34 



E. W. TOWNSEND & SON— SQUARE DEAL NURSERY 



CULTURAL DIRECTIONS 1 



(Continued from page 33) 



bearing strawberries are given the same i 

 care and cultivation as other standard \ 

 varieties. 



CULTIVATING AND HOEING. 



The Cultivators should start soon after ' 

 plants are set and given often and shallow 

 cultivation the entire growing season. Al- 

 ways remember the shallow cultivation, ; 

 nothing is more injurious to a plant than ' 

 deep cultivation. The light, shallow cul- 

 tivation keeps a dust mulch around the 

 plants which is so essential in dry weather, 

 and the roots should never be disturbed 

 by either hoe or cultivator. , 



AS TO SPRAYING.— This is left en- 

 tirely to our customers. They can get bet- 

 ter advice from their State Colleges, than 

 we can give; every locality has its own in- 

 dividual troubles with insects. (We are i 



thankful that we have no plant insects on 

 the Eastern Shore of Maryland). Neither 

 do we have to mulch our plants in winter 

 in order to save them from freezing. But 

 in the very cold sections of the country 

 where Mulch is necessary, we recommend 

 straw manure if possible, if not convenient, 

 any kind of straw, Marsh grass, shredded 

 corn stalks, may be used and removed in 

 the early spring before new growth starts. 

 This mulch should be raked off and left 

 between the rows as a protector to the 

 coming fruit crop. As to the length of 

 time a strawberry bed should be allowed 

 to stand depends on the care given to it. 

 We have reports that beds have been kept 

 up for six years and given bumper crops, 

 sometimes producing more fruit the third 

 and fourth year than the first season. Keep- 

 ing up old patches requires a great deal of 

 work, more so than renewing with a new 

 bed at least every two years. Old beds are 

 given practically the same care as new beds 

 in first year. The ground must be kept 

 constantly cultivated and all the weeds 

 kept out. 



TESTIMONIALS FROM A TO Z. 



For twenty years the writer of this book, 

 has been encouraging the growing of family 

 strawberry beds. Probably not half who 

 have read my story year after year, have 

 been influenced enough to make the start. 

 But enough encouragement has been re- 

 ceived by me, that I shall never stop the 

 work that I have begun as long as I am able 

 to write a catalogue. That I have done 

 some good you will see by the following ex- 

 tracts from letters received from all over 

 the Country. 



ALABAMA. — We are picking berriej. 

 this year from the beds of plants we bough. 

 of you three years ago. The initial cos 

 of plants was $5.00 to say nothing of the 

 berries we have used in our home we have 

 sold more than $50.00 worth of berries to 

 Our neighbors every year. We owe it all 

 to Townsend service. 



ARKANSAS. — Several years ago we 

 purchased some Progressive ever bearing 

 plants from you. They did so well that 

 we have never stopped growing them. Has 

 been the best investment we ever made. No 

 one at the time we purchased these plants 

 from you knew anything about ever bear- 

 ing strawberries in this section and today 

 every family for miles around has them 

 growing in their gardens. All this came 

 about through your recommendation of the 

 family garden. We owe you a great deal 

 of credit. 



ALASKA. — When we came here we nev- 

 er expected to get any more fresh straw- 

 berries from the vines. But today we are 

 picking as fine berries from the plants you 

 sent us as we ever saw in Ohio. 



ARIZONA.— Have just finished pick- 

 ing last berries from our garden. We have 

 sold more than $200 worth and have plenty 

 stored for winter and they come again. _lt 

 is the most profitable crop we have ever 

 grown. Many thanks to you. 



ARIZONA.— The Ford plants produced 

 as fine quality berries as the Marshall, and 

 about four times as many berries. I en- 

 close order for more plants. 



CALIFORNIA.— It is a pleasure to 

 grow your plants. We have ordered plants 

 from all sections, but never got any to 

 grow like Townsend 's. 



CANAL ZONE.— Plants arrived in fine 

 shape and are growing nicely. 



COLORADO. — Townsend 's plants are 

 the leading plants in our valley. We have 

 been growing them here for more than fif- 

 teen years and have never ' .>3t a crop. 



CONNECTICUT.— We picked 560 

 quarts from our ever bearing garden to date 

 and still lots of green fruit and blossoms 

 October 1st. We only set 500 plants: only 

 sorry we did not set several thousand. We 

 are recommending your plants and service 

 everywhere. 



THE BIG THREE— PREMIER, FORD, TOWNSEND'S 

 BIG LATE. 



