THE STRAWBERRY JULY 1906 



setting to plants It always is best to 

 keep black loam packed quite firmly, as 

 this will assist in holding moisture and 

 preserves normal conditions for the bac- 

 terial germs to work under. We believe 

 that by following these suggestions your 

 soil will be in ideal condition for plants 

 next spring. 



S. S. W., Chittenango, N. Y. Is it better to 

 put phosphate on in the mark when settnig 

 plants, or wait till early next spring and hoe 

 the plants after putting on the phosphate? 



We always have found it better to ap- 

 ply the phosphate in the spring before the 

 plants are set. This season we made a 

 deep furrow where the rows were to be, 

 then scattered the commercial fertilizers 

 lightly in these furrows, after which we 

 worked it thoroughly into the soil with 

 the five-tooth cultivator. After this was 

 done we rolled the ground for the second 

 time, then ran our marker directly over 

 where the furrows had been made. Fol- 

 lowing this the plants were set. Please 

 note that all commercial fertilizers should 

 be handled in this way — that is, thorough- 

 ly incorporated with the soil before the 

 plants are set. 



H. S., Cheyenne, Wyo. How can I protect 

 my strawberry patch, six rows fifty feet long, 

 from hail, during the blooming and fruiting 

 season.? Hail storms are frequent here at that 

 time. 



There is no practicable way to protect 

 the strawberry from hail, and this is true 

 of any crop grown. Crops must have 

 sunshine and air, and any obstruction 

 strong enough to withstand hail would 

 not admit these to the plants 



H. P. H., Shelby, Idaho. I wish to com- 

 mend your paper. It certainly fills the object 

 for which it was gotten up, and I eagerly 

 peruse its pages for information. I have al- 

 ready had answers to questions which I in- 

 tended to ask. through your correspondence 

 department, but one or two questions I wish 

 to ask which I hope you will see fit to answer 

 through your valuable paper. 1. I have 

 one patch of strawberries which has borne one 

 year, but has become so matted that I fear 

 the berries will be rather small this season. 

 Could I not thin them out, or would it do to 

 plow up between the rows so they would 

 form a single-hedge row? Would the plants 

 from this patch which I would take out, do 

 to set out a new patch with.^ 



It was a mistake to allow your plants 

 to mat thickly, but as it is done the best 

 way out of the dilTiculty is to leave the 

 plants as they are. To disturb plants 

 near fruiting time is not a good thing to 

 do. We have always discouraged the 

 idea of taking plants from the fruiting 

 bed because you are sure to disturb the 

 roots of the plants that are left for fruiting 



when taking up plants for setting. An- 

 other objection to this is that one is too 

 apt to take the alley plants, which never 

 are as good as the better developed plants. 

 It is certainly bad practice to take plants 

 from a bed that has borne one crop of 

 fruit, and this for severa,l reasons. One 

 is that the plants are weakened by pollen 

 exhaustion, and second there is danger of 

 transferring insect pests or fungous dis- 

 eases with the plants. This practice has 

 encouraged infection in localities where 

 plants have been grown for any number 

 of years. Therefore, our advice is to 

 leave your bed just as it is until the ber- 

 ries are picked, and as this will be the 

 second crop, the vines should be mowed 

 off and when dry burned over, then broken 

 up and sowed to some other crop. 

 Where this is done there is little danger 

 from dange-ous insects or fungi. 



W. B. E., Fort Madison, Iowa. For irrigat- 

 ing strawberries or any fruit or vegetables is it 

 safe to use the water pumped out of a well or 

 drive well and flood it down between the 

 rows, or is it too cold? 

 Irrigating should be done by running a 

 trench in the middle of the space between 

 the rows and flooding into that trench, 

 allowing the water to seep through the 

 soil to the roots of the plants. Never 

 flood the surface of the strawberry bed 

 with water. This will answer your ques- 

 tion with regard to the temperature of 

 the water, as the water run in a trench of 

 this kind will be warmed by the sun long 

 before it reaches the roots of the plants. 

 However, the best way to conserve mois- 

 ture in the soil is by persistent stirring of 

 the surface of the soil with the rake or 

 hoe. This breaks up capillary attraction, 

 forces all the moisture to come up through 

 the plants and, except in rare cases, will 

 preserve a sufficient amount of moisture in 

 the soil without recourse to irrigation. 



the ripening fruit would be almost cer- 

 tain to absorb some of the tobacco flavor, 

 which might not be acceptable to your 

 customers. Pleased to know that you are 

 getting so much good from The Straw- 

 berry. 



\V. J. K. , Macleay, Oregon. Will it be pos- 

 sible to cultivate strawberries successfully on 

 a hill sloping east, and should the rows run 

 east and west? 2. Will plants propagated 

 for two seasons, in order to obtain enough 

 sets for several acres, be damaged in their 

 producing qualites or tendencies? 3. Is it 

 common that fruit buds are out when plants 

 are taken up for resetting? I reset them about 

 April 15. 



1. An easterly slope will give good 

 results with strawberries when the rows 

 are run north and south, as this will over- 

 come the danger of washing during a 

 heavy rainfall. 



2. The plants taken from the propa- 

 gating bed the second year would not be 

 equal to the first year's runners. See 

 article on the propagating bed in June 

 issue for reasons why. 



3. Plants always bloom at the proper 

 season, and in your locality plants un- 

 doubtedly will be in full bloom April 15. 

 This will not injure the plants to any 

 great extent, provided you pinch the buds 

 and blossoms from the plants before set- 

 ting out. It always is best to set out 

 plants while they are dormant or at least 

 before they bud out. 



W. E. C, Ingersoll, Ont. Is liver of sulphur 

 the same as common sulphur, fiour of sulphur, 

 etc? 

 No, liver of sulphur is a preparation 



for use in prevention and cure of mildew, 



and is most excellent for that purpose. 



Your druggist should be able to get it for 



vou. 



G. J. K., Norwich, Conn. I am a subscriber 

 to The Strawberry and got my dollar's worth 

 of information from the first number and am 

 eager to get more. I read every word in it. 

 I am just starting in strawberry culture and 

 would like to know if you advise tobacco 

 stems for winter protection or mulching? 



We never have used tobacco stems as 

 a mulch, but in our judgment it would 

 not serve the purpose with any degree of 

 satisfaction, as when the berries are ripen- 

 ing they would lie on the tobacco and 



Page 152 



R. L. B., Creston, B. C. When my plants 

 came I trenched them in at once in damp 

 black loam, and will keep them there until 

 they make a start, when I shall set them out 

 in proper place. Will you tell me if I did 

 right? 2. Do you think the hill system — 

 say 30x18 inches— the most profitable way to 

 set out strawberry plants? Or do you think 

 the double-hedge better? 



1. You followed the proper method 

 \n trenching or heeling in your plants, 

 provided your soil was not ready for their 

 permanent home. One never should 

 heel a plant in unless to hold them in 

 good condition until the soil is ready, as 

 it always is best to get the plants set out 

 as early as possible. However, we often 

 have kept heeled-in plants for several 

 weeks, and when set in their permanent 

 home 95 per cent of them grew and gave 

 large results. Twenty new varieties have 

 come to us from France this season. 

 They arrived in February when our 

 ground was frozen solid. We placed a 

 large box in a building and secured soil 

 from under a shed where it was not 

 frozen, and the plants were heeled in in 

 this box, and kept there until April 5, 

 when they were set out; and a prettier lot 

 of plants it would be difficult to find to- 

 day, though they were a pretty sickly 

 looking lot when they went into the 



