160 SUCCESSFUL FRUIT CULTURE 



If the plants are not making the growth that is 

 desired, more fertilizer should be applied about July 1, 

 and again early in September. Chemical fertilizers 

 should not be applied when the leaves are wet, but, if 

 dry, can be applied safely unless used in very large 

 quantity. If it should adhere to the leaves it can be 

 easily brushed off with a broom or by drawing a bush 

 over the row. If large quantities of quickly soluble 

 fertilizer like nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia or 

 the potash salts be used, it must be scattered at a little 

 distance from the plants and the soil must be frequently 

 stirred to keep it from burning the leaves as it is 

 deposited on the surface of the soil by evaporation. 



During the first season the young plants should be 

 sprayed two or three times to keep the rust fungus from 

 gaining a hold. In soils that are infested with the 

 plants known as the ehickweeds, of which there are 

 two troublesome species, which grow during very cold 

 weather, the land must be cultivated until the ground 

 freezes, and also in the spring the small chickweed 

 plants must be weeded out. Under this condition the 

 cost of cultivation is much increased and the crop will 

 not be as large as in land free from this pest. 



IRRIGATION 



One of the great needs in strawberry growing is 

 an abundance of water as the fruit is ripening, and even 

 if the soil is naturally moist and we have done all that 

 could be done to preserve what there is in it, there 

 often conies a season when a crop would be largely 

 benefited by the use of water on the surface. Of the 

 profits resulting from the establishment of an artificial 

 supply of water we have no figures, but that must depend 

 largely upon the cost of the water and its application. 

 If one is situated so that water can be carried to the 



