- 6 - 



nust pick them at just the right stage of ripeness and then eat them promptly or 

 preserve them by quick freezing for later use. Anyone ¥;ho has had the thrill of ga- 

 uhering lusdous strawberries on a deviry morning in June and then sitting do-vm to a 

 breakfast topped off viith strav/berries, cream and sugar,will see at once the argument 

 in favor of djicluding strawberries in the gaaxien plan. And it doesn't take much 

 space to grov; stravrberries enougiiibr the average fainily. Under good management, one 

 quart of berries per original mather plant in the sedond year, is a reasonable goal. 

 This assumes adequate spacing and good groirth of so-called runner plants. All 

 blossoms should be removed from the newly set plants j hence no berries should be ex- 

 pected the first season. 



Strawberries fit in very nicely with a vegetable planting and are the first of 

 the fruits to be considered by the home gardener. No other fruit revrards the grower 

 in so short a time and none is so well adapted to the garden of limited size, K 

 there is space for other fruits, raspberries, blueberries and grapes offer real pos- 

 sibilities, provided the grower spaces the plants properly, prunes annually and pro- 

 tects against insects and diseases. Fruit trees, hovrever, are not viell adapted to 

 the small home garden. If tree fruits are to be grown, pest control is very import- 

 ant. In this connection, the simplified Home Orchard Spray Schedule offers promising 

 possibilities, 



— VJ,H,Thies 

 •K- -;;- * -j'r •«• -j;- ■«• -a -j;- -if- -a- -;r -i'-r 



GEESE IN THE STRAWBERRY PUNTING 



The following questions and answers taken .' from a West Virginia publication 

 by T, R, Hash and K, Kolbe are of interest to strawberry grovrers viao are contemplating 

 the use of geese for "creed control. 



What can I expect geese to do for me in removing weeds from a stravfberry planting? 

 Geese can be a cheap hired man for the strawberry grov/ers. If managed correctly, they 

 will eat almost 100^ of all grasses found in a strawberry planting. They will eat 

 most narrow-leaved weeds, but only a few broad-leaved weeds. These birds are particu- 

 larly valuable in vret years, Tliey v;ill roam the planting vrhen man and machinery are 

 stymied , 



VJhat are the disadvantages of using geese in stravfberry plantings? There are a few 

 disadvantages to using geese in the planting. They will pack the soil and destroy 

 plants if they are too confined. The fence around the planting presents a problem at 

 cultivation time, and the geese will need regular feeding and watering, 



IVlien should geese be placed in the stravfberry planting? Geese should go in the plant- 

 i'ng as soon as the plants are set or before the 7;eeds are more than l/E inch high, 



Hov'f many geese mil be needed to do an effective job of weeding j The number of birds 



needed per acre varies, Strawloerries planted in old garden soil that is full of weed 



seed may require ten or more per acre vrhile only six to eight will be needed for 



normal situations. Plantings of 1000 plants should have two geese in order to supply 

 c ompan i on sh ip , 



l^at age geese should be used? Goslings should be ready for the field when one month 

 old. These young birds are grovfing and the amount of greens they eat will be enormous. 

 Adult geese also may be used with good results. 



