-9- 



Older Strawberry Varieties Being Replaced . Only one coramercial variety of 

 strawberry, the Klondike, among the top 5 in the U. S,, 35 years ago, is still there. 

 In 1916, it was grown on 28^ of the strawberry acreage. It is now the low berry of 

 the present high $, with % of the acreage. Of the 15 varieties that made up 80^/S 

 of the acreage 35 years ago, only \\ are being grown commercially today. Blakemore 

 now makes up 32^ of the acreage, Klonmore, 13^, and Catskill, Jh, Changes come 

 rapidly as varieties with superior qualities appear. Among those recently 

 introduced are, U resistant to red stele, Redcrop, Sparkle, Vermilion, and Fairland, 

 and 3 high-flavored berries, Fairpeake, Midland, and Suwannee. Interest in strav^- 

 berry breeding centers aroxind these superior qualities: better flavor and aroma, 

 bigger size to speed picking, firmness, better adapted to freezing, flowers resistant 

 to early spring frost, plant hardiness and resistance to the destructive red stele 

 disease . 



Strawberries or Apples in the Backyard ? 



In at least 9 cases out of 10, the wise choice is Strawberries . For unless one 

 is satisfied with a crop of apple blossoms and is not concerned about the fruit, 

 apple trees are likely to be more of a liability than an asset. They recjiire 

 several thorough, well-timed sprays, and if a spray is delayed even a day or two at 

 a critical season, the results are likely to be disappointing. Apple trees are 

 attacked by more pests than most of the other fruits. For this reason, apples are 

 best grown by someone viho specializes in that fruit, and owns a povrer sprayer. 

 Strawberries, on the other hand, are often gro\im successfully with no spraying or 

 dusting at all. 



Starting a Strawberry Planting . It pays to make a good start. Instead of 

 ordering the plants, setting them in a shady or crowded location, and hoping to 

 nurse them into productivity later on, the best spot in the garden is none too good. 

 The soil should be in a high state of fertility, well supplied with organic matter 

 and free from perennial grasses. Well-rotted manure is an ideal fertilizer, and 

 April is better than Hay for setting the plants, provided the soil is in good 

 condition. At least one quart per original plant, to be harvested in June, 195^, is 

 a reasonable goal. All blossoms should be removed from the "mother plants" in order 

 that they may use their resources in developing new plants for next year, A crop 

 of strawberries is harvested 13 months from the time the plants are set. No other 

 fruit reivards the o\Yner so promptly, 



##/########," f^^ # /r ##?;= # 

 Geese in Strav^rberries and Blueberries . Our experience over the past two years 



vdth geese as weeders of strawberries has not left us as enthusiastic for this method 

 of weed control as some growers seem to be. Geese are tremendous consumers of grass. 

 If the weed problem in the strawberry bed were mainly grass, geese vfould be ideal. 

 But when it comes to smartweed and some of our other serious broad-leaved weeds, they 

 apparently prefer to eat strawberry leaves or starve. Where broad- leaved vreeds, like 

 pigweed, lambs' quarters, purslane, and smartweed, are such persistent weeds as they 

 are in Massachusetts, it appears that geese are not ideal vreeds for strawberry beds. 

 Perhaps they should be combined with other control methods which will keep the broad- 

 leaved weeds out of the bed, 



Yfeeding cultivated blueberries with geese has some disadvantages. In the summer 

 of 1951 geese were placed in a small plot of cultivated blueberry bushes late in the 

 season after most of the crop had been harvested. They did a good job of keeping 

 witch grass down and bothered the blueberries very little. This summer some younger 

 geese were placed in the same planting earlier in the season just before the berries 

 started to ripen. For some unaccountable reason these young geese developed a tre- 

 mendous appetite for both the green berries and blueberry leaves and had to be 

 removed after a couple of days in the field, 



— J. S. Bailey 



