1930 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



cost of production per crate will be de- 

 creased, and consequently greater profits 

 realized. The estimated cost of planting 

 out and caring for an acre of strawberries 

 is calculated at from $125 to $185 per 

 acre, depending on local conditions and 

 facilities. 



The methods employed and the selec- 

 tion of the sites should receive the first 

 attention. There are very few really poor 

 sites for strawberry growing in the Koote- 

 nay, with perhaps the exception of those 

 very light soils and those located too low, 

 where the rise and fall of the water would 

 affect them. Strawberries do best on a 

 good, heavy silty to clay loam soil which 

 contains a good supply of humus, or veg- 

 etable matter. They must have a well- 

 drained soil. This last remark led a 

 great many in the earlier days to sup- 

 pose that strawberries would do best on 

 an open sandy soil, but time has demon- 

 strated that so long as the soil is well 

 drained the heavier soils will yield the 

 best and heaviest crops of berries. The 

 preparation of the land before planting is 

 a point upon which a great deal of the 

 success or failure depends. In the Koote- 

 nay the newly-cleared land should be 

 worked a year or two and enriched by the 

 plowing under of green crops, preferably 

 a leguminous crop, or an application of 

 barnyard manure before setting out to 

 strawberries. Poultry manure is one of 

 the very best fertilizers for strawberries. 

 Another important point in the prepara- 

 tion of the land before setting is to thor- 

 oughly level it down; all holes and hol- 

 lows should be filled in by means of a 

 scraper or split-log drag levcler. This im- 

 plement is easily and quickly made at 

 home and works wonders in leveling un- 

 even sites. If strawberry plants are set 

 on uneven land the growth will be very 

 uneven, resulting in a great many of the 

 plants being either killed out by water 

 settling in the hollows or by the heaving 

 action of the frost. 



Spring planting is best. Select the 

 plants from the runners in the bearing 

 patch. Select the plants from the first 

 two plants formed on the new runners. 



These will be much stronger and better 

 than the third or fourth plants on a run- 

 ner. Where large numbers of plants are 

 required the planting out of a special 

 propagating bed is advisable. The plants 

 set in the bed are allowed to throw as 

 many runners and set as many new 

 plants as they will. In the spring, when 

 ready to plant, the whole bed is dug up 

 and the best of the plants selected for 

 planting. There is a great scope for se- 

 lection of the best and most prolific 

 strains of the varieties by marking the 

 best producing plants in the bearing patch 

 and then propagating from these. There 

 is one man who by this practice increased 

 his yield from 8,000 pounds to 16,000 

 pounds per acre. 



The plants are generally planted in 

 what is known as the matted-row system, 

 the plants being set 18 inches in the row 

 and the rows set S^A to 4 feet apart, de- 

 pending on the growth of the variety 

 being planted. In new land, weedy land 

 or on poor, light soil, the hill system of 

 planting is followed, as it gives better 

 results. In this system the plants are 

 generally set two feet apart in the rows 

 and the rows three feet apart. This sys- 

 tem allows far better cultivation and is 

 not as hard on the soil's water supply as 

 is the matted-row system. The patches 

 are allowed to crop two or three years. 

 The third crop should only be taken when 

 the ground is rich and clean. Strawber- 

 ries are heavy feeders and will leave the 

 ground in poor condition if grown too 

 long, especially where no manure of a 

 lasting nature is supplied. As the berries 

 are, as a general rule, grown as an inter- 

 crop in the orchards, they should not be 

 allowed to remain too long, as this will 

 affect the growth of the fruit trees. In 

 young orchards strawberries should not 

 be planted closer than four feet from the 

 trees, and this distance should be in- 

 creased as the trees become older. Great 

 care should be exercised during the first 

 fall in not causing the fruit trees to make 

 late growth by the cultivation which is 

 necessary in the berry patch in order to 

 develop good, strong crowns for the fol- 

 lowing season's crop. Irrigation is not 



