144 SOUTH DAKOTA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



the nursery. Fine dust should be" sprinkled among the roots as 

 soon as puddled, and if the ground is not read}* for planting, the 

 plants should be "heeled in" and the tops lightly covered with 

 straw. If the weather is very dry when the plants are received, 

 the bunches may be set close together in fine earth, and the 

 plants shaded by boards which will allow a free passage of air 

 between them and the leaves. In a few days plants so placed 

 will push out new roots, and in this condition the} 7 are more 

 sure to grow when set at once in the open bed. 



The plants should be set from fifteen inches to two feet apart 

 alternating perfect and imperfect sorts as heretofore suggested. 

 The stem of the strawberry plant is extremely short, which 

 makes careful setting necessar} r . The holes should be made 

 large enough to permit the full spread of the roots, without 

 turning the tips. The plant should be so set that the bud in the 

 center is not covered, nor the roots exposed. Firm planting is 

 necessary. 



With careful cultivation matted rows will form the first year 

 from plats set fifteen inches apart in the row. When the ground 

 is frozen in the fall sufficiently to bear the weight of a wagon 

 the entire bed, rows and spaces, should be mulched with t\vo or 

 three inches of clean straw or swamp grass, and this should be 

 left on in the spring until the leaves begin to grow through it, 

 The mulch should then be raked off the plants into the spaces. 

 By leaving the mulch on late in the spring growth is retarded 

 and danger from late frosts is avoided. 



VARIETIES. From tests of thirty of the older standard 

 Varieties at the Station, Crescent (imperfect) is the best early 

 strawberry for Dakota and Windsor (imperfect), Manchester 

 (imperfect), Glendale (perfect), and Mt. Vernon (perfect) are 

 good later sorts. Wilson and May King are perfect sorts that 

 will fertilize the Crescent. Probably a safe selection from the 

 older varieties would be Crescent and Wilson for early, Man- 

 chester and Glendale a little later, Windsor and Mt. Vernon late. 

 The first named of each set is imperfect, the other its fertilizer. 

 None of the newer varieties have fruited at the Station. Among 

 the new kinds that have been reported as successful in different 



