TTie Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXII 



MAY, 1909 



No. 5 



The Proper Cultivation of Stra^vbcrrics 



THE ground on which strawberries 

 are to be planted should be pre- 

 pared for them by manuring well 

 after the preceding crop is taken off. A 

 good coat of horse manure is preferable 

 to any other manure as it seems to add 

 to the ground that which is most neces- 

 sary for the growing of strawberries. 

 Potatoes or corn are recommended as 

 good crops to precede strawberries as 

 they need hoeing, thus keeping down 

 small weeds. If these weeds are kept 

 down and not allowed to go to seed, there 

 will not be any seeding of the ground 

 to spring up in the early spring when the 

 young strawberry plants are shooting 

 their first runners ; if there are a lot of 

 weeds around a plant one often cuts off 

 the plant in trying to get close to it with 

 the hoe. 



After getting the ground well worked 

 (that is, to have about six inches of loose 

 soil on top) a roller should be run over 

 it. This is to level it and also to break 

 up any large or hard lumps that may be 

 on the field. A field is not considered 

 ready until all the ground is as smooth as 

 possible and devoid of all sticks, stones 

 or sods. 



PLANTING 



Planting should be done as soon as the 

 plants can be secured. Good healthy 

 plants should always be selected and es- 

 pecially if the soil is light, for in case of 

 a drought or short dry spell just after 

 planting, a small plant would wither and 

 die while a large plant, being sturdier, 

 is not so easily killed. This is one rea- 

 son why the Williams and Glen Mary 

 are so popular. They are large plants 

 and generally have good long roots. 



When planting a line is used so as to 

 have the rows straight. Care must be 

 taken to keep the line tight, and always 

 plant on the same side of it. The plants 

 should be put from eighteen to twenty- 

 four inches apart. The smaller the 

 plants are the closer they should be 

 planted. The holes are always made 

 with a spade and wedge-shaped. This is 

 done by moving the spade back and forth 

 after sticking it in the ground. The plant 

 is then placed in the hole, the roots be- 

 ing kept perfectly straight, and then the 

 earth is pushed back, filling in the hole. 

 A practised man can do this handily 

 with one fort. The most important thing 

 in planting is not to cover the heart of 



G. LeRoy Oliphant, Clarkson, Ontario 



the plant with earth when filling in the 

 hole. The rows should be three and a- 

 half feet apart. 



Before planting, all plants should be 

 looked over and all the dead leaves and 

 runners cut off. This must be done and 

 the plants then placed in good order with 

 the roots out straight, so that they can 

 be easily picked up and dipped in water. 

 This serves to keep them moist and also 

 to keep the roots straight. 



After the plants have a good start, 

 they should be hoed once a week during 

 the whole summer, to keep the weeds 

 down and also to keep the runners train- 

 ed. All blossoms should be pulled off 

 the first year. 



OAEB IN FALL 



In the fall, after the plants have 

 stopped growing, yet before the ground 



Unequalled 



I do not think that The Can- 

 adian Horticulturist is equalled' 

 by any publication on the contin- 

 ent. — W. J. Brandrith, Secretary, 

 British Columbia Fruit Growers' 

 Association, Ladner, B. C. 



freezes, a wide shoe is put on the back 

 of the cultivator to throw out a deep fur- 

 row. This allows any water that may 

 collect on the ground to run off. 



As soon as the ground freezes in the 

 late fall, the vines should be covered 

 with long strawy horse manure. This 

 covering is left on until spring and, as 

 soon as the vines begin to shoot up and 

 there is no danger of frosts, this may be 

 shaken up loosely and left for about a 

 week. Then it is all raked off the vines 

 and left between the rows. This keeps 

 the weeds down and also keeps the 

 ground moist. The manure should never 

 be taken from between the rows as it 

 keeps the berries on the edge of the row 

 from getting sandy after a rain. The ber- 

 ries on the edge of the row are always 

 the best. No weeds should be allowed 

 to go to seed. 



TKEATMENT OF IRUITINO PATCH 



.'Vfter the fruit is all taken off, tlie 

 mower is run over the patch and the tops 

 of the vines are cut off. This is done 

 so as to start a new growth when the 



97 



vines start growing again. The rows, 

 which are now about two feet wide, 

 should be plowed down to about one 

 foot, that is to take some off each side 

 of the row. Do not plow too deeply, 

 then go along the row with a cultivator 

 to shake out the dirt from the roots of 

 the plants that have been plowed out. If 

 once is not sufficient, go through a 

 second time. Let a man go through now 

 with a fork to shake out the loose vines 

 and throw them in heaps. The usual 

 plan is to throw five rows into one. This 

 refuse is all hauled off, and dumped out of 

 the way ; if there is not too much earth 

 in it, it could be mixed with manure and 

 rotted. Everything being out of the way 

 now, the cultivator is applied once a 

 week until it freezes up. They should 

 of course be kept free from all weeds as 

 much as possible. Another covering of 

 manure is put on in the fall, and dealt 

 with as in the preceding year. 



Strawberry beds are seldom kept over 

 two seasons. It is not policy to do so, 

 as the beetle that attacks the blossoms 

 most severely breeds in the old beds. 

 Some prominent fruit growers prophesy 

 that the time is not far off when a bed 

 will be plowed up after one season of 

 bearing. 



[Note. — The majority of our commer- 

 cial growers already follow the practice 

 of cropping a strawberry plantation only 

 once. — ^Editor. ] 



Fruits For British Columbia 



As soil and climatic conditions vary 

 widely in British Columbia, it is difficult 

 to recommend a list of varieties of fruits 

 that would be suitable for planting in all 

 parts of the province. This fact is 

 pointed out in a letter that was received 

 by The Canadian Horticulturist from 

 Mr. Maxwell Smith, Dominion Fruit In- 

 spector, Vancouver, which is as follows : 



"It is quite impossible for me or any- 

 body else to answer your question di- 

 rectly as to the best standard varieties 

 of fruits to. plant in British Columbia. 

 Our climatic and soil conditions are so 

 diversified, that the same varieties which 

 might be a success (and also have market 

 value) in one locality, might not be the 

 varieties to recommend for another, and 

 I therefore hesitate to give my opinion 

 unless it were in answer to a direct ques- 



