44 E. W. TOWNSEND SONS © SALISBURY ®© MARYLAND 
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DIRECTIONS 
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VARIETY SELECTION. Perhaps the most important 
task of all is the correct selection of varieties for the 
particular territory in which they are to be planted. A 
careful study of the variety recommendations in this 
catalog, and personal communication with the Town- 
send Nurseries will eliminate the possibility of the 
buyer purchasing varieties which have not the greatest 
profit-making possibilities in his territory. 
SOIL PREPARATION. In the first place, be sure 
that the land is reasonably fertile and as nearly as pos- 
sible free of weeds and grass. Plow the land to be used 
carefully in the fall or spring and spread a liberal coat 
of barnyard manure over the plot during the winter or 
early spring. Potato fields, tomato or cow-pea plots, or 
any site where the land has been enriched by growing 
truck crops makes an ideal plot for the strawberry patch. 
If manure is not available, broadcast a. heavy applica- 
tion of commercial fertilizer over the plot just before 
the plants are set in the spring. (Two or three weeks 
in advance is just about right). Sheep manure or a 
mixture of 1500 pounds of tanKage and 500 lbs. of acid 
phosphate is good, distribute at, the rate of 1000 lbs. 
per acre. Raw bone meal will not injure the plant 
roots and is the only fertilizer recommended for use 
directly under the plants. 
The soil should be worked up into as good condition 
as possible before setting the plants. If the ground is 
manured, drag the soil level, marking the rows with 
a light marker, setting the plants on the side of the 
mark, using the same side of the mark on each row for 
equal width. 
CARE OF PLANTS ON ARRIVAL. Townsend’s plants 
come to you properly cleaned and bunched ready to set. 
If the roots are too long to set in a stony soil, clip 
off a portion of them cleanly. 
If the plants are received before the soil is ready, open 
the boxes and take the plants out, dampen the roots up 
to the string, redampen the moss and repack in the 
same box, place in a cool cellar and the plants, if still 
dormant, will keep from 7 to 10 days without injury. 
Heeling in is permissible, if done by an experienced 
man but it is slow and tedious and the tops and crowns 
may get wet. The first method is best. 
SETTING THE PLANTS. For large plantings, - 
horse drawn transplanter is good to use if a good 
operator is available. For small plots, or in stumpy new 
land, the garden trowel is best to use. On stony soils 
use a spade. Set the plant roots straight down without 
crowding and pack the earth firmly around them. 
PLANTING DISTANCE FOR MATTED ROW SYSTEM. 
Generally, the matted row system is considered the best 
and most practical. Plant rows 342 to 415 feet apart, 
depending on varieties used. A matted row should be 
3 feet wide when the plants are laid by, and sufficient 
room should be left for the pickers. Keep the space 
between the rows cultivated as long as the runner 
plants form. Plants should be set 15 to 24 inches apart. 
Good, rank growing varieties like the premier, Aber- 
deen, Blakemore, Dunlap, Howard Supreme and Jupiter 
should be set 24 inches apart in the row, witb rows 
4 feet apart. 
EVERBEARING IN HILL SYSTEM. The hill sys- 
tem is the only way to grow everbearing strawberries 
successfully. Keep the runner plants cut off, not allow- 
ing more than five or six well-spaced runner plants to 
form. This produces large, vigorous plants, each plant 
set often yielding a quart of berries during the summer 
and fall. Space these rows 30 inches apart to allow for 
horse cultivation. Two rows in the bed are spaced 12 
inches apart, and the plants set 18 inches apart down 
the rows. With this spacing, 16,000 plants will set an 
acre. Such spacing allows room to work with a hoe 
around the plants at all times. Plant food can easily be 
applied as the cultivation continues through the sum- 
mer months. Feeding the plants while they are fruiting 
is easily done without injury by broadcasting fertilizer 
or chicken manure around the plants. Cultivation is 
easy, aS such spacing affords sufficient room around the 
plants to keep down all grass and properly mulch by 
shallow working with the hoe during dry weather. 
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CULTIVATING. Tillage in newly set strawberry flelds 
should be thorough in the early part of the season, in 
order to preserve moisture so that plants can become 
established thoroughly in the soil and later in the sea- 
son to conserve moisture so that the plants can develop 
runners. Weeds and grass should be kept out of the 
fields at all times, as they will take the moisture needed 
by the strawberry plants. Most successful growers use 
the cultivator as often as once each week throughout 
the first growing season, and during periods of drought 
even more frequently. Hoeing should be done as often 
as it is found necessary to clean out all weeds and 
grass. Cultivating should be shallow near the plants, 
both because of the danger of loosening them in the 
soil and because if too deep the roots near the surface 
will be broken. The teeth on each side of the cultivator 
should be shortened, so they will not stir the soil 
near the row to a depth of more than 1 or 2 inches, as 
many Kinds of weeds continue to grow in late autumn 
and start to grow in early spring. We advise working the 
plants until hard frosts occur. The field will then be 
free from weeds, and in the following year very few will 
have time to grow before the harvest season. 
@ ONE OF THE SECRETS IN 
GROWING STRAWBERRIES 
While there should be no secrets in the growing of 
Strawberries when every grower is exchanging ideas 
with his neighbors, there seems to be one point that 
has not been given enough publicity by the neighbor, 
journals and nurserymen. With the majority of the 
Plant growers in the North it has always been a practice 
to hold off setting plants until all frosts and freezing 
is over. On low springy type soils this probably is a 
logical practice. However, on land with a good drain- 
age and which dries out early in the spring this prac- 
tice should not be followed. Strawberry plants, when 
properly grown and hardened, will stand considerable 
cold weather after setting. 
MULCHING STRAWBERRIES 
In regions of heavy snowfall Strawberries should have 
a mulch to keep the ground from freezing and thawing 
in early winter and in the spring. In the Northern part 
of the Middle West all varieties should be protected in 
the winter against the severe drying winds which occur 
in those regions. A mulch conserves moisture in the 
spring and in certain localities the crop may be in- 
creased from one-third to one-half by its use. 
The mulch should be applied as soon as the ground 
is frozen from one to two inches deep. In some local- 
ities growers have found it unsafe to await freezing 
weather because of the danger of severe storms or heavy 
falls of snow which remain throughout the winter, 
mulch being put on as soon as active growth has 
ceased. The mulch should be scattered over the fields 
so that some will fall on the plants, but more of it be- 
tween the rows. In the spring the plants will grow up 
through the straw and the berries will be kept clean. 
If mulch is put on heavy, some of it should be raked 
off into the middle of rows at time growth starts. 
Wheat, rye, oats and buckwheat straw are more com- 
monly used. From 3 to 5 tons of straw is required per 
acre. Marsh hay is also used to advantage when obtain- 
able, 1 to 3 tons per acre being required. 
@ NUMBER PLANTS REQUIRED TO SET AN ACRE 
Number 
Strawberries, Field Culture -........... 
Strawberries, Garden Culture -.......... 
Everbearing Strawberries, Field ..... ....__.. 
Everbearing Strawberries, Garden_...._....... 
Everbearing, Double Row Hill System 
Blackberries s\oo oe) ei ee ee ee 
Red Raspberries, Hedge Row 
Red Raspberries, Hill System 
Black -Raspberriesn_- 2.5.2 2 ees) ae ee 
Dewberries, Solid Rows) 22.2202 222 
Grapes seis. 22 SS ee oO CS 
Asparapus: - S22. 220 ose a ea eon 
@ Complete Culture Guide on Small Fruits Will Be 
Sent Free to Anyone Requesting This Booklet 
