POT GIROWM STRAWBEIR5RY PiLAHin 



STRAWBERRY CULTURE-Continued. 



NEW BEDS EACH YEAR.— By this method we prefer to 

 plant new beds every year, though, if desired, the beds once 

 planted may be fruited for two or three years, as by the old 

 plans; but the fruit the first season will always be the largest in 

 size, if not greatest in number. Another advantage of this 

 system is that, where space is limited, there is quite time enough 

 to get a crop of Potatoes, Peas, Beans, Lettuce, Radishes, or, in 

 fact, any summer crop off the ground first before planting the 

 Strawberries, thus taking two crops from the ground in one year, 

 if desired, and there is also plenty of time to crop the ground 

 with Cabbage, Cauliflower, Celery, or other fall crop after the 

 crop of Strawberries has been gathered. 



1 *=~ i -^-.._. _. 



YOUNG STRAWBERRY PLANT LAYERED IN POT. 



POTTING THE PLANTS.— The plan of getting the pot layers 

 of Strawberries is very simple. Just as soon as the fruit is 

 gathered, if the beds are well forked up between the rows, the 

 runners of young plants will begin to grow, and in two weeks 

 will be fit to layer in pots. The pots, which should be from two 

 to three inches in diameter, are filled with the soil in which the 

 Strawberries are growing, and " plunged " or sunk to the 

 level of the surface; the Strawberry layer is then laid on the pot, 

 being held in place with a small stone. The stone not only 

 serves to keep the plant in its place, so that its roots will 

 strike into the pot, but it also serves to mark where each 

 pot is; for, being sunk to the level of the surface, rains 

 wash the soil around the pots, so that they could not well 

 be seen unless marked by the stone. In ten or twelve days 

 after the Strawberry layers have been put down the pots 

 will be filled with roots. They are then cut from the 

 parent plant, placed closely together, and shaded and 

 watered for a few days before being planted out. Some 

 plant them out at once when taken up, but, unless the 

 weather is very suitable, some loss may occur by this 

 method; by the other plan, however, of hardening them for 

 a few days, not one in a thousand will fail. 



ADVANTAGES OF POT-GROWN PLANTS.— By the 



usual field method of culture, it will be seen that there is a 

 loss of one season in about three; for in the year of plant- 

 ing no fruit, of course, is produced, and for this reason we 

 incline to the belief that, if a portion were set aside to 

 produce early plants, so that pot layers could be set out by 

 the 25th day of July, a full crop of finest fruit could be had 

 every season, and with less cost, w T e think; for the only 

 labor after planting is to keep the ground clean and pinch 

 off the runners, from July to October, with the certainty 

 of getting a full crop next June, or in less than a year from 

 the time of planting, while planting by ordinary layers, 

 if planted in August, we have three months of fall culture, 

 and six or seven months of the next summer's culture, 

 before a crop is produced. Again, if the crop is continued 

 i.o fruit the second or third year, every one who has had 

 experience with the nature of the plant, knows that the 

 labor of keeping the plants free from weeds is enormous; 

 while by the pot layering method of taking a fresh crop 

 ■each year, all such labor is dispensed with. 



BI-SEXUAL OR PERFECT 

 FLOWER. 



PISTILLATE OR 

 IMPERFECT FLOWER. 



PERFECT vs. IMPERFECT FLOWERING STRAWBER- 

 RIES. The blossoms of strawberries are either bi-sexual (perfect 

 flowering) or are destitute of stamens and are termed pistillate or 



(imperfect flowering) ,see 



cut. Pistillate varieties 



must have a row of a 



perfect-flow T ered sort, 



planted every 9 or 12 ft. 



apart among them, or, 



better yet, every third* 



or fourth plant in the 



row, to pollenize their 



blossoms. When prop- 

 erly fertilized the pis- 

 tillate varieties are the 



most prolific. 



FIELD CULTURE. — Strawberries for field culture are usually 

 planted from the ordinary layers, either in August or September 

 in the fall; or in March or April, in the spring. Mark out 

 the rows three and one-half to four feet wide and set plants 

 eighteen to twenty inches apart in the rows. Then if we wish to 

 follow the narrow row system, we let each plant strike a few run- 

 ners along the line of the row, and then, later in the season, 

 keep all runners off; while if the broad matted row is wanted, all 

 runners are allowed to take root, and the cultivator narrowed 

 up a little at each cultivation during the latter part of the sea- 

 son, till we have matted beds of plants two feet wide, with a 

 walk one foot wide between them. The narrow row is the more 

 profitable of these two systems; yet the matted row is the most 

 adopted, as many people are of the opinion that the more plants 

 the more berries. In planting, every plant should be well 

 firmed, or great loss is almost certain to ensue, as the Straw- 

 berry is a plant always difficult to transplant. Generally two 

 or three crops are taken before the beds are plowed under; but 

 the first crop given (which in the second year after planting) 

 is always the best. 



TO ASCERTAIN THE NUMBER OF PLANTS RE- 

 QUIRED FOR AN ACRE. — The number of plants required 

 for an acre, at any given distance apart, may be ascertained, by 

 dividing the number of square feet in an acre (43,560), by the 

 number of square feet given to each plant, which is obtained by 

 multiplying the distance between rows by the distance between 

 the plants. Thus, strawberries planted three feet by one foot, 

 give each plant three square feet, or 14,520 plants to the acre. 



A SPECIMEN OF HEX 



WVBERRY PLANTS 



