OUR CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL -a.OF STRAWBERRY CUUURE 



WHERE THE MEMBERS OF THE 

 SCHOOL AND THE INSTRUCTOR 

 IN CULTURAL METHODS MEET 



PRACTICAL LESSONS TAUGHT 

 PERTAINING TO THE SCIENCE 

 OF STRAWBERRY PRODUCTION 



SOME'l'IMES our friends write us 

 about the possibilities of certain 

 kinds of soils and send along a 

 sample. In this connection let us 

 say that even an analysis can reveal onl\- the 

 chemical properties of the soil, and will 

 not indicate what the soil will do in actual 

 experience. Some soils may contain large 

 quantities of plant food, but mechanical 

 and other conditions of the soil may make 

 this food unavailable. Other elements 

 may have to be introduced, or the mechan- 

 ical condition changed before the soil will 

 produce crops. Again, a particular soil 

 might produce crops of one kind fairly 

 well, but do poorly with others. Indeed, 

 there are so many conditions affecting 

 soils that it is only those who know little 

 about them that would attempt with any 

 degree of accuracy to tell what a farm 

 would do, judged by a sample of that soil. 

 Let us repeat here what we have often 

 said before, that any soil that will produce 

 a good crop of corn or potatoes will pro- 

 duce a good crop of strawberries under 

 the same conditions that the corn or pota- 

 toes were grown. 



Last month the compositor set up 

 "pounds" where he should have used the 

 word "ounces", and we hasten to correct 

 the error. Answering W. A. J., Brad- 

 ford, Vt., on page 77, we gave the formula 

 for preparing Paris green as ten ounces of 

 Paris green put over two pounds of lump 

 lime, over this pouring two gallons of hot 

 water; and when the lime is thoroughly 

 slaked add enough water to make forty 

 gallons of spraying material. Please re- 

 member that the amount of Paris green is 

 ten ounces instead of ten pounds. 



■^ ^ 



W. C. S , Bowling Green, Mo. A small black 

 bug worked on the bloi>m of my strawberries. 

 A small black spot would appear on the pistils 

 of the flower. Can you tell me the name of 

 the bug and what I can do to prevent it the 

 coming spring? 



2. How can I plant strawberry seed to get 

 them to germinate? Have planted them sev- 

 eral times but they won't grow. When is 

 the best time to plaiit them? 



The insect you describe is the black- 

 snouted beetle. This insect deposits its 

 eggs in the buds of the strawbern,' and 

 then gnaws through the stems a short dis- 

 tance below the buds causing the stems 

 to wilt and droop. The egg hatches into 

 a little grub, which develops in the bud, 

 becoming full grown in a few weeks, 

 emerging into a full-grown beetle about 

 five weeks after the egg is laid. The best 



preventive is clean cultural methods, burn-I 

 ing over afte^ fruit is picked, and rotation! 

 of crops. ES 



2. In preparing strawberry seed for 

 planting, they should be mixed with fine 

 dust and covered very shallow with moist 

 soil; plant in the springtime as any other 

 crop. 



H. S. B., Berzelia, Ga. When you say that 

 runners should be layered in such a way that 

 the runner plants will be within about six 

 inches of the mother plant, do you mean that 

 the crown of the runner plant should be six 

 inches from the mother plant, or that the 

 leaves of the runner plant should be six inches 

 from the leaves or the mother plant? If the 

 former would the plants not be too close to- 

 gether to work with a hoe in between them? 



2. After the runner plants have taken root, 

 should the runner attaching them to the mother 

 plant be broken or cut away, and, at the time 

 of layering, should the end of the runner cord 

 back of the node be pinched off? 



3. Referring to the June issue of The Straw- 

 berry, page 141, you say, "Don't lose any 

 time in layering runners after the node begins 

 to swell." Please explain just what is meant 

 by this. I am not able to determine just the 

 appearance of the node. I layered some run- 

 ners the other day back of what I took to be 

 node, but what proved to be w here the lateral 

 runners started from the original one. 



The crown of the young runner plant 

 may be so placed that it will be but six or 

 eight inches from the mother plant. When 

 ser in this manner, the foliage of the plants 

 will come together, but that will be all 

 the better, as then there will be more pro- 

 tection for the berries at fruiting time. If 

 the crowns of the plants can be eight in- 

 ches apart, it will be all the better, but it 

 is almost impossible to have them so far 

 apart because the runners of some plants 

 are not as long as others. When the 

 plants are set close together in this way, 

 it will in no way interfere with the hoe- 

 ing until the plants become quite large, at 

 which time it will not be necessary to hoe 

 in between the plants, the leaves will 

 shade the ground and prevent it from 

 crusting and getting hard. 



2. It is never necessary to sever the 

 young plant from the mother plant after 

 it takes root. Nature provides for this by 

 drying up the runner cord which leads 

 from the mother plant to the young plant. 

 Neither is it necessary to pinch ofF the 

 runner cord back of the node, as you 

 mention. 



3. You can easily tell where the node 

 is located, as at that point there is an en- 

 Page 191 



largement, and in a few days small leaves 

 will start developing at the node. If you 

 do not get the runners layered until the 

 node bursts into leaves, results will be 

 just about the same, but it is always best 

 to layer them as soon as they begin to 

 develop. 



Miss L. E. W., Piovidence, R. I. Not count- 

 ing the extra cost of plants, nor the extra 

 work for setting out, picking blossoms and 

 cutting runners, up in Maine where my farm 

 is located and where the seasons are short, do 

 you think more berries could be grown, on 

 say Dornan, Parker Earle, or Oregon Iron 

 Clad, if the plants were grown in hill culture 

 twelve inches apart instead of single-hedge 

 row? 



2. Why is sandy land best for a propagating 

 bed? 



3. In the single-hedge row are just two run- 

 ners allowed between the moiher plants when 

 they are two feet apart? 



4. How many runners will Parker Earle, 

 Dornan and Oregon Iron Clad grow in the 

 propagating bed? 



5. Your catalogue says Parker Earle will go 

 ahead of all others on rich low land. What 

 do you consider rich low land? 



6. How much manure is not too much on 

 good potato land, a clay loam or flat land 

 between a river and a steep side hill? 



7. Does the land need to be richer for Parker 

 Earle than for Dornan? 



H. If you could have all the hen manure you 

 w ished how much would you use with stable 

 manure for Parker Earle, Dornan and Oregon 

 Iron Clad? 



9. What do you think of muck for a ferti- 

 lizer or for humus provided it has been spread 

 on the ground for a year and then worked 

 over by hogs? How much of it would you 

 use? 



10. In your January Strawberry in your ar- 

 ticle on soil preparation you speak of sowing 

 500 pounds of commercial fertilizer broadcast 

 and planting potatoes. Why do you not use 

 more fertilizer for the potatoes? 



11. How deep and how far apart do you 

 plant the seed pieces? Do you use large or 

 small potatoes for seed? How many eyes do 

 you leave on each seed piece? How many 

 bushels of seed per acre do you use? 



12. How large a crop do you expect and 

 how long for them to mature? 



13. Do you hill the potatoes? If so how 

 many times, how deep, and how large are the 

 tops when you do so? 



14. Would the nitrogen in the fertilizer be 

 lost if the potatoes were not planted for three 

 weeks after the fertilizer was broadcasted? 



No; and the double-hedge row will 

 prove the best of them all, as the berries 



