228 BOARD OF AGEICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



fiiUy develop, and the fruit will be of small size and inferior 

 quality. In the modified or wide-space matted row each 

 plant has space for perfect development, and the crop is large 

 and of fine quality. This method is especially adapted to 

 the home garden. With the hill system, no runner being 

 allowed to grow, a large number of crown buds are formed 

 and a large number of flower buds produced, but the plants 

 are liable to become shallow-rooted and easily thrown out by 

 the frost. If the plants are in hills, heavily mulched during 

 the winter and during the fruiting time, fairly good results 

 will be obtained, but not equal to those from the modified 

 matted row. 



Cultivation and Fertilization. 



In fitting the land for the strawberry, the deeper it is 

 worked, provided the subsoil is not brought to the surface, 

 the better. Frequent stirring of the soil during the summer 

 must be followed if the best growth is desired. 



Fertilizers containing a large per cent of potash and phos- 

 phoric acid should be used for the production of fruit. 

 Nitrogenous manures should be used sparingly, unless the 

 soil is very poor, as they tend to the production of foliage at 

 the expense of the fruit. A very good formula is from 

 twelve hundred to two thousand pounds of fine-ground bone 

 and five hundred pounds of potash per acre. Use one-half 

 at planting, sown broadcast, one-quarter early in August and 

 the balance early in April of the following year. If stable 

 manure is used for a surface dressing in the spring, it should 

 be well rotted and fine. 



Winter Protection. 

 There are scarcely any conditions under which the straw- 

 berry crop is not improved by winter protection, for, although 

 the strawberry plants are perfectly hardy and grow much 

 farther north than this, in cultivated land the plants are 

 liable to be thrown out by the frosts in the fall and spring, 

 and some covering must be applied to prevent this. The 

 materials most commonly used are coarse hay, straw, strawy 

 manure, corn stover, pine boughs and pine needles, all of 

 which are good. 



