Locations, Sites and Soils 13 



Texture and water-holding power. 



One of the most successful growers of his time, -J, M. 

 Smith of Green Bay, Wisconsin, produced crops of 12,000 

 to 15,000 quarts an acre upon an almost pure sand. 

 However, he applied forty two-horse loads of manure 

 each year. The lighter the soil, the more deficient it 

 is in fertility and water-holding power and the greater 

 the need of farm maniu-es or green-manures. Light soils 

 give earlier and better flavored berries than heavy soils 

 but the yield is not as large and the expense for fertilizers 

 is heavier. Before early berries from the South reached 

 northern markets, nearly everybody in the North planted 

 on light soils, so as to secure early berries. Since about 

 1870, the drift in the North has been toward heavier 

 soils, as there is no longer any advantage in growing early 

 berries except for near markets. Most northern growers 

 now find their surest profit in growing the heavy yielding 

 mid-season or late varieties ; hence they select the stronger 

 loams, which produce a large crop without heavy fertiliz- 

 ing. In 1893 and 1894 the New Jersey Experiment 

 Station canvassed that state in order to determine the 

 comparative yield of strawberries upon sandy and clay 

 soils. In 1893 the average yield to the acre on clay 

 loams, 290 growers reporting, was 2909 quarts ; on sandy 

 soils, 240 growers reporting, 2508 quarts. In 1894, 306 

 growers reporting, the clays yielded 3223 quarts, while 

 the sandy soils averaged 2359 quarts, 387 growers report- 

 ing ; a gain of 864 quarts for the heavier soils. 



Sandy or gravelly loams are preferred because they do 

 not bake, are easily worked and water moves through 

 them quickly. The strawberry crop requires not only 

 a large quantity of water but also that it be supplied 

 quicldy. The fruit must be developed from blossom 



