THE STRAWBERRY JULY 1906 



not set near some bi-sexual variety which 

 bloomed at the same time. 



3. Lack of potash in the soil would 

 cause the foliage to look yellow and sick- 

 ly. We think the pale foliage to which 

 you refer is due to lack of moisture. 



E. McT. , Hatzic, B. C. There is a little black 

 insect doing considerable damage to the foli- 

 age of my plants. There also is a small grub 

 one-eighth to one-fourth inch long feeding on 

 the roots. What are they and what is the 

 remedy? 



The black insect of which you speak 

 belongs to the beetle family and the grub 

 is their larvae. The beetle is a very lively 

 insect; it hibernates under decayed grass 

 and other rubbish. It is easily controlled 

 by spraying Paris green or any kind of 

 arsenate. They feed upon the tender leaf- 

 tissues, eating the leaves full of holes. 

 By killing the beetle you will soon des- 

 troy the source of the larvas. 



* * 

 J. J. B., Wirt, Ind. Would it in any way 

 prove injurious to this spring's setting of 

 plants to permit them to put out one or two 

 extra runners more than the number for either 

 single or double hedge row, then set those 

 plants either late this fall or early next spring? 



It would not injure the mother plants 

 to make one or two extra runners after 

 either the single or double hedge row was 

 formed. While we do not approve, as a 

 general thing, of taking any plants from 

 the fruiting bed, in this case it will do no 

 great injury provided the extra plants are 

 taken up the latter part of September and 

 set in another bed. In doing this work 

 take them up carefully with the trowel 

 after a heavy rain, leaving quite a little 

 soil on the roots of each plant. We al- 

 ways discourage fall setting because that 

 is the season when the strawberry plant 

 is building up its fruit-bud system, which 

 requires much of the plant's vitality; but 

 when plants are removed from one part 

 of the garden to another the strain is not 

 so great, of course. 



F. M., Sussex, N. J. Will you please inform 

 me in next month's Strawberry whether it 

 would be safe to leave my one-year-old 

 strawberry patch for another year or not? 

 They seem to have a fair foliage, but have 

 the appearance of being wilted; and the leaves 

 are curling up, and the fruit stems and leaves 

 have brown spots and appear as if they were 

 stung by insects. Holes are eaten in the 

 leaves. Vines are loaded with fruit, but ber- 

 ries do not ripen. What shall I do? 



The leaves you send us are affected 

 with mildew, which is a fungous growth 

 and has a tendency to curl up the leaves, 

 giving them the appearance of suffering 

 for moisture; it also affects the stems by 

 making spots. If you will take a magni- 



fying glass \'ou will see that there is a 

 small cobweb-like substance on all plants 

 affected in this way. This growth spreads 

 by spores and you should follow the same 

 method described in the answer to G. 

 W. D., Winneconne, Wis. There is no 

 reason why you should not get another 

 crop from these plants, because when you 

 mow the plants off and burn over the 

 bed, it will destroy the fungous spores, 

 and by spraying the fruiting bed next 

 spring with Bordeaux mixture just as 

 growth starts and again before buds open, 

 you will prevent the mildew from making 

 a second attack. 



D. B., Wheeling, W. Va. Will it be all right 

 to spray my new-set plants with Bordeaux 

 mixture after I remove my buds and bloom? 

 2. Will it be a good plan to cut the first 

 runners from my mother plants? 



It will be all right to spray your young- 

 set plants with Bordeaux mixture after 

 buds and bloom have been removed. It 

 would do no injury to spray young plants 

 while yet the bloom is on, because they 

 are not to be permitted to develop fruit. 

 When we adviseagainst spraying the plant 

 when in bloom we refer to the fruiting 

 bed and not to young-set plants. 



2. It is a good idea to cut off the first 

 runner plants, as this is sure to strengthen 

 the mother plants and get them in a vigor- 

 ous condition and capable of sending out 

 fine strong nmner plants. 



