226 The Fruit-Growers Guide-Book 



Soils and Locations 



The strawberry will thvive in almost any soil and in 

 almost any location. It grows thriftily in the sandy loams 

 of the South and extreme North, it grows equally well in 

 the rocky clays of the Ozark Mountains, it thrives in the 

 heavy clays of the Middle West, and equally as well in the 

 volcanic ash of the inter-mountain valleys of the far West. 

 It might be safe to say that the strawberry will thrive in 

 .any soil that is not a clean dry sand or water-logged peat 

 or clay, and any soil that will produce good crops of any 

 of the ordinary garden vegetables will be adapted to the 

 strawberry. It is likewise adapted to any location as re- 

 gards the exposure to the sun and prevailing winds. And 

 there are varieties and strains of varieties which are 

 adapted to locations in the Southern states or Northern 

 states, and to the Atlantic coast sections as well as Cali- 

 'fornia and the Puget Sound country. 



But whatever the soil or location the strawberry will do 

 its best in proportion to the amount of available fertility 

 in the soil upon which it is growing. The soil need not be 

 especially deep, as the strawberry is a shallow rooting crop, 

 but it does need to be abundantly fertile. Any additional 

 care that is taken to enrich the soil before planting out a 

 strawberry bed will be well repaid with the increased 

 amount of fruit which it will produce. On this account it 

 is frequently advised that the plants are .most productive' 

 on new lands. Lands from which the native timber has 

 just been removed, and in which there is an abundant sup- 

 ply of leaf mould to be turned under, is usually considered 

 the best for strawberries. But this is no doubt only be- 

 cause the natural fertility of such soils has not been ex- 

 hausted by over cropping. It is a well known fact that old 

 fields which have been in cultivation for many years can, 

 with proper care in fertilizing and preparing the ground, 

 be made to produce as large and fine crops of berries as 

 the virgin fields. 



The choice of slope on which a plantation is to be made 

 depends upon the objects to be sought. A southern slope 

 is usually warmer and produces earlier berries, while one 



