10 



Barnyard manure is one of the best fertilisers, where it can be obtained 

 in sufficient quantity. It is a complete fertiliser, supplying all the necessary 

 elements of plant growth. Aside from this, it renders the soil mellow and 

 spongy, making it more easily worked and less subject to injury from drought. 

 Manure may be applied for strawberries in large quantities where it can be 

 had. Twenty to fifty tons to the acre is none too much for ordinary soils. 



Where the soil is rich but heavy and subject to bake, it may be mellowed 

 by turning, under other green crops. Rye or winter wheat are good. They 

 may be sown in the fall and turned under in the spring, after they have made 

 considerable growth. Grass sod ploughed under and allowed to rot usually 

 leaves the ground in good condition for strawberries. 



Wherever sod of any kind or green crops are turned under, the soil 

 usually should be cultivated for a season or two to hoed crops before planting 

 to strawberries, in order to rid the field of the white grub, one of the serious 

 insect pests of the strawberry. The white grub usually infests soddy soil, 

 but disappears when the soil is given clean cultivation for a season or two. 



Wood ashes, when obtainable, are a good fertiliser for strawberries. 

 They contain large quantities of potash, one of the essential forms of plant 

 food required by the strawberry. They should be sowed thinly over the land 

 and harrowed in while the soil is being prepared for setting the plants. 

 They may also be applied to the old bed at the time it is being renewed and 

 worked in between the rows. 



On thin soils commercial fertilisers are sometimes used. The three 

 principal plant food ingredients needed are nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 

 potash. The amount of each of these which should be applied differs in 

 different soils. Some soils may lack only one of these essential ingredients ; 

 some may lack two of them. If the soil is generally poor, it is likely to lack 

 all three. The safest way to determine which to apply is to try it on each 

 soil. The chief source of nitrogen in commercial fertilisers is nitrate of soda 

 and sulphate of ammonia. Either of these may be applied at the rate of from 

 fifty to one hundred pounds per acre. Potash is secured In sulphate of 

 potash, muriate of potash or kainit. The two former may be applied at the 

 rate of fifty to one hundred pounds per acre, and the latter in much larger 

 quantity. Phosphoric acid is usually purchased in the form of acid phosphate 

 or in bone meal or dissolved bone. Two hundred pounds of either of these 

 may usually be applied per acre. 



The following is a copy of the questions which were sent out to some of 

 the provincial growers: 



Will you be good enough to give mo your opinion as to the best variety 

 of strawberry to cultivate 



(a.) For home use to ensure a succession? 

 (&.) local market? 

 (c.) shipping? 



What time of the year do you recommend for planting? 

 What system do you recommend matted row. or hill system? 

 What method of cultivation do you recommend Y 