^ i^ 



H. A. T. , Doylestown, Pa. Most of the 

 Pennsylvania soils are sadly in need of humus; 

 it seems wasteful, therefore, to burn tl.e 

 mulch, as generally recommended, at any 

 time in the life of the strawberry plantation. 

 Can not the injurious insects be held in check 

 by clean, systematic culture, supplemented, 

 if need be, by spraying? 2. In a rotation 

 in which strawberries are the chief crop, how 

 long a break is desirable before again setting 

 strawberries? What crops are best adapted 

 to such a rotation? 3. Stable manure in 

 this section is expensive — $2 per ton, and 

 hauling additional — and cannot always be 

 obtained then. If a high grade of fertilizer is 

 used freely and green crops frequently plowed 

 in to supply humus, can strawberry growing 

 be prosecuted as profitably as when stable 

 manure is used? 4. What leguminous catch- 

 crop is recommended other than crimson 

 clover? 



As your soil is so badly in need of 

 humus, we would advise you to turn the 

 mulching under after fruiting time. That 

 is, when your bed is ready to be discard- 

 ed. If you are preparing a bed of plants 

 for the second crop, then only part of the 

 mulching should be left on and cultivated 

 into the soil. The balance can be re- 

 moved and scattered over another piece 

 of land and turned under. While this is 

 not the best way, yet it is possibly the 



Page 154 



best in your locality, unless you can grow 

 cow peas or clover to furnish humus. 

 When we recommend the plowing in of 

 mulching, we also advise clean cultivation, 

 as this will help to destroy insects and 

 fungi. No bed of strawberry plants 

 should be allowed to fruit more than two 

 years. Longer than this generally is done 

 at a loss. A new bed should be set out 

 every spring so that you can keep a con- 

 tinuous fruiting bed after the old ones 

 have been exhausted. Even if stable 

 manure does cost ,$2 per ton, it will prove 

 to be a good investment and of greater 

 economy and profit than the method you 

 suggest. Five or six tons scattered over 

 an acre will make a big difference in the 

 yield of fruit. We use forty-five car- 

 loads each year and it costs delivered on 

 the farm $60 per car. The cars average 

 about thirty to thirty-five tons. Any le- 

 guminous crop turned under will give 

 good results with strawberries, if commer- 

 cial fertilizers also are used in connection. 

 Cow peas or common field peas will serve 

 the purpose. 



T. W. M., Redfield, Ark. I have a piece of 

 ground 115 feet long and in April I set it to 

 strawberry plants, as follows: One row Texas, 

 one row Warfield, and one row Dunlap. 

 The rows are four feet apart and the plants 

 are eighteen inches apart in the rows. I have 

 cultivated exactly as outlined in The Straw- 

 berry, and the patch is beautiful. Will you 

 please give me some suggestions as to how to 

 handle these plants for single and double 

 hedge row? 



You have set your plants properly, as 

 we note you have made the rows four 

 feet apart and placed the plants eighteen 

 inches apart in the row. As they are only 

 eighteen inches apart, each mother plant 

 may make two runners for the single- 

 hedge row, or four runner plants for the 

 double-hedge row. 



C. E. S., Colmesnell, Texas. When should 

 plants that were set out April 18th be allowed 

 to make runners? Some of the plants have 

 over twenty leaves and some not over four or 

 five. 2. When and how should I use com- 

 mercial fertilizer on plants that were set out 

 this spring on poor ground, which had been 

 given a dressing of commercial fertilizer? 



Your mother plants which have a large 

 foliage are now ready to send out good 

 strong runners. We note that you say 

 some of the plants have only four or five 

 leaves. For such as these it will be best 

 to remove the runners until the mother 

 plant builds up a larger vegetative growth. 



2. It always is best to use commercial 

 fertilizers before plants are set so that 

 they may be thoroughly incorporated 

 with the soil. If commercial fertilizers 

 are applied after the plants are set out, it 

 is rather difficult properly to mix it with 

 the soil. If you can secure well-rotted 



