Intensive Strawberry Culture— Soil Preparation 



By Frank E. Beatty 



UCCESS in strawberry 

 raising; depends upon the 

 knowledge of the grower 

 of the details of the busi- 

 ness, from the preparation 

 of the soil to receive the 

 plants through the entire 

 course, up to and including the marketing 

 of the fruit. 



There is such a thing as a complete 

 combination in the growing of strawber- 

 ries that will enable the grower to get a 

 crop of berries under adverse conditions, 

 and which, in favorable seasons will in- 

 sure him a bumper crop. It is my pur- 

 pose to give you the combination which 

 has proved so satisfactory in my own ex- 

 perience. Let us bear in mind at the 

 outset that too rigid adherence to any 

 combination or set of rules will some time 

 bring disaster, and that every grower must 

 use his methods with such modifications 

 as changes in weather, peculiarity of the 

 particidar season, etc., require. In deal- 

 ing with nature we must accommodate 

 ourselves to her changes. 



The first thing in this combination is 

 the putting of the soil into ideal condition, 

 and to do this we must fill it well with 

 humus, as well as with well-balanced 

 plant food. Let us start right now to get 

 one acre into shape for the production of 

 a profitable crop of strawberries, and this 

 cannot be done in a few months; and 1 

 may say right here that the amount of 

 profit received will depend in large part 

 upon the degree of care with which this 

 preparatory work is done. 



Let us assume that it is the first of 

 October and thit we are deiling with a 

 piece of land that is pretty well exhausted. 

 The first thing we shall do is to break up 

 this ground as deeply as the soil will 

 admit. Then work it well with harrows 

 until a good seed bed is made. Then we 

 shall sow five pecks of rye to the acre. 

 This rye in an ordinary season will be 

 sufficiently grown to shade the ground 

 and the roots will penetrate the soil in 

 such a way as to take up the winter ma- 

 nure leachings. 



During the winter when the ground is 

 frozen, cover the rye with well-decayed 

 stable manure, using about fifteen tons to 

 the acre, depending, of course, upon its 

 quality and strength. If your other work 

 will permit you to do so, and the manure 

 is at hand, it would be better to apply 

 the manure to the ground as it lies bro- 

 ken, working it into the soil before the 

 rye is sown. But this is not always pos- 

 sible. 



However, the only way to apply the 

 manure over the ground is to evenly 

 spread it, and I have found that the most 

 economical way to do this is to use a 

 manure spreader, as it tears up all the 

 chunks and gives an even distribution. 



THIS is the first number of a series of articles 

 which it is intended shall tal^e the beginner 

 in strawberry production from the kinder- 

 garten stage up through the various stages of on 

 educational career that shall end in his gradua- 

 tion as a thoroughly equipped professional. Last 

 month we promised this paper for January, and 

 as Mr. Beatty was invited to address the Northern 

 Illinois Horticultural Society at its annur ; meet- 

 ing held at Joliet December 4-6, I 906, and pre- 

 pared a paper for that event, the first part of which 

 covered this ground completely, we present that 

 portion of the paper here. In future articles 

 this course in practical instruction will be con- 

 tinued, each article covering points so far in ad- 

 vance of actual practice as to give every reader 

 ample time to study and familiarize himself with 

 them. The next article in this series will deal 

 with matters relating to the setting of the plants. 



When evenly applied the manure will in 

 no way interfere with the r\e, which will 

 work its way up through it. 



The manure and rye together will 

 completely shade the ground during the 

 winter months and leave it in a mellow 

 condition for working in the spring. In 

 the spring turn the rye and the manure 

 under, going six or eight inches deep, and 

 give it one harrowing, or enough to level 

 ofT the furrows made by the breaking 

 plow. 



Then sow about 500 pounds of com- 

 mercial fertilizer, allowing potash to pre- 

 dominate. We have conducted several 

 experiments with commercial fertilizers 



and find that almost uniformly we secure 

 the best results from using one that anal- 

 yzes according to the following formula: 



4 per cent Nitrogen 



8 per cent Soluble Phosphoric Acid 



9 per cent Potash 



Work this fertilizer thoroughly into the 

 soil, using a disc or Acme or spring-tooth 

 harrow — some implement that will make 

 a thorough mixing up of the soil and the 

 fertilizer. 



Now don't put in your plants yet, be- 

 cause we are going to plant this acre to 

 some early potatoes, and the formula for 

 fertilizer I have given you is for the ben- 

 efit of that crop of potatoes. Plant your 

 potatoes just as soon as you can get them 

 into the ground, and harrow or use weed- 

 er a week or so after they are planted, or 

 just before the potatoes peep above the 

 surface. And from that harrowing until 

 the potatoes are ripe, cultivate at least as 

 often as every week or ten days, and al- 

 ways after a rain as soon as the soil will 

 crumble. This will force the tubers along 

 so they will be ready for early market and 

 the big price that is obtained at that sea- 

 son. By digging your potatoes at the 

 earliest possible moment you accomplish 

 two important results — you will get the 

 highest price for them, and you relieve 

 the ground early, thus being able to sow 



FIRST PRIZE WINNER IN THE STRAWBERRY PHOTOGRAPHIC CONTEST 

 W. C. Landis and His Patch of Strawberries at Shoals, Ind. 



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