THE STRAWBERRY NOVEMBER 1906 



sufficient runners to make a double-hedge 

 row. When this row has been formed 

 keep off the surplus runners as is done 

 the first year. 



'^ ^ 



F. W. P., Ravenna, Mich. I wish to start a 

 small fruit farm, and ask you for advice. 

 The land I have for strawberries is a gravelly, 

 sand and clay soil. Do you think this is 

 good soil for strawberries? 



2. Which is the best berry to raise — early or 

 late, and the kind that brings the best price? 

 I expect to set my plants in the spring. 



3. What time do you set the plants? 



"S'our gravelly, sand an.i clay soil will 

 be ideal for strawberries. It should have 

 a light dressing of manure scattered over 

 it this winter, then thoroughly worked 

 into the soil next spring before setting the 

 plants. 



2. In selecting varieties, it is best to 

 take some of the earliest, then some 

 medium, and some late ones. This will 

 gi\e \ou berries from the earliest clear 

 through the season. 



3. In this state it is best to set plants 

 as early in April as your ground will do 

 to work in. 



Mrs. G. D. B., Belmont, Mass. My plants 

 are set out in the hill system, in rows thirty 

 inches apart. How deep and how wide shoidd 

 I dig my trench for wijiter drainage? Should 

 the earth be banked up on only one side of 

 the trench? 



1. Some of the new leaves have become a 

 reddish-brown around the edges. As I have 

 sprayed these plants twice in September with 

 Bordeaux, I do not know how to account for 

 this appearance of the leaf. Other new leaves 

 are pale colored around the edges with a dark- 

 er shade of green near the center. What is 

 the cause of this? The leaves at the same time 

 have the appearance of not being able to ex- 

 pand freely. 



3. There are some tmy white flies on the 

 under side of some leaves. Are these harmful? 



4. Do crickets do any damage? 



5. After one has obtained the first crop of 

 berries from the hill system, are runners al- 

 lowed to form in preparation for tlie second 

 crop? 



The furrow which is made between 

 the rows of strawberry plants may be 

 made with a common cultivator shovel, 

 such as is used on five-tooth cultivators. 

 They are about eight inches long and 

 three-fourths inches wide. Simply make 

 the furrow the same as you would if you 

 were preparing to plant corn or potatoes. 

 This will leave an even amount of soil on 

 both sides of the furrow. 



2. It is natural for the leaves of some 

 varieties to turn red at this time of the 

 year. However, it may be that the leaves 

 are affected somewhat with rust, but it is 

 hardly probable that it is sufficient to do 

 any injury. It may be that some insect 

 is working on the roots of your plants. 

 This will cause the leaves to be slow in 



developing. Sometimes undesirable bac- 

 teria will cause this. 



3. We hardly think that the white 

 flies you speak of will do any great 

 injury to your plants. 



4. Crickets never do any injury to 

 the strawberry plants, except sometimes 

 they may work a trifle on the runner wires, 

 but not enough to do any serious damage. 



5. When growing strawberries in hills, 

 after the first crop is picked you will get 

 better results by allowing enough runners 

 to form to make a double-hedge row. 



^ '^ 



U. G. K. , Etters, Pa. I never tried to raise a 

 strawberry until last spring, when 1 planted 

 2,400 planis, setting them three and one-half 

 feet by thirty inches in new ground that never 

 before had been broken. They grew finely 

 and I cultivated until I could no longer get 

 through the field on account of the. runners; 

 then I kept them clean by weeding, and today 

 it is a perfect mat all over the patch. Now 

 what I would like to know is, how I should 

 proceed to thin this mass, a^ I have learned 

 my mistake through reading The Strawberry. 

 If I had known of your magazine sooner, this 

 condition never would have been. The plants 

 are as thick as they can stand. Please inform 

 me what I should best do. 



The best thing to do now is to go 

 over the rows with a common garden 

 rake, pulling the rake directly cross-wise 

 in the row. By doing this the teeth will 

 pull out all of the poorly rooted and weak 

 plants, or you can do the work with your 

 hands by allowing your fingers to act as 

 the teeth of a rake, pulling them through 

 and jerking out all of the small and weak 

 plants. This will, of course, leave your 

 rows rather wide, but it will thin your 

 plants so that they will develop into heavy 

 fruiters. 



G. W. S. , Sherman, N. Y. Our spring season 

 is backward in this part of the state. At 

 what time would you advise setting straw- 

 berries? 



2. Do you advise keeping all runners picked 

 from bearing beds of strawberries until after 

 the fruiting season is over, and do you ever 

 thin the blossoms? 



Strawberry plants should be set in your 

 locality just as early as your soil is in con- 

 dition to work, but never attempt to plow 

 and harrow your ground until it is dry 

 enough to crumble. If the soil is wet 

 enough to paste when rubbed in the 



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200 Eggs 

 a Year 

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HOW TO GET THEM 



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