48 Strawberry-Grovdng 



is not popular in a strawberry rotation. Cowpeas and 

 rye are preferred. In the South Atlantic and Gulf states 

 the cowpea is the main dependence of the strawberry- 

 grower for improving his land. Usually, it is best to follow 

 cowpeas with rye, oats or Indian corn, after which another 

 crop of cowpeas may be turned down before planting 

 strawberries. Cowpeas may be sown as a catch crop be- 

 tween the rows of corn at the last working. Velvet beans 

 sometimes are used instead of cowpeas in Florida and the 

 Gulf states. Caution is necessary about turning under 

 a heavy crop of green herbage just before planting. It 

 may be mowed and left on the ground for ten days, then 

 cut into the soil with a disk harrow. 



A large proportion of southern strawberries are grown 

 in rotation with truck crops. Field com, millet or 

 winter vegetables, especially spinach, cabbage or kale, 

 are planted after the old bed is plowed under. The 

 next spring, vegetables are planted — commonly Irish 

 potatoes ^ followed by a green-manuring crop of cow- 

 peas. Then strawberries are set, or the land may go 

 into corn with a cowpea catch crop and planted the 

 next year. Another popular rotation is to seed cowpeas 

 after strawberries, and either turn them under or make 

 them into hay. Early cabbages or early potatoes fol- 

 low. At this point another crop of cowpeas is taken off, 

 or fall vegetables may be planted. The third year corn 

 is planted, with a cowpea catch crop, and both vines and 

 corn stalks are plowed under for strawberries. Other 

 combinations of strawberries with truck crops are given 

 on pages 49 and 50. 



In the irrigated regions of the west, alfalfa is considered 

 a good crop to precede strawberries, but it is diflScult to 

 kill out the alfalfa roots. In western Oregon and Wash- 



