CHAPTER VI. 



CHOICE OF SOIL AND LOCATION. 



THE choice that Tobias Hobson imposed on his patrons when he 

 compelled them to take " the horse nearest to the stable-door" or 

 none at all, is one that, in principle, we often have to make in selecting 

 our strawberry-ground. We must use such as we have, or raise no 

 berries. And yet it has been said that " with no other fruit do soil and 

 locality make so great differences." While I am inclined to think that this 

 is truer of the raspberry, it is also thoroughly established that location and 

 the native qualities of the soil are among the first and chief considerations 

 in working out the problem of success with strawberries. 



Especially should such forethought be given in selecting a soil suited 

 to the varieties we wish to raise. Dr. Thurber, editor American Agri- 

 culturist, states this truth emphatically. In August, 1875, he wrote: 

 " All talk about strawberries must be with reference to particular soils. 

 As an illustration of this, there were exhibited in our office windows 

 several successive lots of the ' Monarch of the West,' which were immense 

 as to size and wonderful as to productiveness. This same ' Monarch ' 

 behaved in so unkingly a manner on our grounds (very light and sandy 

 in their nature) that he would have been deposed had we not seen these 

 berries, for it was quite inferior to either ' Charles Downing,' ' Seth 

 Boyden,' or ' Kentucky.'" 



It is a generally admitted fact that the very best soil, and the one 

 adapted to the largest number of varieties, is a deep sandy loam, moist, 



