THE STRAWEERRY AUGUST 1906 



A FENDALL STRAWBERRY PLANT IN FRUIT 



a deep red, when fully ripe, and it is 

 shaped somewhat like a lemon — large, to 

 very large — with a very large, showy cap. 

 It is very prolific, the ground on each 

 side of the rov\' being literally covered 

 with berries. 



"I am more than pleased with the con- 

 duct of the berry, many single berries 

 measuring from eight to nine inches 

 around. I have in my garden many of 

 the popular varieties, but I can say that 

 the Fendall excels them all, although all 

 are cultivated and located alike. The 

 truth is, it is the most beautiful berry I 

 have seen in twenty years of experience. 



Strawberries in the North 



By E. E. Read 



1HAVE been an interested and much 

 benefited member of The Straw- 

 berry family since its start, and wish 

 to express my thanks to you for giving us 

 such a good paper and thorough training 

 in strawberry culture, which I think is 

 the most ideal of all agricultural pursuits. 



I live in the famous Park region of 

 Minnesota, where there are lakes on 

 nearly every square mile of land. Our 

 home is situated between two fine lakes 

 and the soil and climatic conditions are 

 ideal for strawberry raising. 



1 started a small bed of thoroughbred 

 plants last spring and am now about 

 through harvesting my first crop of berries. 



I>ast year was a very wet season, so 

 that it was next to impossible to keep the 

 weeds out and the runners restricted, so 

 mine were nearly all too thick in the 

 rows. I mulched them in the fall and 

 uncovered them this spring, and they 

 grew nicely. All did well at fruiting 

 time with one exception, the Warfields, 



mated with Bederwood, doing the best. 



1 he Michel's Early are the ones that 

 failed and 1 wish to ask the reason. They 

 had the same care and soil as the others, 

 but this spring, after the mulching was 

 removed, I noticed that a good many of 

 the largest plants, mostly the mother 

 plants, were dead. I could find no rea- 

 son. The roots were all right, and there 

 were no grubs or insects of any kind to 

 be seen about them. Some of them that 

 appeared dead at first still sent out a few 

 weak leaves and fruit buds which did not 

 develop fruit. The bloom was scarce on 

 the best of them and consequently there 

 were very few berries. The plants are 

 now very rank and are sending out run- 

 ners by the hundreds. What do you 

 suppose was the fault.? Our soil is sandy 

 loam, very rich in humus, nitrogen and 

 potash. There was no rust or mildew 

 apparent and the only thing that I noticed 

 last summer was a very few green lice on 

 some of the plants. I had no way of 

 spraying them, so I let them go as they 

 were not numerous. 



The Warfields did wonderfully well, 

 as we have picked at least 100 full quarts 

 from a row 220 feet long, in which were 

 set about 110 plants, and there are still 

 berries on the vines. 



I am giving my new-set plants care 

 exactly as taught by The Strawberry, and 

 1 expect to be able to tell some astonish- 

 ing tales when I pick my one-half acre 

 next year. We sell our berries as fast as 

 we can pick them for 15 cents a quart, 

 and could sell ten times as many at the 

 same price. 



Vining, Minn., July 8, 1906. 



Your case appears to be rather a pe- 

 culiar one, and we have studied the case 

 of the Michel's Early variety with inter. 



P>«e 165 



est. We note what you say about the 

 presence of green lice on some of the 

 plants. This convinces us that the lice 

 have drawn the juices from the mother 

 plants, this work being done, doubtless, 

 after the first runners were formed, and 

 your rows were filled in by the runner 

 plants. It would be possible for these 

 mother plants to live until mulching time, 

 but they did not possess sufficient vitality 

 to live throughout the winter. If your 

 soil is infested with these aphides, we 

 would recommend dipping the roots .of 

 all plants in tobacco tea before setting 

 them out. While we never are affected 

 by these lice, we dip every plant in to- 

 bacco tea before setting out as a precau- 

 tionary measure. As we have said many 

 times, and perhaps cannot say too often, 

 it is far easier to keep the farm clean of 

 all enemies than it is to rid the farm after 

 the enemies onco have gained a foothold. 

 The fact that Mr. Read was picking 

 his strawberries on the 8th of July, sug- 

 gests the great possibilities, often pointed 

 out in these pages, of growing late berries 

 for market in the northern tier of states. 

 The opportunity is past estimating in its 

 importance. The late berries, as Mr. 

 Read indicates, bring the best prices of 

 the year. 



<^ ^ 



Success Despite Discouragement 



By Elmer Smith 



IN the spring of 1905 I set a straw- 

 berry patch on a vacant lot adjoining 

 my residence. I knew very little 

 about strawberry culture, but concluded 

 to try to raise some of this luscious fruit. 

 I often had read what others had to say 

 about the yields they realized from beds 

 or fields of strawberiies, and it always 

 seemed to be out of proportion to the 

 amount any other crop world produce. 



My lot had for several years been cov- 

 ered with a heavy sod. This was turned 

 under and the soil worked into the best 

 possible condition, but I was almost per- 

 suaded to give up. 



The sod would work to the top of the 

 ground and neighbors told me it would 

 be useless to plant beriies on this sod. 

 They said: "The grass will soon sod it 

 over," "they will dry out with all that 

 grass turned under," etc. But I worked 

 away, procured my plants and when my 

 bed was completed I had thirteen straight 

 rows, three feet eight inches apart and 

 100 feet long, arranged as follows: one 

 row Senator Dunlap, two rows Haver- 

 land; one row Senator Dunlap, two rows 

 Enormous, one row Parsons' Beauty, two 

 rows Bubach, three rows Parsons' Beauty, 

 one row Haverland. Experienced grow- 

 ers will, of course, criticise part of this 

 arrangement, but at that time I hardly 

 knew the diflference between pistillate and 

 bisexual plants. 



Fortunately, the season was a rainy 

 one. The plants grew from the start and 

 I hoed and worked among them almost 



