THE STRAWBERRY MAY 1907 



year ] am looking for a big crop of fancy 

 fruit, and will report my success later. 

 Will also send some views. 



I wish the strawberry and all of its 

 readers the best of success, with the 

 grandest of all fruit the strawberry. 



Vassar, Mich. 



GROWERS of apples on the Pacific 

 coast have fine prospects. A man- 

 ufacturer of apple wrappers in Seattle has 

 recently taken orders for ten cars of the 

 small squares which are used to wrap 

 apples before packing them for shipment. 

 This indicates that the largest crop ever 

 gathered is expected this fall. 



Notes From the Strawberry Field 



By Edgar L. Vincent 



M.AY is the month, in many parts of 

 the country, for setting out straw- 

 berries. This- is largely true of 

 places all along the latitude in which The 

 Strawberry is published and for a belt fifty 

 or one hundred miles each way, north and 

 south. 



The choice of a location for the berry 

 fields is quite an item. Where the land 

 slopes to the southward one may expect 

 berries to ripen earlier than where the 

 trend is to the northward. Low lands 

 are more liable to be visited by frosts than 

 those which are higher. On our own 

 farm we have two fields. One is near 

 the house and the other out under the 

 shadow of a piece of woods. The field 

 near the house often catches the late frosts 

 while the one which is protected by the 

 trees escapes. It is, for that reason, a 

 good plan to have two or three pieces set 

 out to berries. 



Our land is a clay loam, and it certain- 

 ly bears fine berries. Just to look at some 

 of them when they are ripening is good 

 for sore eyes. This kind of soil does not 

 bring berries to maturity quite as early as 

 would a warmer one, but we can afford 

 to wait a week or two, if we get good 

 ones when they do come. But don't stop 

 because you have not a clay loam. If 

 your soil is sandy, you will beat the rest 

 of us having early berries. You may not 

 get quite as many to the acre, but you 

 will get into the market earlier. 



If you have a piece of ground that has 

 not been plowed in years, or a little patch 

 where logs and stumps recently have been 

 cleared out, you can have some berries 

 that will make your eyes stick out. They 

 just love such a soil. There is enough of 

 the native fertility of the soil there to give 

 you the best kind of results. 



But if your land is old, you will have 

 to use some kind of barnyard or commer- 

 cial fertilizer. Nothing is better in this 

 line than manure from your own yard 

 that has been well rotted. Try to get 

 that which has lain in the heap till all the 

 weed and other seeds have been destroyed. 



If there is anything that will discourage a 

 man it is to have his berry plants all 

 swamped with weeds the first pop. And 

 then, if you have hard-wood ashes these 

 are splendid to scatter along the rows. I 

 mean ashes that have not had the strength 

 all taken out of them by water. I would 

 not give much for leached ashes for any- 

 thing. 



It is the potash in the ashes that does 

 the good, so if you have no unleached 

 ashes, it is a good plan to buy some kind 

 of commercial fertilizer that has a liberal 

 percentage of potash in it. One advan- 

 tage, from the viewpoint of beauty, and 

 that is a viewpoint that attracts us all more 

 or less, in favor of the potash is that it 

 gives us fruit that is more brightly colored 

 than fertilizer that has more nitrogen in 

 it. The leaves are larger on the plants, 

 too, and some have thought the plants 

 were freer from rust. But the folks down 

 in Florida have found that they must not 

 use this for at least three months before 

 th ; shipping season begins, as it is apt to 

 injure the quality of the berries when sent 

 for a long distance. 



After your plants come, keep them 

 where they will not dry up till you get 

 around to set them out, which ought to 

 be at the earliest possible moment. Mark 

 out the land three feet each way if you 

 are to grow for your own use in a small 

 way. Most commercial growers set their 

 plants three feet apart one way and let 

 them run into a mat of plants the other 



way. More berries can be picked from 

 the matted rows. 



The best thing I ever found to make 

 the holes with is a small trowel. Rim a 

 hole out big enough to take the plant with 

 the roots spread out. Some do set them 

 deep down into a small round hole, pay- 

 ing no attention to the position of the 

 roots. Seems to me that is not the way 

 I should want my feet cramped up. Give 

 the plants a chance to push out in every 

 direction. 



Pack the soil around the roots well. 

 Have the bottom of the stalk just about 

 even with the top of the ground. If you 

 get it too deep it is apt to rot and die. 

 Then give every plant a generous drink 

 of water. A dear old strawberryman, 

 now gone over to the other side, said 

 what strawberries want most is water, and 



N abundance of fruit of highest 

 quality, finely colored and 

 flavored, is the direct result of 

 supplying a complete fertilizer con- 

 taining from 7 to 1 2 per cent, of 

 Potash to the tree, vine or bush. 



"Plant Food" is a book well worth 

 a place in the library of any fruit 

 grower. Wc will gladly mail it to 

 all applicants. 



GERMAN KALI WORKS 

 93 Nassau Street, New Vork 



Established 

 in 1869 



Headquarters 

 For 



Experience 

 Counts 



BERRY BOXES 



Peach and Grape Baskets 



Also Melon Baskets 



Fruit shipped in our packaeos insures hi^'h- 

 est prices. 



Order boxes now and make up at your leisure, 

 orite u» for Berry Box Machine. 



Illustrated Price List Free. 



Wells, Higman Company 



Box 10. ST. JOSEPH, MICH. 



The BASKET with the RIM 



That is the distinguishing feature of the 



WAX LINED PAPER BERRY BASKET 



The height of Clean, Odorless, Taint- 

 less, Pure ami Perfect Basket Perfection 



IF YOU ARE A BERRY GROWER you want our 

 Basket and we want your name 



MULLEN BROS. PAPER COMPANY 



Send lor FREE Sample and Catalogue of this 20th Canluor Basket Dept. B 



St. Joseph, Mich. 



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