24 



E. W. TOWNSEND SONS • SALISBURY • MARYLAND 



STRAWBERRY 



CULTURE 

 DIRECTIONS 



Just right 



PLANT SZSIiECTION. Perhaps the most important 

 task of all is the correct selection of varieties for the par- 

 ticular territory in which they are to be planted. A care- 

 ful study of the variety recommendations in this catalog, 

 and personal communication with the Townsend Nurs- 

 eries will eliminate the possibility of the buyer purchasing 

 varieties which have not the greatest profit-making pos- 

 sibilities in his territory. 



SOIL PREPARATION. In the first place, be sure that 

 the land is reasonably fertile and as nearly as possible 

 free of weeds and grass. Plow the land to be used care- 

 fully in the fall (this is much preferable to spring 

 plowing) 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, distributed 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 

 m.ark, using the same side of the mark on each row for 

 equal width. 



CARE OP 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, a 

 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 POR MATTED ROW 

 SYSTEM. Generally, the matted row system is con- 

 sidered the best and most practical. Plant rows 3V2 to 

 41/2 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, 

 Aberdeen, Blakemore, Dunlap, Howard Supreme and 

 Jupiter should be set 24 inches apart in the row, with 

 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 

 often yielding a quart of berries during the summer and 

 fall. Space these rows 30 inches apart to allow for horse 

 cultivation. The 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. 



CULTIVATING. Tilla<^e in newly set strawberry 

 fields should be thorough in the early part of the season. 



m'.KSMWy -^ Too shallow 



Too deep 



in order to preserve moisture so that plants can become 

 established thoroughly in the soil and later in the season 

 to conserve moisture so that the plants can develop run- 

 ners. 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 cul- 

 tivator 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. Culti- 

 vating 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 short- 

 ened, 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 drainage and which dries 

 out early in the spring this practice should not be fol- 

 lowed. Strawberry plants, when properly grown and 

 hardened, will stand considerable cold weather after set- 

 ting. Heavy frosts will not hurt them at all and it takes 

 a rather hard freeze to do any damage at all. Any snows 

 after setting is of more benefit to the plants than harm. 

 I can remember some few years back when plants shipped 

 to growers up on the Hudson in New York were never 

 wanted before April the 25th. One day a customer from 

 that vicinity came down to our Nurseries and we were 

 telling him about how hardy our plants were and what 

 they could stand. He seemed interested in this idea 

 of early setting and told us to ship his order out April 

 the first, that year. We did so. The next year he did 

 not come down. However, he sent us an order just 

 the same, instructing us to make shipment March the 

 15th, stating that he had exceptionally fine results from 

 his early planting the previous year. Of course, we 

 thought this just a little too early, and told him that 

 we would make the shipment on March the 25th and 

 that he could have them ready to set out by April the 

 1st. This year we received another order from him and he 

 is still setting Townsend plants and setting early. 



No doubt a considerable number of growers have taken 

 our advice and are setting early. Others will try it this 

 year and within a few years it will be no secret; as the 

 neighbor will then have the opportunity of telling his 

 next door neighbor just how important it is to set 

 plants early, which will give the plants plenty of time 

 to get their roots growing properly before the hot sun 

 and dry weather starts. It is also a great advantage to the 

 market gardener in getting his stock of plants in the 

 ground early, giving him much more time to devote to 

 the rush spring work. 



NUMBER PLANTS REQUIRED TO SET AN ACRE 



Number Plant 

 Plants Spacing 



Strawberries, Field Culture 8000 3 ¥2x11/2 



Strawberries, Garden Culture 21/2x1 ¥2 



Everbearing Strawberries, Field 8000 3V2Xly2 



Everbearing Strawberries, Garden 11/2x1 



Everbearing, Double Row Hill System 16000 21/2x11/2x12 



Blackberries 1700 8x3 



Red Raspberries, Hedge Row 2400 6x3 



Red Raspberries, Hill System 1800 5x5 



Black Raspberries 1700 TxSVa 



Dewberries, Solid Rows 2400 6x3 



Grapes ..: ,490 9x10 



Asparagus 3200 7x2 



Complete Culture Guide on Small Fruits Will Be 

 Sent Free to Anyone Requesting This Booklet 



