The Handling of the Strawberry Plantation' 



S. H. Rittenhouse, Jordan Harbor, Ontario 



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I START to prepare my land for a 

 strawberry crop one year before the 

 time for setting the plants, by manur- 

 ing the field and planting a hoe crop, 

 such as potatoes, roots, tomatoes or corn. 

 The cultivation of this hoe crop during 

 the previous year puts the land in ex- 

 cellent condition, destroys the weeds and 

 otherwise makes the soil suitable for 

 giving good results when the strawber- 

 ries are planted. After the removal of 

 the hoe crop in the fall, I plow and put 

 on a heavy coat of manure. In the 

 spring I start cultivating early, working 

 the manure into the surface and getting 

 the land into the best possible shape for 

 the setting out of the plants. On my 

 soil, which is a deep sandy loam, plow- 

 ing is not necessary and, in fact, I 

 never plow manure anyway. 



When the field is thoroughly prepared, 

 I mark both ways, making the rows 

 three feet, six inches apart and the plants 

 in the rows from eighteen to thirty 

 inches apart, according to the variety. 

 Some varieties make an excellent stand 

 and form a splendid row when set thirty 

 inches or even three feet apart. 



PLANT SELECTION 



I consider that one of the greatest ele- 

 ments that contribute to my success is 

 my choice of the plants at the time of 

 setting. The usual custom among 

 strawberry growers is to take plants 

 from the sides of the rows; this, of 

 course, gives them the small and weaker 

 plants. 



In procuring plants, I take up the 

 whole row, taking only the best and 

 strongest plants. This plan is along the 

 line of plant breeding, a subject which 

 should receive greater attention by prac- 

 tical fruit growers. Plants should al- 

 ways be taken from a new row, a row 

 grown the previous year and one that 

 has never fruited. Some growers will 

 sometimes take plants from the side of a 

 row that has given a crop. This should 

 never be done. 



WHEN AND HOW TO PLANT 



The time for setting plants depends 

 upon the season. I do not favor too 

 early setting, preferring to wait until the 

 danger of heavy frost' is over; in our di.s- 

 trict, from May ist to 15th, and have 

 had good results from plantations set as 

 late as May 24th. Cool, cloudy days are 

 preferred, but we do not wait, when the 

 soil is in proper condition, only taking 

 great care not to expose plants and 

 roots to wind and siin. 



•One of tho papers read at the convention of 

 the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association held in 

 Toronto last month. 



After the plants are prepared by dig- 

 ging and selecting the best and trimming 

 off dead leaves and runners and carefully 

 straightening out the roots and placing 

 them compactly in an ordinary eleven- 

 quart basket, I use a man and a boy for 

 setting. The man runs a spade into 

 the soil, producing a cut of six inches, at 

 an angle of forty-five degrees. Instead 

 of drawing the spade out of the soil, he 

 simply presses it away from him to raise 

 the soil up, and then the boy places the 

 plant behind the spade. The spade is 

 withdrawn and the pressure of the foot 

 completes the operation. 



Great care is taken to get all the roots 



same as if planted in the mark made by 

 the marker. 



CULTIVATION 



As soon as the plants are set, we com- 

 mence cultivating and hoeing, repeating 

 this process every week or ten days until 

 fall. We cultivate crossways just as 

 long as we can do so without injury to 

 the new runners. 



While hoeing the first time, we invar- 

 iably use the fingers around the plant, 

 adjusting the soil so as to prevent any 

 soil lying on the crown or leaves, and 

 always keep the blossoms nipped off 

 whenever they appear. It is strict atten- 



Harvesting Strawberriei in the Niagara District — New Plants in the Foreground 



Plantation of Mi". S. il. Ititttnliouyc, .Ionian Harbor, 



the soil from covering the crown. I try 

 to get the crown of the plant about on a 

 level with the surface of the field. 



Of late years, I have preferred not to 

 set the strawberry plant into the little 

 track or furrow made by the marker as it 

 places the crown of the plant too low down 

 and makes it difficult to keep the crown 

 from being covered while hoeing and cul- 

 tivating. Therefore, I plant in one cor- 

 ner of the angle formed by the marker 

 and am careful to plant in the same cor- 

 ner of the angle all across the field. 

 When I am through setting, the plants 

 are in perfect rows both ways just the 

 covered and at the same time prevent 



2SfJ 



tion to small details that makes the dif- 

 ference between a profitable crop and an 

 unprofitable one. 



Towards fall, when the runners have 

 begun to spread, instead of dragging 

 them with the cultivator to prevent the 

 rows from getting too wide, I cut them 

 off with a roller plow coulter. It is quite 

 a simple thing to attach a rolling coulter 

 to each side of the cultivator with clips 

 and it does ils work nicely and prevents 

 the too thick setting of plants along the 

 sides of the rows, which is not desirable. 



I have had some trouble with cut 

 worms but have not done anything to 

 protect against them, except good cuiti- 



