OUR CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL, ;^0F 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 



WE only wish that the members 

 of this school could get all to- 

 gether at one time and in one 

 place — what interesting times 

 we should have! But it would take a big 

 place to hold them all, and would require 

 a megaphone if all would hear the bright 

 and helpful words that surely would be 

 spoken could such an assemblage be had. 

 Sometimes we wish that all the other 

 members might see or read or hear the 

 good things that come to us, but which 

 can here only be "boiled down" to the cold 

 questions and answers of the class-room. 

 One thing is certain; there never was a 

 meeting of a horticultural society in this 

 country that could compare in interest 

 and value to such a session as that would 

 be. 



The letters that come to us reveal how 

 universal is the love of nature and how 

 deep the desire of man today to return to 

 her simpler ways of obtaining a livelihood. 

 One city man writes: "I want to know 

 just how to do the work in the best pos- 

 sible way, so that I may indeed win suc- 

 cess." The wife of a Buffalo policeman 

 has gone seventeen miles out into the 

 country with her children and through 

 strawberry production hopes to make a 

 home self-supporting so that her husband 

 may give up his employment and jom 

 her in her rural home. A Wisconsin 

 man writes: "My wife has read The 

 Strawberry through two or three times, 

 and we both wish to thank you for the 

 courtesies you have shown us. You can- 

 not fail to succeed." An Indiana man 

 says: "Every time I go into the house 

 I pick up The Strawberry and read again 

 and again the instruction and advice and 

 interesting matter it contains. I'm com- 

 ing to be called The Strawberry crank." 

 Then the rich experiences we receive, 

 and the interesting way in which they are 

 told. Here is one from away down in 

 Indian Territory, typical of many an en- 

 tertaining account of experiences with the 

 strawberry. Can any one read this sim- 

 ple narrative and think that the writer is 

 . lonesome in her home out in the South- 

 west, with her strawberry patch giving 

 her such fine mental and physical em- 

 ployment.'' Mental occupation is the sure 

 and only cure for lonesomeness, ennui, 

 dissatisfaction with surroundings, and all 

 that long list of psychological distempers 

 that wear so many people to a frazzle 

 and leave them in old age, if they survive 

 at all, dried up, withered, uninteresting 

 and non-interested in anything on earth 

 but their own petty ailments — every one 

 of which would disappear in the sunshine 



of honest effort and kindly fellowship 

 with man and with nature. But this is 

 not a lecture on mental diseases, but sim- 

 ply an introduction to a very interesting 

 account of an experience with strawber- 

 ries that didn't propose to quit business 

 until they had shown what they could do: 



Mrs. H. M. F. , Coalgate, Ind. Ter.— I 

 would like to give you the history of my straw- 

 berry bed, as it seems tomeoutof the ordinary. 

 I put out some plants in the fall of 1903, and in 

 the spring of 1904 set out more. Did not let 

 them bloom or make runners. The summer 

 was unusually hot and dry; no water here to 

 irrigate, and the plants looked fire-swept, so I 

 supposed they were gone, and did not mulch in 

 the fall. Last spring they came up here and 

 there — about one-third. I worked among them 

 faithfully to save them and they grew, but bore 

 scarcely any fruit. They put forth runners and 

 I worked for a double-hedge row, having six 

 rows about seventy feet long. They grew so 

 fast they got ahead of me; I could not down 

 them. They took the whole space between 

 the ridges. (I was obliged to raise the rows, 

 as the bed is on a slope to the north and washes 

 badly duringour heavy spring rains.) I mulched 

 slightly last fall, and this spring they bobbed 

 up so fast and so thick I stood helpless, and 

 they were in bloom before the ground was in 

 condition to cultivate. The bed was white 

 with bloom, and now I never saw so many ber- 

 ries; it looks as if every plant would bear a box 

 or more. I have plucked many buds off, too. 

 Some of the fruit is very large, though not ripe, 

 however. 



Now I would like to know if I should destroy 

 that bed this fall.' 



We should not think of destroying a 

 lot of strawberries that had shown such 

 persistence. There is no doubt that the 

 patch is in such vigorous condition — that 

 there is such a preponderance of 1905 

 plants there — as to insure a bumper crop 

 in 1907. Your experience only confirms 

 our oft-repeated claims for strong and 

 thoroughly developed plants. They are 

 so lusty and vigorous that it is impossible 

 to discourage them by any treatment 

 short of actualh' digging them up. The 

 combination of good plants, good soil, 

 good cultivation, renders strawberry pro- 

 duction the safest and most dependable 

 of all the fruit crops. 



Mrs. M. H. B.. South Vernon, Vt. What can 

 I do to kill out wheat grass and grubs? 



We have explained before the manner 

 of handling grubs, but take pleasure in 

 repeating the information here. The 

 best preventive is ro break the ground in 

 the fall, which subjects the grubs to the 

 freezing, also to the attacks of birds. But 



Page 135 



as your plants are already set in ground 

 infested with grubs, the best thing to do 

 is to keep a close watch while hoeing and 

 cultivating the plants, and at first sight of 

 plant being attacked by a grub, which is 

 easily detected by the wilting of the plant, 

 if you will dig around the plant you will 

 locate the grub at about half an inch to 

 an inch and a half below the surface, and 

 if the grub is killed before it has destroyed 

 too many of the roots, the plant often 

 may be saved. The grub is difficult to 

 get rid of because of its underground 

 habit. 



In regard to wheat grass, we assume 

 that you mean what is more commonly 

 known as cheat. The best way to get 

 rid of cheat when it appears in the fruiting 

 bed is to go through the field with a 

 sharp hoe and cut the grass off just below 

 the surface, or if the ground is wet from 

 rain, the better way is to pull it up by 

 hand. We have just completed in our 

 own fruiting field the work of removing 

 all weeds and grass, which will develop 

 in the spring, no matter how excellently 

 the field previously has been cared for; 

 and we followed the methods here 

 described. 



W. H. S., Rock Stream, N. Y. How can I 

 get rid of chick weed in a strawberry field, 

 and can a success be made raising strawber- 

 ries on ground badly infested with this weedi" 



Please note the instruction given Mrs. 

 H. B., South Vernon, Vt., in this depart- 

 ment and this issue. The fact that the 

 soil is infested with chick weed will be 

 no hindrance to the successful growing of 

 strawberries, provided you keep the soil 

 well cultivated and hoed, as the frequent 

 stirring of the soil will prevent the seed 

 from germinating, while it also will force 

 the plants into vigorous activity. 



L. A. L. , Waterloo, N. Y. Should we stop 

 cultivating among our plants after the fruit 

 buds are set? 



It is unnecessary to cultivate the fruit- 

 ing bed unless you wish to do so, but 

 last year we cultivated our fruiting bed 

 with splendid results. In doing this we 

 raked the mulching up close to the rows 

 of plants, then cultivated the bare space 

 between the rows. Any weed that made 

 its appearance directly in the row was 

 pulled out by hand after a rain. Then 

 the ground is moist and the weeds pull 

 very easily. If you start cultivation of 

 the fruit bed, it must be continued through 



