THE STRAWBERRY MARCH 1906 



dibble which appears herewith. The 

 blade is of steel, which is attached to a 

 malleable shank. You will notice that 

 the blade goes down 

 to almost a needle 

 point, making it very 

 easy to press into the 

 soil. The dibble 

 should be forced to a 

 depth of about six 

 inches then pressed 

 from you so as to 

 make an opening large 

 enough to take in the 

 roots of the plant. 

 1 he roots should be 

 placed in this open- 

 ing before the dibble 

 is withdrawn, then re- 

 move the dibble and 

 thrust it into the soil 

 about two inches from 

 this opening and draw 

 it firmly toward you, 

 which will press the 

 earth firmly against 

 tiie roots of the plant. Then firm the 

 soil with the fingers about the crown of 

 the plant. Your plants should be car- 

 ried in a basket, shaded with some top- 

 covering. As the one setting plants 

 moves along the row the basket should 

 be carried along with one hand, while the 

 other hand is engaged with the dibble. 

 With this little tool one man will set 

 from two to three thousand plants a day, 

 when he once gets into the swing, and 

 there is no reason why every plant so set 

 should not live. 



Growing Plants and Fruit Together 



THE surest way to make failure of 

 the work of strawberry culture is to 

 practice the method, all too com- 

 mon, of growing plants and fruit in the 

 same bed. It doubtless is the fact that 

 more growers fail by following this method 

 than from any other single cause. 



It simply is impossible for a plant to do 

 two things successfully at the same time. 

 To grow strong plants requires quite a 

 different set of conditions from those re- 

 quired to grow berries, just as it requires 

 one kind of food to produce milk in the 

 cow and another kind of food to produce 

 fat. 



To grow a strong, well-developed and 

 perfectly balanced plant requires science, 

 both as to the feeding and cultivation of 

 the plants. How to select mother plants 

 and how to tell when they are prepared 

 to make runners; what runners to set and 

 and what not to set — these require quite 

 as much science as is needed by the 

 chemist to know what elements to put 

 together in order to secure certain desired 

 effects. 



Too many growers appear to think that 

 to grow plants successfully one needs 

 merely to set out the plants and let them 



make runners, or multiply themselves. 

 At setting time they dig the alley plants, 

 and leave the center of the row to fruit, 

 and great is their disappointment because 

 the big red berries don't pile up all along 

 the rows. They fail to consider that the 

 entire strength of their plants was ex- 

 hausted in multiplying themselves. 



Then the plants that are left are mat- 

 ted and neither roots or foliage have room 

 in which to develop, the roots of one 

 plant robbing the others like so many 

 pigs rushing for the same ear of corn. 



CUT S-POSITION FOR HOLDING PLANT 

 WHEN SETTING 



Turn a hundred pigs on ten square rods 

 of clover and see how many big fat 

 porkers you will get as a result. This 

 rule of feeding applies alike to plants and 

 animals. Sometimes a grower says he 

 piled on enough manure to one acre to 

 feed two acres of plants. Doubtless he 

 did put on a needless quantity of manure, 

 forgetting that only a certain quantity of 



food can be digested and assimilated by 

 the plant, and that this plant food must 

 first be dissolved by moisture and taken 

 up by the soil grains before it can be used 

 by the plants. 



Another point to be considered is the 

 fact that plants require a great deal of 

 water, and if they can't get it they will take 

 up the leachings of this surplusage of plant 

 food (manure) which makes a succulent, 

 undeveloped, unbalanced, sickly plant. 

 To use the analogy of the hog again, feed 

 an entire load of corn to the hogs, unac- 

 companied by plenty of water, and the 

 fat will fail to develop on their ribs. 



There is a surprising likeness between 

 animal and plant life, and if we will bear 

 this fact in mind and use the same reason 

 in the treatment of plants that we do in 

 the case of animals, it will aid us not a 

 little in attaining the results we seek. 

 And never try to do anything not in har- 

 mony with nature's laws. 



OVER in England the Countess of 

 Warwick is doing a great work for 

 young women by getting them interested 

 in domestic science, in cultivating the soil 

 and in carrying forward enterprises in an- 

 imal husbandry. Some of the young 

 women who are members of high social 

 circles in Great Britain, but tired of the 

 frivolities and follies of a life spent in 

 idleness, have become expert poultry 

 raisers, and others are proud of the fine 

 porkers they send to the shambles. How 

 infinitely preferable it would be if they 

 were engaged in the refining and delightful 

 work of strawberry growing! And why 

 may not our own sweet A'merican girls 

 take a lesson from the work their British 

 friends are doing, and put into practical 

 operation some of the splendid opportun- 

 ities to physical health and financial in- 

 dependence that only await their energy 



CUT 6 -HEELING IN PLANTS 



This illustration shows the plants placed in the V-shaped trench ready to be heeled in. This should be done 

 only when the ground is not ready for the plants. Spread plants so that each will come in contact with the soil. 



Page 52 



