OUR CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL^^,OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE 



WHERE THE MEMBERS OF THE 

 SCHOOL AND THE INSTRUCTOR 

 IN CULTURAL METHODS MEET 



PRACTICAL LESSONS TAUGHT 

 PERTAINING TO THE SCIENCE 

 OP STRAWBERRY PRODUCTION 



HE end of our first year 

 is here, and we are look- 

 ing over into 1907 with 

 interest to discover, so far 

 as we may, what it is to 

 mean to our school and 

 its great army of pupils 

 scattered all the wide world over. Surely, 

 there is no other school in the world 

 which has been in existence less than a 

 twelvem nth that can boast so great a 

 membership and one so widely scattered 

 ^s our own. 



^'ou have been asking us questions for 

 answer in this department and we have 

 tried to answer them with intelligence, 

 basing them upon actual experience. Now 

 we feel that it is our turn to ask a few 

 questions, and if you will answer them, it 

 will aid us greatly to make this school of 

 ours of greater benefit to all in the year 

 to come than it has been in the year now 

 drawing to a close: 



1. Have all questions been answered 

 with such clearness as to enable you to 

 understand them and put their instruction 

 into actual practice? 



2. What have you to suggest that 

 w.ll make this department of greater value 

 to all its members.'' 



3. Have you asked all the questions 

 that you would like to have answered? 



4. Do you know of anyone interested 

 in strawberry production, either for home 

 use or market, whom you would like to 

 have receive The Strawberry? If so, send 

 us his name and address and a copy will 

 be forwarded at once. 



5. We desire that everybody interest- 

 ed in strawberry production shall be a 

 member of this school. What can you 

 do to encourage your friends, not now 

 members, to join? 



"A Merry Christmas" to you one and 

 all — you in far away Australasia, and in 

 cold Norway, and you in sunny France 

 and "Merrie England" and beautiful 

 Bohemia, no less than to our own fellows 

 of this great republic of ours and our 

 cousins of "Our Lady of the Snows" — 

 fair Canada. If the past year has been 

 valuable to us, let us not be content with 

 that, but push on to greater things in the 

 year to come. Vale, 1906! Hail, 1907! 



^ '^ 



Rev. E. L. , Turlock, Calif. Will you please 

 give me some advice about irrigating strawber- 

 ries in the San Joaquin Valley of California. 



We assume that your reason for asking 

 about irrigation is because of the alkali in 

 the soil and the influence of irrigation to 



bring the alkali to the surface. In view 

 of the fact that investigations along this 

 line are in progress, we would advise you 

 to address your inquiry and state your 

 particular problem to Prof. E. W. Hil- 

 gard. Director of the California Experi- 

 ment Station, Berkeley, Calif. 



J. A. C, Shelby, Ohio. Will swamp grass 

 make good mulch for strawberries? If so, 

 how thick should it be spread.' The grass is 

 cut and tied in straight bundles. 

 I am a reader of The Strawberry and appre- 

 ciate it very much. Think every person who 

 grows strawberries should take it. 

 Swamp grass will make an excellent 

 mulch for strawberries, and you certainly 

 have it in splendid shape to do the work 

 easily. All you will have to do will be 

 to place the bundles over the rows, 

 cut the string which ties them, and spread 

 them out. A mulch of this material two 

 inches thick will serve your purpose. 



F. E. C, Byron, Minn. I have been much 

 interested in your statements in The Straw- 

 berry concerning sown-corn for mulching, 

 and I wish some more information, as I need 

 a substitute for straw because all the neighbor- 

 ing grain fields are infested with quack-grass, 

 Canada thistle and toad-flax. How much 

 seed do you sow to the acre? 



2. Do you use a grain drill? 



3. When is the best time to sow it? 



4. When should it be cut? 



5. How would it do to sow it on land where 

 clover sod has been plowed, after taking off 

 a crop of hay the last of June? 



6. How much land is required to grow 

 enough of the corn to cover one acre of nar- 

 row-matted-row of strawberries? 



The amount of seed sown to the acre 

 depends largely upon the quality of the 

 seed used. We always make a test of 

 several hundred grains, and if the ger- 

 minating power runs high, we sow about 

 seven pecks to the acre; but if the seed 

 shows only about 80 per cent good, we 

 sow about ten pecks to the acre. This 

 fall we have carefully selected the seed 

 corn we are to use for this purpose next 

 sprmg, and are drying it with the expec- 

 tation of having an extra quality of seed. 



2. We use a common Superior grain 

 drill, which is so arranged that it will sow 

 peas or corn with perfect satisfaction. 



3. We generally sow from the 1st to 

 the 10th of June, but we think the middle 

 of June would be sufficiently early. 



4. The cutting should be done when 

 the leaves begin to ripen, and if the work 



Page 25j 



is done in the morning, when the stalks 

 are tough, there will be very little wastage 

 from falling blades. If it stands straight, 

 a very good way to cut it is with the self- 

 binder, but if it is blown down and tangled, 

 use the mowing machine and follow the 

 same methods as in cutting hay. A hay 

 rake, if used when the stalks are damp, 

 will rake it up without wasting the blades. 

 Then pile up and leave until the plants 

 are ready to be mulched. 



5. If the season be favorable, a very 

 heavy crop may be grown by sowing the 

 corn after the clover hay has been cut 

 and the ground prepared. That is, if it is 

 so the corn may be sown by July 1. 



6. We cannot give you a definite 

 answer, because the amount grown per 

 acre varies according to the season and 

 condition of the soil; but one acre, where 

 the crop is good, will cover from two to 

 three acres of plants. If you grow your 

 berries in a narrow row and merely cover 

 the plants, an acre of fodder will go even 

 farther. 



R. E. J., Havensville, Kan. I have been a 

 subscriber to The Strawberry since last spring 

 at which time I set 1500 plants, but as I was 

 an amateur and did not order The Strawberry 

 until after I had received the plants, I was not 

 qualified to set them as they should have been. 

 The consequence was that I lost all but about 

 425 plants. But this was partly owing to the 

 dry and windy weather at that time. Having 

 lost so many I let the remaining vines make 

 all the runners they would after the plants 

 had become strong, intending to reset some 

 of them this fall; but, owing to dry weather 

 and lack of time, I did not get to do so. 

 Will it do to set the runners in the spring by 

 taking up dirt with them? 



2. Will ground on which sweet corn has 

 grown and which is very mellow do to set 

 out to berries in the spring, if given a good 

 coating of well rotted manure this winter and 

 then turned under in the spring? 



3. What late varieties would be best suited 

 to this part of the country? 



I do not want to make a mistake again. I 

 want to report a great success and big red 

 berries the next time. I assure you of my 

 appreciation of The Strawberry. 



We do not encourage anyone to dig 

 plants from a fruiting bed in the spring, 

 but as circumstances have prevented you 

 from filling in the vacancies this fall, the 

 work may be done next spring. Simply 

 make holes in the vacant spaces where 

 you intend to fill in, then take up the 

 strongest plants, allowing as much dirt to 



