April, 1909 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



167 



trellis nature made, and bears a crop of grapes 

 each year, although somewhat smaller than 

 those in the vineyard. 



The vines get little attention and cost 

 nothing. The busy amateur who has a few 

 acres can do as I have done without an expert 

 knowledge of grape growing. There is 

 nothing easier to grow than the grape vine, if 

 you know its needs, which are easily learned. 

 These are a dry and deep and rather loose 

 soil, enriched with some stable manure (not 

 too much) because it supplies humus, and 

 supplemented with extra potash and phos- 

 phoric acid. Plant varieties adapted to your 

 locality, cultivating well for two or three years 

 until there is a good growth established on the 

 trellis, then pruning in early winter, and 

 spraying if needed. My experience is that 

 you can keep them bearing large crops for 

 family use with the grass mulch. I am not a 

 commercial grower, but think I have learned 

 to grow large crops of good grapes for home 

 use with but little labor. 



Think of having all the fresh grapes you 

 can eat for three or four months, and plenty to 

 can; all the fresh grape juice, that is almost 

 as nourishing and often more refreshing than 

 milk, and having a large supply bottled for 

 use all the year; also of having large quanti- 

 ties of grape jelly and marmalade, that can 

 be used in the place of or with butter, as 

 freely as one likes; if one cares to grow the 

 late varieties, and pack them in air-tight 

 bags or boxes, he will have fresh grapes nearly 

 all winter. 



Planting a Strawberry Bed 



By M. Crawford, Ohio 



SKILFUL growers can plant strawberries 

 at any time by using potted plants and 

 by shading and watering. The man who is 

 striving to keep down expenses and avoid 

 risk plants in the spring when conditions are 

 most favorable. 



The plant is mature at the close of the 

 growing season and remains dormant during 

 the winter. Its leaves serve to protect the 

 crown and hold the snow, and its roots anchor 

 it in its place. In planting we remove most 

 of the leaves and cut back the roots to two 

 or three inches, almost converting the 

 plant into a bulb! Removing the leaves 

 diminishes the demand for water while new 

 roots are being sent out, and shortening the 

 roots encourages the plant to send out new 

 ones from the crown, which it often fails to do 

 if the old ones are not cut back. Further, 

 a plant with shortened roots is much easier 

 to plant properly. 



The strawberry may be grown on any well- 

 drained soil of average fertility unless it con- 

 tains much lime. If fairly rich it is not 

 necessary to apply much plant food. I would 

 not use any fresh stable manure except as a 

 winter covering. Nor should it be used then 

 if the bed is to be kept over another year. 

 It will not only bring in weeds, but will 

 produce a rank growth that is very liable 

 to rust. 



The preparation of the soil is an important 

 matter. It may be plowed to the depth of 

 a foot, but in no case would I bury the good 



soil under more than an inch or two of poor 

 subsoil. It should be made fine and firm as 

 deep as it is plowed. The hardest clay with 

 four inches of the surf ace made fine, and that 

 below unbroken, will produce a better crop 

 than if it is broken to the depth of a foot 

 and only four inches pulverized. Hollow 

 places underneath are to be avoided always, 

 for the strawberry plant will not bloom if 

 its roots get into a hole; A. T. Goidsborough, 

 of Washington, who carried to the Secretary 

 of Agriculture berries that weighed over 

 four ounces each, said that he personally 

 would prefer to grow berries on a pavement 

 with six inches of good soil on it. As a 

 general rule, plants will be productive in 

 proportion as the soil is firm. 



MAKING A BED FOR HOME USE 



I can thoroughly recommend this method: 

 After the soil is well prepared, take the 15- 

 inch marker and mark it both ways. Then 

 set a plant at each cross, leaving every third 

 row vacant for a path. Now the plants are 

 in their new places, and will commence their 

 season's work at once. Each one will send 

 out a mass of roots in all directions, from 

 twelve to eighteen inches in length. They 

 are willing workers and will never cease day 

 nor night until stopped by freezing weather 

 in November. 



The business of the grower is to supply 

 favorable conditions and to direct the 

 energies of the plant in such directions as will 

 best serve his purpose. Very soon the plant 

 will attempt to produce fruit. The grower 

 does not want berries the first year, so he cuts 

 off the blossoms. The plant next attempts to 

 send out runners, but as the grower is not in 

 the plant business he cuts off the runners as 

 he did the blossoms. The plant makes one 

 effort after another to produce runners, and 

 the grower cuts them off. Very often he gets 

 discouraged and concludes that the matted 

 row system is better anyhow, and he lets the 

 runners cover the bed. This furnishes an 

 outlet for the energies of the plant. Instead 

 of being built up to a fruiting capacity of 



Pick ofE all Bowers from strawberries set out this 

 spring if you want the plants to do their best 



perhaps two quarts of fine fruit it makes a 

 lot of runners that can do no more than 

 produce ordinary berries. 



Cutting runners is not the only work of the 

 grower. The plants must be kept in vigorous 

 growth for the best results. They are greatly 

 damaged by any check during the growing 

 season. So they must have well-cultivated 

 ground to grow in. A newly stirred soil 

 adntits the air to the roots, conserves moisture 

 and prevents the growth of weeds. Every 

 shower tends to seal up the surface and 

 exclude the air. So we aim to stir the soil 

 after every rain. 



Sometimes one is convinced during the 

 growing season that his soil is not rich 

 enough. Some complete fertilizer or a thin 

 coating of any decomposed manure may be 

 scattered between the plants to increase the 

 growth. It is well to see that the roots of 

 any rank-growing crops are not encroaching 

 on the strawberry bed. Even the roots of a 

 tree standing one hundred feet away may 

 be getting the plant food intended for the 

 plants. So we may in many ways assist our 

 plants in doing their best. 



For best fruiting quality (2 quarts to a plant), cut off aU runners during the first year 



