THE STRAWBERRY FEBRUARY 1906 



tually kill them. If the remaining plants 

 are thrifty they may be transplanted in 

 the spring; but do not move the mother 

 plants. 



2. Yes. A top-dressing of barnyard 

 manure put on late in the fall will be of 

 much benefit to your plants. Be sure 

 that it be not applied until after growth 

 has ceased for the season. Then the soil 

 grains will absorb the leachings for the 

 plant's use at fruiting time, and they will 

 develop a fine foliage and the size of the 

 fruit will be increased. 



E. D. K., Mt. Vernon, Ind. I have about 

 one acre of ground I intend to put into straw- 

 berries. It has been in clover sod for two 

 years. Shall I break this ground up and sow 

 to some leguminous crop and wait another 

 year before setting out plants, or will it be all 

 right to set them next spring? This is fresh 

 ground, lies high and is well drained. 



The crop of clover you have plowed 

 under will furnish an abundance of humus, 

 and as clover is one of the very best of 

 the legumes it will be unnecessary to 

 grow any other before setting plants. 

 Indeed, with a light dressing of manure, 

 applied before setting out the plants, the 

 soil should be in ideal condition for them, 

 and ought to make a fine crop. Your 

 soil being high and well drained will 

 make it possible for you to grow the very 

 earliest varieties without danger from 

 frost. 



C. F. P., Tecumseh, Mich. Am badly both- 

 ered with ground moles, which are burrowing 

 my plants in all directions. Kindly advise me 

 what to do. 



As a rule ground moles do more good 

 than harm. They are heavy feeders on 

 the white grub and similar insects which 

 would do much more damage than the 

 moles if not destroyed. Of course, if the 

 mole goes directly under a freshly set 

 plant, in a dry season, the soil v\'ill dry 

 out and the plant will die. There are 

 numerous traps to be had at low prices 

 that are excellent for catching moles. 

 This is the best and most effective way of 

 getting rid of these little plowmen. 



C. D., Detroit, Mich. Please tell me if it will 

 do to sow oats in my strawberry patch, be- 

 tween rows, about September 1, to act as a 

 winter mulch. 



We have experimented by sowing oats 

 between the rows, but found that the oats 

 drew too heavily upon the moisture, 

 checking growth to such an extent as to 

 somewhat lessen the strawberry crop. 

 The result of our experiments were more 

 satisfactory with Gandy than with any 

 other variety, the reason being that the 

 Gandy makes too much foliage at the ex- 



pense of fruit unless checked in some 

 such way. By so checking its tendency 

 to excessive foliage we were able to turn 

 its energies to fruit-bud production. But 

 with varieties making scant foliage the 

 oats proved decidedly detrimental. 



Mrs. M. H. R. , Brookville, Ohio. Will old 

 sawdust do for a winter protection of straw- 

 berries? Straw is very scarce here. Would 

 sugar-cane pomace be better than the saw- 

 dust? 



Sawdust never should be used as a 

 mulching, as it has a tendency to sour the 

 ground. It also lies so close to the soil 

 that it keeps the sun's rays from penetrat- 

 ing and thus keeps the ground too cold. 

 Cold soil discourages activity in the bac- 

 teria of the soil, as they require a temper- 

 ature of from 45 to 90 degrees if best re- 

 sults are to be secured. The cane pom- 

 ace, on the other hand, will make an ideal 

 mulch, as it contains no weed seed. 



J. A. S., Poquonock, Conn. I notice that the 

 foliage of my Warfield plants curls up at the 

 edges. Please tell me what causes this, and 

 if it will do any injury. 



Your plants are affected with mildew 

 This is a funguous growth which is most 

 troublesome in damp and "muggy" 

 weather. Mildew easily is controlled by 

 the application of Bordeaux mixture or 

 liver of sulphur. These are only pre- 

 ventives, however, and should be applied 



at the first sight of the fungi and repeated 

 every ten days until the mildew has been 

 checked. It is hardly probable that this 

 will cause you trouble next spring, as the 

 new foliage may be entirely free from it. 



B. F. N., Puget Sound. Which is the best 

 strawberry to be grown on Puget Sound in 

 soft loam with about half clay in it? 2. 

 Which strawberry produces largest amount of 

 berries in the East? 3. Do you think the 

 Haverland will do well in Puget Sound? 

 4. Which is the best canning strawberry? 



Most of the standard varieties do well 

 in the Puget Sound country, but Brandy- 

 wine appears to be a general favorite 

 there. 



2. It is difficult to name any certain 

 variety as the most prolific berry in the 

 East, but it would be hard to excel Cres- 

 cent, Senator Dunlap, Parson's Beauty, 

 Haverland, Sample or Pride of Michigan. 



3. Reports from the Haverland indi- 

 cate that it succeeds very finely in your 

 country. 



4. There are many good canning va- 

 rieties. Warfield and Brandywine are 

 leaders in this respect. 



WP* 



So wo can guaran- 

 tee them. A" 'he varieties 



known as "best" 

 are from our nurseries. Itand^ome illustrated cata- 

 logue on request. TBK OI.O KKI.IABI.E 



..GENTRAt NURSERIES.. 



J. WRAGO & SONS CO., WAUKEE, IOWA. 



'pie ^aylor 



fjarrow 



TWO TOOLS IN ONE 



'T'HE best harrow on earth because it puts the soil in ideal condition at less cost 

 * than any other. Once o,er the ground with the Naylor Combination will 

 prepare the soil in much better condition than twice working with any other, and 

 it is easily drawn by two horses. •If The spring teeth dig deep do\\n, thoroughly 

 mixing the soil; the spike teeth pulverize and level the soil, and leave it a perfect 

 seed bed. Each harrow has eighteen spring teeth and forty-two spike teeth. Two 

 levers enable the operator to adjust the teeth to any desired position. Just the 

 thing for orchards and berry farms. 



In the fall of 1905 the Naylor Harrow was severely tested on 23 of 

 the best farms in St. Joseph county. Mich., and 22 of these farm* 

 ers purchased them "-a record unequalled by any other harrow 



Don't buy a harrow until you know all about The Naylor Combination. 

 Write me today and I will tell you all about it 



FRANK R. FISHER, Box 5, MOOREPARK, MICH. 



Page 46 



