THE STRAWBERRY JANUARY 1906 



berries in all parts of the country, there is 

 sure to be a largely increased output. 

 The men and women of the country who 

 at this time prepare themselves by prac- 

 tice and study to enter the great field may 

 confidently look forward to restdts of the 

 most gratifying character. The needful 

 information and instruction which has de- 

 terred so many from taking up the work 

 in the past now is forthcoming, and all 

 who wish to do so may with confidence 

 engage in this pleasurable and profitable 

 occupation. 



There's big money and infinite pleasure 

 in strawberry production — if you know 

 how. The Strawberry will point the 

 way to complete success. 

 ■^ ^ 



Some January Suggestions 



JANUARY is an important month in 

 the lives of all of us. It is the month 

 of new resolutions; the month of plan- 

 making for the spring that seems all the 

 nearer now that "the backbone of winter 

 has been broken ' and we measure the 

 time of its coming by weeks. It is the 

 time to determine just what you are go- 

 ing to do, how much you intend to do 

 and how you will do it. If 



"The best laid plans of mice and men 

 Gang aft agley," 



it is even more true that the man who has 

 no plan at all is sure to go wrong. Now 

 is the time, then, to make your resolve 

 that you will grow this season of 1906 

 only the best plants that can be had, that 

 the cultural methods employed shall be 

 the very best and most thorough, that 

 nothing shall be left undone that will aid 

 in making your crop the biggest, the best 

 and altogether the most satisfactory one 

 ever grown in your section. And then 

 make your plans for putting this resolve 

 into practical effect. 



The first thing to do, if you have not 

 already mulched the plants now growing 

 in your field or lot, is to get right out and 

 do it. We refer to mulching several 

 times in th's issue, and we urge it so 

 strongly because it has so many good 

 things about it and is so essential to best 

 results in strawberry culture. 



1. Mulching prevents freezing and 

 thawing, which causes expansion and con- 

 traction, resulting in the straining or 

 breaking of the roots of the plants. 



2. It holds plants dormant, preventing 

 to a certain extent, extra-early blooming, 

 which lessens the chances of late frosts 

 injuring the crop. 



3. It insures clean, bright and glossy 

 berries, making it easy to market them at 

 top prices, and gives you a reputation for 

 being the grt)wer with clean fruit. 



4. It holds moisture to be used by the 

 plants during the ripening period, which 

 is the time they need moisture most. 



5. To these practical advantages is to 

 be added the relief from all anxiety about 

 your plants coming through the winter in 



good shape. Well-mulched plants al- 

 ways come out in splendid form in the 

 spring. 



The next important work is getting \'our 

 land ready that you may wish to set to 

 plants next spring. Cover this with well- 

 rotted manure and spread it evenly over 

 the ground. Measure up this strip of 

 ground and find out how many plants it 

 will require to set it, deciding on how far 

 apart you want the rows, then count how 

 many rows there will be. 1 he length of 



MEASURING BY STEPS 

 V^E use this illustration to help those who are un- 

 acquainted with the methods of estimating the 

 number of plants required for the plat of ground set 

 aside for strawberries. First, step the ground ofT 

 legtnhwise and figure on two plants to each step 

 which would place the plants eighteen inches apart. 

 This gives the number of plants to each row. Now, 

 find out how many rows in the allotted space by step- 

 ping the width of the patch and count one row to each 

 step, then multiply the number of rows by the num- 

 ber of plants required for each row, and you will know 

 just how many plahts to order. If your space is lim- 

 ited, mal^e the rows only two feet apart, which would 

 make three rows to every two steps. 



the rows and the distance apart your 

 plants are to be set in the row will deter- 

 mine how many plants will be needed. 



By the time you get all this work done 

 the February issue of The Strawberry 

 will have reached you, and will tell you just 

 what is the important work to be done in 

 that month. But remember, we shall 

 not continue to send you The Strawberry 

 unless you are a subscriber. Only one 

 issue of the magazine will go to those who 

 are not on our list. 



Strawberries in Winter Time 



SOME of the pleasures and profits of 

 cultivating the strawberry in winter 

 are told in Suburban Life for No- 

 vember by George E. Walsh, who, hav- 

 ing to retire to the country in search of 

 health, on advice of a friend took up the 

 work of pot-growing of strawberries and 

 cucumbers. Mr. Walsh secured fifty 

 six-inch pots, took last spring's runners 

 and set them in a soil composed of rich 

 loam and sharp sand, to which he added 

 liquid manure from time to time. Turn- 

 ing his sun parlor into a greenhouse he 

 set to work in October to see what he 

 could do. Mr. Walsh says: 



The front and lower shelves were 



P»ge 2 



filled with the pots of strawberry \ ines, 

 and the back or top shelf and the extreme 

 ends of the others v\ere reser\'ed for the 

 cucumbers. It seemed like a queer com- 

 bination, but my florist adviser remarked: 

 ^'ou'll have strawberries for flowers 

 and cucumber vines for ferns.'" 



The strawberry vines experienced a lit- 

 tle setback by being transplanted to the pots 

 and I had to keep them in the shade for 

 two weeks. Then they began to grow, 

 and their lea\'es and stalks fairly pushed 

 upward in the congenial warmth of the 

 sun parlor. I found it necessary to grad- 

 uate the light of the sun with shades, 

 which I could pull down in the middle 

 of the day. I ari;anged two sets of or- 

 dinary window shades. One was of 

 light cheese cloth through which the 

 sun's rays could penetrate feebly. These 

 I used on ordinary warm, sunny da\s in 

 winter. The other set of curtains were 

 totally opaque, being made of dark green 

 paper muslin. When they were pulled 

 down, the room was cast into darkness. 

 They were very useful in regulating the 

 light in the sun parlor, and also in pro- 

 tecting the plants on very cold nights. 



Daily I watered the plants and seed 

 beds, and spent many otherwise idle min- 

 utes in regulating the shades so that just 

 the right amount of light should be dis- 

 tributed. 1 he strawberry vines imme- 

 diately upon recovering their slight indis- 

 position due to transplanting began to 

 spread and send runners out in every di- 

 rection. These I checked by pinching 

 back, and the compressed vigor of the 

 plants was directed to the formation of 

 leaf and bud stalks. Within a month 

 the bud stalks were half an inch high, 

 and within six weeks they stood on a 

 level with the tallest leaves. Then they 

 proceeded to unfurl their heads, and by 

 December fifteenth I had strawberry 

 blossoms. These little star-like white 

 blossoms with their yellow centers were 

 welcome visitors in the middle of a severe 

 snow storm which raged for three days. 

 Mr. Walsh sold three dozen of his cu- 

 cumbers for three dollars a dozen and the 

 rest of the crop was sold at from two to 

 five dollars a dozen. He continues: "As 

 for strawberries, we did not expect at first 

 to sell any, but when the fifty pots be- 

 gan to produce, the yield was too promis- 

 ing to supply the home market. So we 

 made arrangements to dispose of the sur- 

 plus. The strawberries were so large 

 that the common garden berries would be 

 ashamed to belong to the same class. A 

 dozen would fill a box, which, by the 

 way, in winter, passes for a quart box, al- 

 though it holds about a pint. My crop 

 was small, so I was told, but we soldfifty 

 boxes from the pots and netted in se\-en- 

 ty-five dollars, as we averaged one dollar 

 and one-half a box. Strawberries were 

 quoted as high as $5.00 a box that winter, 

 but I never received these fancy prices. 

 The highest I got for my lot was half that 

 on a special wedding order for a dozen." 



