The Strawberry Bed to Plant this Spring— By w. H.Jenkins, 



New 

 York 



IF YOU do not have a large supply of 

 home grown strawberries for five or 

 six weeks every year you are not living 

 up to your opportunities. And besides 

 having all you can eat in their season, 

 you can eat them canned all the rest of 

 the year: 



I want to present a vision of strawberry 

 culture with but very little knee and back- 

 bending work, or ringer weeding, but 

 mostly good healthful exercise, in which 

 you can stand up straight, push a wheel- 

 hoe, or set plants, and get enthusiasm so 

 you really enjoy the work. Begin now — 

 not to-morrow, but to-day — to look for 

 the best place for them in your garden, 

 and for plants for the bed. For more 

 than thirty years I have not failed to grow 

 every year a large supply of good straw- 

 berries, and give my testimony that it is 

 not strenuous or disagreeable work. 



If you have a plot of nice mellow, well- 

 drained soil, so much the better, but don't 

 be deterred from planting, if the soil is 

 somewhat heavy or stony. The main 

 thing is to start, now. Probably there is 

 some portion of your place where you grew 

 a cultivated crop last year, where the water 

 does not stand after a rain, that was kept 

 clean of weeds, and it is in good tilth. 



If the soil is not sufficiently rich to grow 

 a large crop of corn or vegetables, apply, 

 preferably, animal fertilizers that do not 

 contain weed seeds. If you have hen 

 manure and wood ashes put on each, 

 separately, without first mixing. Barn- 

 yard manure if used should not be coarse 

 or contain much straw, and it would be 

 better if partly rotted. A high grade 



Planting is best done by two people. Remember to 

 make the plant really firm in the ground 



commercial fertilizer would be my last 

 choice, and I would want to use it in some 

 rotation that I could plow under cover 

 crops to supply the humus needed. 



After getting on the fertilizer, plow or 

 trench the ground, no deeper than it has 

 been in oast years, but very fine, cutting 

 narrow furrows, and plow when the sur- 

 face soil crumbles in the hand, and early 

 in April if possible. I am assuming the 

 preparation of the soil for planting is done 

 by horsepower, but the principle is the 

 same if done on a little plot with spade fork 

 and garden rake. Thorough pulverization 

 of the soil, before setting plants, will make 

 it possible to do the best work with the 

 horse and hand-wheel garden cultivators. 



After plowing, when the soil is well 

 dried out, I harrow the ground. The last 

 harrowing is done with the Acme, or a 

 similar implement which pulverizes all 

 the lumps and leaves the surface level. 

 I finish with the plank drag or roller that 

 firms the soil for setting the plants. 



Xow you are ready for setting the straw- 

 berry plants, which should have been 

 ordered from the nursery, if nursery plants 

 are used, so as to arrive when your ground 

 is ready for them. The only right time to 

 transplant strawberry plants, in the climate 

 of Eastern New York, is in the spring when 

 the leaves of the plants are an inch or two 

 high, and there is considerable moisture 

 in the soil. 



The question of variety is largely a local 

 one. If some one near you has a variety 

 that you know is desirable, you are safe 

 in planting it. In southeastern New York 

 I have tried many kinds, and among the 

 few I have retained are Brandywine, Wm. 

 Belt, Gandy, and Marshall. Mitchell will 

 give you a few small berries three or four 

 days earlier than those mentioned, and 

 Gandy bears a moderate crop of large 

 sweet berries a little later than the others, 

 i.e., there are large berries yet on the Gandy 

 plants when other varieties run small. 

 Brandywine is a good all-round berry for 

 general culture, and the Marshall and 

 \Ym. Belt are best grown by the hill sys- 

 tem in rich soils. A rather heavy clay 

 loam seems well adapted to the Marshall. 

 If more varieties are wanted I suggest 

 President, and the old Bubach for the 

 home garden. 



All I have named are bisexual or stamin- 

 ate, and it is not necessary to plant pistil- 

 late varieties to pollenize them, but it is 

 a question if even these are not better 

 fertilized when two or more kinds are 

 planted near together, and I advise doing 

 so. Yarieties of the pistillate class, like 

 the Bubach, etc., will not set perfect 

 berries unless adjacent to bisexual or 

 staminate varieties. 



If you like to experiment with new varie- 

 ties, try out the new fall bearing varieties. 

 Ripe berries — real strawberries in late 



177 



fall, are a sensation! And you can have 

 them sure enough by planting the right 

 kinds now. 



If you get nursery plants to set out 

 puddle the roots when they arrive, heel 

 them in a shallow trench, and shade them, 

 until you are ready for planting. To set 

 the plants rightly and easily you want a 

 garden line, a marker, and a sharp spade. 

 The marker can be quickly made by 

 nailing a handle to a thick piece of 

 board six or nine feet long, boring holes 

 through and putting in some pegs to 

 mark the rows. The marker is the most 

 needed when plants are set in check rows. 

 First decide which system of culture is 

 best for you. I advise either the hill 

 system or the narrow row, sometimes 

 called the hedge row system. Probably 

 the latter is best for most amateurs. The 

 hill culture (cutting off all the runners), 

 requires very close attention to the plants 

 all summer, and thorough mmching of 

 plants in winter. 



For the hill system make the rows 2^ 

 feet apart and the plants 2\ feet apart 

 in check rows. For the hedge row plant 

 3 feet apart, and lining the plants the 

 other way as above. 



When ready for setting plants take up 

 a few and shake the most of the soil off the 

 roots. Press the spade down in the soil, 

 and have a boy or some one to help you 

 who will insert the plant in the opening 

 with the roots spread out fan-shaped, and 

 the bottom of the stem just even with the 

 surface of the ground. Withdraw the 

 spade and let the soil fall around the plant. 

 When you have set a row in this way 

 walk back over the row and press the soil 

 with the feet so tightly around the plants 

 that you cannot pull them up without 

 breaking off the leaves. 



Almost as soon as you are through 

 setting the plants, begin to cultivate, and 

 the deeper the cultivation, early in the 

 summer, the better. 



The hedge row system of planting will be the most 

 satisfactory for the home gardener 



