THE STRAWBERRY DECEMBER 1906 



to the markets where the fruit is desired 

 and where a fair price awaits it. Grow 

 good fruit, picic and pacic it under rigid 

 inspection. If you do, the profits are sure. 



Use of Commercial Fertilizers in 



Strawberry Culture 



By A. J. Patten 



SOME weeks ago a Missouri subscriber who, 

 by the way, grows forty acres of strawber- 

 ries annually, wrote us aslcing for an article on 

 commercial fertilizers, saying that little practi- 

 cal information on this subject appeared avail- 

 able, while the problem was becoming one of 

 large moment to every man who grew 

 strawberries for market. This is true, as 

 everybody understands who cultivates 

 his soil intensively. We called upon 

 Professor Patten of the Michigan Agri- 

 cultural College for an article upon this 

 subject, and the following brief but 

 comprehensive statement is the result. 

 Clear, concise and p actical, it forms a 

 basis for intelligent action for every 

 strawberry grower, no matter in what 

 section of the country, or what his pecu- 

 liar soil conditions — Editor Strawberry. 



IT is impossible for any man to 

 prescribe the fertilizer require- 

 ments of a soil with which he 

 has had no practical experience. 

 There are, however, a few general 

 statements that apply equally well 

 to all soils and all crops. 



While there are some fourteen 

 elements found in the soil that are 

 used by the plant in building up its 

 various parts, we know that there 

 are only three, popularly known as 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, 

 whose supply in the soil is liable to 

 become so depleted as to be insuffi- 

 cient to longer supply the necessary 

 demands of the crops grown upon it. 

 Or it may be that the supply of 

 these elements in the soil is still 

 large enough to supply the demands 

 of crops for many years to come, 

 but, owing to the form in which 

 they are combined with other ele- 

 ments in the soil, they are very in- 

 soluble and cannot serve as food for 

 plants, or at least so slowly do they 

 become soluble they can no longer 

 be reckoned with as sources of plant 

 food. Under such conditions we 

 must, of course, resort either to an 

 artificial supply of plant food or we 

 must use a system of agricultural practice 

 that will unlock the supply of insoluble 

 plant food already present in the soil. 



Which method we shall adopt depends 

 largely upon the kind of farming to be 

 carried on: that is, whether quick-growing 

 crops of relatively high market value 

 shall be grown, or slower-growing crops 

 of low market value. 



The strawberry crop possesses a rela- 

 tively high market value, and because of 

 this fact and also because the period of 

 growth and development of the fruit is 

 comparatively short, bringing quick re- 

 turns for the money expended, and the nat- 



ural sources of plant food may be largely 

 ignored and the more quickly available 

 artificial manures supplied. 



The strawberry plant requires one year 

 of preparatory growth before bearing fruit, 

 and the crop that may be obtained de- 

 pends largely upon the strength and vigor 

 of plant attained during this period. So, 

 it is desirable that the soil in which the 

 plants are set should be well supplied 

 with the quickly available mineral fertili- 

 zers. It is therefore recommended that 

 from 800 to 1000 pounds per acre of a 

 fertilizer made up approximately as fol- 

 lows: three parts acid phosphate and one 



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part muriate of potash, be applied. These 

 are staple articles and may be obtained 

 from any fertilizer manufacturing firm 

 and mixed at home. 



The fertilizer should be broad-casted 

 and well worked into the soil before the 

 plants are set. Jn soils not rich in organic 

 matter (humus) a further addition of 200 

 pounds of dried blood per acre might prove 

 an advantage in giving the plants a quicker 

 start. In the spring of the year when the 

 first crop is to be harvested an application 

 of 200 pounds of nitrate of soda, sown be- 

 tween the rows and cultivated in, or put in 

 with a drill, will prove successful on many 



Pa«e 235 



soils. This application should be made 

 preferably after blossoming; later applica- 

 tions have a tendency to soften the fruit 

 and thus injure shipping qualities. 



It is a well-known fact that the specific 

 function of nitrogen is to stimulate the 

 growth of stalk and leaves, so this ele- 

 ment should be used with some caution, 

 as excessive amounts in the soil are liable 

 to retard the blossoming and fruit-setting 

 process. Phosphoric acid influences the 

 ripening of the fruit, and potash forms the 

 base of the well-known fruit acids; so it 

 would seem that nitrogen is more essen- 

 tial for the development of the plant and 

 phosphoric acid and potash for the 

 development of the fruit. 



Reports from many experiment 

 stations in widely separated sections 

 of the country all favor the use of 

 commercial fertilizers for strawberry 

 culture. Conclusions drawn from a 

 few of these are here given. 



New York Cornell Experiment 

 Station (Bulletin 189). Conclusions 

 drawn from experiments conducted 

 for three years in cooperation with 

 strawberry growers show for fertil- 

 ized plants a gain of 2000 quarts 

 per acre. 



New Jersey Experiment Station 

 (Report for 1891) reports a gain of 

 408 quarts per acre, due to the use 

 of 200 pounds of nitrate of soda ap- 

 plied in the spring following a heavy 

 application of phosphoric acid and 

 potash when the plants were set. 

 "The increased yield was due mainly 

 to the increased size of the fruit, 

 the number of berries was appar- 

 ently but little increased." 



Georgia Experiment Station (Bul- 

 letin 48) recommends the following 

 formula: four per cent nitrogen, eight 

 per cent phosphoric acid and eight 

 per cent potash, and says: "When 

 the normal formula was supple- 

 mented in the spring by a dressing 

 C)f nitrate of soda, the yield was in- 

 creased by 200 quarts per acre." 



To insure the full benefit from 

 commercial fertilizers the soil should 

 be in the best physical condition 

 possible, for very often the beneficial 

 effect that a fertilizer treatment 

 might have is offset by lack of 

 drainage, improper cultivation, etc. 

 amount of fertilizer can overcome 

 these physical defects of the soil, and until 

 they have been corrected it is folly to 

 think of using commercial fertilizers. It is 

 not expected that the fertilizer treatment 

 recommended will give equally good re- 

 sults on all soils, but it is given more as a 

 basic formula, and each grower must alter 

 it to fit the particular needs of his own soil. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



A SCHOOL BOY assigned to pre- 

 pare an essay on "Ducks," wrote 

 as follows: "The duck is a low, heavy 



No 



