THE STRAWBERRY JUNE 1906 



course, this would be expensive if you 

 are growing berries on a large scale. 



4. Inasmuch as your plants come from 

 propagating beds that are thoroughly 

 sprayed, it will hardly be necessary to 

 spray the fruiting bed, unless some insects 

 attack the plants. 



5. It will be all right to cultivate the 

 fruiting bed, provided you did not start 

 cultivator until all danger of frost is over. 

 In doing this, you should rake the mulch- 

 ing up close to the plants, and then cul- 

 tivate the space between the rows. You 

 should cultivate once each week, except 

 when the plants are in bloom. Then you 

 should not cultivate unless the ground is 

 moist enough to prevent dust from flying. 

 When you start picking the berries the 

 cultivaror should follow each picking, as 

 the pickers will tramp the ground down 

 solid, which will make it possible for 

 water to escape by capillary attraction. 



6. It will be all right for you to put 

 manure between the rows in the fall be- 

 fore covering the plants. This manure 

 should not be put on until all growths 

 stop. If it is put on too early in the fall, 

 it will stimulate too much vegetative 

 growth and stop the plants from making 

 fruit buds. When you put it on late in 

 the fall after growth stops, the rains will 

 wash the juices from the manure and the 

 soil grains will take these up and hold 

 them in reserve for the plants' use in the 

 spring, just when they need it most. 



7. In removing the straw from the 

 plants in the spring it is best to take a 

 common fork and merely part the mulch- 

 ing from over the rows. In doing this 

 make the part just wide enough so the 

 plants can come up through it. 



.^ ^ 



E. T. G., Campbellton, N. B. My soil ha? 

 been cropped until it is not very good and 

 manure is hard to get. There are three shal- 

 low ponds on the place and there is from one to 

 four feet of soft mud on the bottom, which, 

 when dry, looks like ashes. Would not that 

 answer the place of manure? Some say it is 

 very rich, but I want to be sure; for I want 

 the best plants and to give them a good start. 



We would not advise you to use this 

 mud on your strawberry ground as it 

 would have a tendency to bake and would 

 be of no benefit to your plants. If this 

 muck soil was thoroughly dry before tak- 

 ing up and applying it to the soil, it 

 would be all right, but do not do this 

 while it is wet or pasty. 



J. W. M. , Arispe, Iowa. Does the strawberry 

 bed have to be reset every third year? If so, 

 shall I reset the old plants or the new ones? 

 2. Should I keep the rest of the runners cut 

 off every year, except those it took to make 

 the single or double hedge rows the first year. 



1. No Strawberry bed will give you 

 the proper amount of fruit for the space 

 and trouble required after the second crop 

 is grown, therefore you should arrange to 



have a new crop growing all the time, 

 plowing out the old one after the second 

 crop and planting to something else. 

 This tends to kee|i the land free from 

 insect and fungous pests. 



2. Never set an old plant; the new 

 plants should be grown in a propagating 

 bed. You should cut off all the runners 

 in excess of those \ou have permitted to 

 grow to form your double or single hedge 

 row. 



M. T. U., Albert Lea, Minn. What is the 

 customary price paid per quart for picking 

 berries when the pickers sort them, as you 

 have suggested in The Strawberry? 2. How 

 many pickers per acre is necessary to take 

 care of a good crop? 3. About how much 

 per acre is it worth to pick the blossoms from 

 a newly set field of plants? 



1. The customary price per quart 

 where strawberries are sorted by the 

 pickers as we have outlined, is 1 1-4 

 cents a box. Where this sorting is not 

 done, prices for picking are customarily 

 fixed at 1 cent per box. 



2. The number of pickers required 

 would vary greatly. The size of the 

 crop itself, the number ripe at a given 

 time, and many other conditions would 

 enter into the matter, but from twelve 

 to fifteen good pickers should do the 

 work with ease. 



3. It would be almost impossible to 

 answer. The nature of the work would 

 make it necessary that it be done by 

 "time" rather than by "the piece", and 

 the labor would vary in different fields. 



J. H. F., White Rock, Me. Would like to 

 ask in regard to applying phosphate — do you 

 mean to apply it broadcast over the whole 

 piece and work it in with harrow, or sow it 

 along the rows? 



All commercial fertilizers are preferably 

 sown broadcast. This should be done 

 after the ground has been broken up, and 

 it should be thoroughly worked into the 



soil bofore plants are set. Another good 

 way is to make a deep furrow where each 

 row is to be set, and then scatter the fer- 

 tilizers along in this furrow, following this 

 with a five-tooth cultivator so as to incor- 

 porate the fertilizer with the soil. Then 

 the plants can be set where the furrow 

 was made after it has been filled in. 



J. G. R., Bryantville, Mass. Would like to 

 know the best .system of irrigating strawber- 

 ries, and any information will be very much 

 appreciated. 



The only successful way we have 

 found for irrigating the strawberry, is by 

 making a furrow between the rows and 

 running the water through the rows until 

 the soil is well filled with water. If the 

 water is flooded over the plants the soil 

 will become baked so hard as to greatly 

 injure the plant. While the strawberry 

 requires much moisture it is a mistake to 

 have the water about the crowns. When 

 it is put in a furrow the moisture is taken 

 up by the soil grains and the plant re- 

 ceives it in a natural way — that is, by 

 being absorbed through its roots. 



G. W. P., Clayton, N. M. I am a subscriber 

 to The Strawberry, and think it the best pub- 

 lication of its kind I ever saw — it can't be 

 beaten, in my opinion. Please advise me if 

 you consider sheep manure good for straw- 

 berries. I have a place that was used as a 

 sheep lot for two or three years; have had in 

 it vegetables two seasons and grown fine ones 

 there. What do you think of it? 



It should never be forgotten that the 

 sheep has won in all ages the distinction 

 of being the animal with the "golden 

 hoof. This is but another way of say- 

 ing that wherever the sheep are raised 

 golden harvests follow as a result of the 

 fertility they scatter. Your patch should 

 be an ideal one in its present condition, 

 and we shall expect to hear fine reports 

 from the strawberries grown on such 

 favorable soil in your wonderful territory. 



BERRY PICKERS IN THE HOOD RIVER VALLEY. OREGON. 



Page 139 



