OUR CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL, t%# STRAWBERRY CULTURE 



WHERE THE MEMBERS OF THE 

 SCHOOL AND THE INSTRUCTOR 

 IN CULTURAL METHODS MEET 



PRACTICAL LESSONS TAUGHT 

 PERTAINING TO THE SCIENCE 

 OF STRAWBERRY PRODUCTION 



SEPTEMBER brings with it many 

 interesting questions and much 

 important work, and the Corres- 

 pondence School is answering this 

 month many inquiries that will exactly 

 lit your case, v\e have no doubt. One 

 subscriber who had not seen The Straw- 

 berry until August writes: "The Straw- 

 berry is received. I find in it just the 

 information I need for this month." And 

 this issue will take to him just what he 

 will require for this month, and so on 

 throughout the year. 



Month by month the people who grow 

 strawberries are coming to realize the 

 unique character of this magazine — to 

 comprehend that of all the varied indus- 

 trial lines none other has a publication 

 which so thoroughly covers the field of 

 practical instruction as does The Straw- 

 berry, and they are taking a greater interest 

 in adding to its usefulness by increasing 

 its circulation. Writing from Asotin, 

 Wash., one of our subscribers says: The 

 Strawberry comes regularly and is a wel- 

 come \ isitor. I read and re-read it and 

 get a great deal of encouragement and 

 information from its pages. Don't see 

 how 1 could get along without it." 



We wish to call attention to the fact 

 that each month several persons are apt 

 to ask the same questions, although the 

 form of the question will difFer somewhat. 

 We therefore urge every reader to study 

 questions and answers with care. If you 

 fail to find answer to your particular ques- 

 tion, read to see if that question is not 

 answered in response to another's whose 

 letter perhaps reached us earlier, or for 

 some other reason was answered instead 

 of yours. 



And again we urge >ou to ask questions 

 without stint, if they are practical ones. 

 It may result in solving your own vexa- 

 tious problems; and you may be sure 

 that others are to be benefited in the 

 same way. Let us make this the great- 

 est school, as it is the most unique, in the 

 world. 



(). J. , Dawson, Minn. Our soil is so level tliat 

 some of tile plants I put out last year died 

 this spring on account of wet. I would like 

 to get the best plan for draining a level piece 

 of ground. 



The best thing to do in a case of this 

 kind is to run a tile ditch through the 

 lower place of this soil, draining it into 

 some creek or place where the surplus 

 water can be easily carried away. But if 

 all the land around you is level and the 

 drainage cannot be done, you can either 



make an open ditch to drain it into from 

 the tile, or, if this would be too expensi\ e, 

 you may make a slight ridge, setting the 

 plants on this as they do in the South. 

 This ridge is made something on the 

 plan of a sweet potato ridge. Thousands 

 of acres of strawberries are grown on 

 ridges in this manner in Mississippi, and 

 they grow very choice berries there. 



J. T. K , Wahpeton, N. D. I set 1000 plants 

 last spring and they are doing finely where 

 they are on good soil. A part of my patch 

 is where coal ashes were thrown and that part 

 is no good. In another part the soil is all 

 gumbo and is not doing very well. Perhaps 

 you folks do not know what gumbo in the 

 Red River valley is like. It resembles cold 

 putty in the spring then along in the summer 

 it gets like a Milwaukee brick that was burned 

 next the arch. So you can hardly blame a 

 plant for not doing well in it, but it will raise 

 great crops of grain just the same. 



We never advise anyone to use coal 

 ashes, because there is no fertilizing value 

 in them. However, they should improve 

 your gumbo soil by preventing it from 

 packing so firmly. 



(;. S. .'\.. Mahern, Ark. Are sorghum stalks, 

 after the juice has been extracted from them, 

 a good mulch for strawberries.' 



One of the very best, and in your sec- 

 tion, where large quantities of sorghum 

 are grown, it should be a favorite with 

 strawberry growers. 



P. A. P., Jamestown, Pa. I set an acre to 

 strawberries this season and have two more 

 acres joining that I expect to set after I har- 

 vest my first crop, provided it is satisfactory. 

 But I have been having a hard battle with 

 the grub worm. Now the adjoining piece of 

 land is in oats this season and needed to 

 Mammoth clover with a good catch, and I 

 expect to plow under the second crop of 

 clover in the fall of 1907, give it a good 

 dressing of manure and set to strawberries in 

 the spring of 1908. Will that do away w ith 

 the grubs? 



2. Put some manure on first piece direct 

 from blacksmith shop that contained horses' 

 hoof parings. Would that be likely to bring 

 in the grubs? 



Setting strawberry plants will not do 

 away with the grubs or help you in any 

 manner in your fight against the pests. 

 'S'ou do not say whether the oat field is 



Page 183 



now infested with grubs, but it is com- 

 monly true that one of the most prolific 

 breeding places for the grub is foimd in 

 the clover field. We advise you to ex- 

 amine with great care this field before 

 setting to plants in 1908, as the presence 

 of grubs in your patch in such close 

 proximity to the clover field indicates 

 that grubs may be present over the entire 

 area, including the present strawberry 

 patch, and the two acres you intend set- 

 ting out in 1908. 



2. We know of no reason why the 

 manure taken from a blacksmith shop 

 should be any more liable to be infested 

 with grubs than any other. It is true 

 that in bringing manure on the farm, one 

 always runs the risk of having grubs 

 brought in with it. 



'^ ^ 



S. B. H., Athens, Mich. Will it injure 

 one-year-old strawberry plantations to pull 

 the weeds and grass which may come through 

 the mulch before the fruiting season and es- 

 pecially when in bloom? 



2. Some growers claim that only the plant 

 nearest the parent vine on each runner should 

 be set to improve the berries or keep planta- 

 tions from running out. Is there anything in 

 this? 



3. Will keeping all buds picked on such 

 plants cause them to produce a superabun- 

 dance of runners? 



4. When should fall cultivation cease in well 

 established beds? Would you advise a cover 

 crop when fruiting rows are well established 

 to check runners? 



It will not injure your fruiting bed to 

 pull the weeds that may come up through 

 the mulching between the rows or in the 

 rows, provided the work is done imme- 

 diately after a rain and while there is 

 plenty of moisture in the ground. It is 

 always best to do this work before the 

 plants come into bloom, but if it has been 

 deferred until then, there will be no in- 

 jury, provided you wait until it rains. 



2. We never have found any differ- 

 ence in the runner plants whether they 

 were the fiist plants next to the mother 

 plants or the third or fourth, provided 

 the mother plant is in good physical con- 

 dition, and that it has been carefully 

 selected during the previous years. 



3. There is no doubt that it increases 

 the runner production of a plant to pinch 

 the buds from the spring-set plants, be- 

 cause this naturally relieves the plant of 

 a great strain, and it starts at once to build 

 up a large foliage. If the buds are not 

 removed, the plants will be weakened so 



