94 Strawberry-Growing 



usually accompanied by a thick growth of crab-grass and 

 other weeds. The runners are allowed to spread at will, 

 often matting into rows five feet wide, and practically 

 covering the entire surface. The Norfolk method seems 

 very crude, yet it is apparently well adapted for the condi- 

 tions prevailing there. The aim of the trucker is to secure 

 the largest total profit for the season from all crops in the 

 rotation, rather than the largest profit possible from any 

 one crop. It is likely, however, that a somewhat larger 

 degree of nmner restriction and weed control would be 

 profitable. Save in the vicinity of Norfolk, most matted 

 rows are narrow — under eighteen inches wide, and with 

 a strip of tilled land one and a half to two and a half 

 feet wide between rows. 



Given equal care, strawberries in matted rows usually 

 outyield hills. At the New York State Experiment 

 Station, "The matted rows yielded the largest quantity 

 of fruit in every instance." For many years the Pennsyl- 

 vania Experiment Station recorded the average size of 

 berries under hills, wide matted rows and narrow matted 

 rows, finally concluding, "The narrow matted row pro- 

 duces the largest and most uniform grade of fruit." 

 These results fairly represent general experience through- 

 out the North. Immense yields frequently are secured 

 from hills, but these are due more to heavy fertilizing and 

 intensive culture than to the method of training. Other 

 things being equal, each of the numerous crowns on a hill 

 plant does not produce as much fruit as it could were it a 

 separate plant, occupying a separate bit of soil. Thei 

 narrow matted row and its companion method, the sp^)eed 1 

 row, are firmly established as the most popular North', 

 American methods of training when heavy yields of high- 

 grade berries are sought. 



