OUR CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL S^^ STRAWBERRY CUUURE 



WHERE THE MEMBERS OF THE 

 SCHOOL AND THE INSTRUCTOR 

 IN CULTURAL METHODS MEET 



PRACTICAL LESSONS TAUGHT 

 PERTAINING TO THE SCIENCE 

 OF STRAWBERRY PRODUCTION 



THIS Correspondence School is for 

 you, as we take it for granted that 

 you already are a subscriber to this 

 magazine or at once will ha\e your name 

 placed on its lists. It is for you in the 

 sense that all its members have a right to 

 come to it for counsel and assistance, 

 fully assured of a cordial welcome and 

 the very best we have to give. Here we 

 shall hope to meet on the basis of frank 

 and free discussion every friend of the 

 strawbern,' and all who are interested in 

 its production. We wish that you shall 

 be free to come here with your problems 

 and let us help you solve them. 



Don't hesitate to ask questions — the 

 more questions the better. And if you 

 are in special need of help and feel that a 

 crisis is imminent, we shall be glad to 

 answer your inquiries by mail or by tele- 

 graph. For the former send a stamp to 

 pay postage; for the latter, a sufficient 

 sum to cover cost of message. We shall 

 have a special department for the answer 

 of "hurry-up" questions, and it will cost 

 you nothing for our services. 



Keep a file of this magazine; we do not 

 intend to answer the same questions 

 twice, but shall refer the questioner to 

 such-and-such a page in such-and such 

 an issue of The Strawberry, should he 

 ask a question which once has been an- 

 swered in these pages. 



In sending in your questions make a 

 paragraph of each one of them so that we 

 readily may catch every point you wish 

 covered; and see that your questions are 

 clear and explicit. 



Now let us all get together and see how 

 great and valuable we can make this 

 schlool of strawberry culture — the first and 

 on y one of its kind in the world. That 

 it shall be interesting and helpful is our 

 determination. May we not have your 

 cooperation.? 



^ ^. 



G. E. , Marshburg, Pa. Please advise me how 

 to mate Warfield, Enormous and Sample. 

 I have them now and also have Dornan, 

 Glen Mary, Wolverton and Splendid. 2. Do 

 you use both horse and cow manure? 



1. Warfield has a long blossoming 

 season and should be mated on one side 

 with an extra-early bisexual, such as 

 August Luther, Excelsior or Texas, and 

 you may use Splendid or Wolverton on 

 the other side. One row of bisexuals and 

 three of pistillates will give good results. 

 Splendia will make a very good mate for 

 Enormous, and still better results will be 

 secured by using Dornan in connection 

 with Splendid, set in the same way as 



recommended above for Warfield. Sam- 

 ple and Dornan v\'ill go nicely together, 

 but the Pride of Michigan will cause 

 your Samples to give even better results 

 because of its strong pollenizing power. 

 2. Horse and cow manure mixed in 

 equal quantities make an ideal fertilizer 

 for strawberries. For varieties that build 

 up a scant foliage with large quantities of 

 berries we prefer to use horse manure 

 alone, as it is richer in nitrogen. 



J. E. P., Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. Have just 

 purchased eight acres of rich land, where 

 wild strawberries grow most luxuriantly on 

 hill, valley and prairies. Now which will 

 give me the best results as a commercial 

 proposition? 



Strawberries thrive on either high or 

 low land, but as you have all kinds to 

 select from, we should prefer the hills to 

 evade the danger of frost. If, howexer, 

 you must irrigate, the valley will serve 

 you better. 



R. B. C, Barlinville, Ohio. I have a sorghum 

 mill handy where I can get plenty of cane 

 pomace. Would like to know whether this 

 would be suitable for mulching? 2. Is oat 

 straw as good as wheat straw for mulching^ 



1. We are slow to recommend any- 

 thing until we have tried it on our own 

 grounds. Many inquiries similar to your 

 own led us last year to experiment with 

 the cane pomace. It gave such excellent 

 results as a mulch that this year we have 

 engaged the entire output from a large 

 mill, hauling the pomace a distance of 

 four miles. We like this material because 

 it contains no weed seeds and aids greatly 

 to retain moisture in the soil. 



2. Either wheat or oat straw makes a 

 fine mulching, but with plenty of both to 

 choose from we should prefer the wheat 

 straw because it is more easily spread 

 apart in the spring directly over the rows, 

 thus allowing the plants to come up with- 

 out obstruction. The oat straw mats to- 

 gether and is more difficult to separate. 



G. G. S., Perry, Okla. You have given me 

 so much information about strawberries that 

 I thought possibly you might know where 

 I could get desired information about water- 

 melons. 



We do not grow watermelons, but re- 

 fer you to Bulletin 86 of the New Hamp- 

 shire station (Durham, N. H.), and also 



Page 19 



lo Bidletin 38 of the Georgia station 

 (Athens, Ga.) on this subject. Send a 

 2 cent stamp to each state station. Also 

 ask the Department of Agriculture at 

 Washington for its publications on the 

 watermelon. No stamp is required for 

 publications from the department. 



Mrs. F. H. M. , Gainesville, Iowa. I have a 

 sod that has laid nine years; the men have hauled 

 manure on it, and they intend to plow it this 

 fall. I would like your advice: will this be 

 good ground in which to set strawberries asxt 

 spring? I also have a piece of ground where 

 a pig pen has stood for the last four years. 

 That also will be plowed this fall. I ask your 

 advice as to which of these pieces will be the 

 better to use for my plants. 



Either of these plots will be ideal for 

 strawberries, inasmuch as you are plowing 

 them this fall. Old sod land frequently 

 is infested with white grubs, which feed 

 on the roots of grasses and strawberry 

 plants. Turning the sod under exposes 

 the grubs and all other insects to the 

 freezing and thawing; also to birds and 

 other feeders upon insects. This does 

 away with all danger from these pests. 



J. O. S., Dana, Ind. Enclosed please find $1 

 for The Strawberry. I am anxious to seethe 

 first number of the paper. I wish to ask you 

 in regard to putting strawy manure on straw- 

 berries in the fall. I have been hauling some 

 and putting it between the rows and intend to 

 shake the straw out and put it on the rows 

 later. Would I better do this now (October 

 28) or wait and put it on with a manure 

 spreader? 



Coarse stable manure makes an 

 ideal mulching for strawberries, but we 

 would not cover the plants until light 

 freezing. Put the strawy parts directly 

 over the plants and the decayed matter 

 between the rows. Of course stable 

 manure is liable to contain weed seeds, 

 but these will cause you no troi'ble if in 

 early spring, as soon as danger from frost 

 is past, you will rake the coarsest parts 

 close to the plants and cultivate the bare 

 space between the rows. The mulch 

 will be so thick as to discourage seed 

 germination, while the cultivator will pre- 

 vent the weeds from growing there. At 

 the same time the cultivator will create a 

 dust mulch that will hold about 50 per 

 cent more moisture in the soil than would 

 be the case if the surface were left undis- 

 turbed. Another point in favor of culti- 

 vation is that it mixes the decayed por- 



