root deep. Low swampy places, I think, will aftbrd excel- 

 lent crops of fancy strawberries. In preparing the ground 

 plough eight inches deep, unless the subsoil is poor. Subsoil- 

 ing is satisfactory when possible. After ploughing apply the 

 manure, and harrow it in. For strawberry culture commercial 

 manure suits me best. Stable manure furnishes more nitrogen 

 than is needed. It will make the foliage growth heavy and 

 handsome, l)ut the plants will not be so fruitful as when fed with 

 commercial fertilizers. Make your own fertilizers. We use a 

 fine ground bone for the phosphates, and wood ashes, cotton 

 seed ashes, or muriate or sulphate of potash for the potash. 



Apply a ton of bone and a half-ton of the potash for one acre 

 of ordinary soil for the raising of fine fruit. Give each plant a 

 square foot of soil. Plant the rows three feet apart, putting 

 • the plants from 12 to 18 inches apart. Another plan is to mark 

 the field in " check" rows four feet apart, and put the plants in 

 hills. This plan permits cultivating with the harrow. 



In the first plan a few runners should be allowed to grow in 

 the I'ow. In the second, or "bog hill" plan, a new bed can be 

 started easily. As soon as the berries are picked go to work on 

 the bed. A horse and cultivator should so through as often as 

 three times a fortnight all summer, and the field should be hoed 

 by hand once in two or three weeks till October. The " Sunny- 

 side" hoe, invented by Mr. Earle of Worcester, is the best. 

 We use the French cultivator, which has adjustable teeth. The 

 mulching in the fall is most important. Many a field has been 

 ruined by mulching it too early. Don't mulch till the ground is 

 thoroughly frozen. If your bed has not been mulched yet, it 

 has not been harmed. The danger is from thawing in the 

 spring. Don't mulch too deep. A ton and a half of marsh hay 

 per acre is enough. Coarse stable manure may be used, but it 

 is the poorest of all mulch, because it stimulates the growth of 

 the foliage, to the detriment of the fruit. Let the plants grow 

 up through the mulch. Irrigation produces magniHcent results. 

 Sprinkling water on the ground is the least satisfactory irri- 

 gation. 



