Culture Directions on Strawberries 



Selecting and Preparing Soil 



In growing strawberries your success depends more on 

 securing good plants than on any other one item of expense. 



It is of course necessary to secure the right site for the 

 berry patch. The land should be reasonably fertile to grow 

 good berries. It is preferable to plant strawberries in a spot 

 where the land will be as free from weeds and grass as 

 possible. Old sod land should not be used if any other 

 site can be secured. 



Fall plowing while not absolutely necessary is much to be 

 preferred over spring plowing. 



Most any soil by fall plowing deep and spreading a good 

 coat of any barnyard manure after plowing any time dur- 

 ing the winter or early spring makes a good soil for straw- 

 berries. Another good plan is to follow the potato field. 

 Where either white potatoes or sweet potatoes are grown 

 strawberries grow well as a usual thing. Tomatoes, cow- 

 peas, or most any site where the land has been made rich 

 by growing truck crops will be found ideal spots for the 

 strawberry patch. 



Where home manures are not convenient, it is a good 

 plan to broadcast a heavy application of commercial fertil- 

 izers just before the plants are set in the spring (two to 

 three weeks in advance is not too much). Sheep manure 

 is good, also a mixture of 1500 pounds of tankage and 500 

 pounds Acid Phosphate is another good mixture, apply 

 1.000 pounds per acre. Pure raw bone meal broadcast or 

 applied in the drill directly under the plants is safe at the 

 rate of 600 to 800 pounds per acre. Raw bone meal will 

 not injure the plant roots no matter how heavy you apply 

 it, and is about all the fertilizer I can recommend to use 

 directly under the plants. 



It is desirable to have the soil worked in as good con- 

 dition as possible before setting the plants. Where the 

 manure has been broadcast, we prefer dragging the soil 

 level and marking off 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 so as to have the rows the same 

 width. 



Method of Setting Plants 



In large plantings a horse-drawn transplanter where 

 good operators are obtainable can do a good job setting 

 the plants. Where small plots are set or in stumpy new 

 land, we find the garden trowel the ideal tool to set plants. 

 On stony soil it is best to use a spade. Just so the plant's 

 roots are set straight down and firmly packed they are all 

 right to grow. 



Care of Strawberry Plants on Arrival 



TOWNSEND'S PLANTS come to you properly cleaned and 

 bunched ready to set. 



Some varieties may have roots too long to get into stony 

 soil. In this event it is necessary to take the shears and 

 clip off a portion of the roots, making them shorter. 



If the plants are received a few days before the soil is 

 ready, it is a good plan to open the boxes, take the plants 

 out and dampen the roots up to the string, redampen the 

 moss and repack in same box, place in a cool cellar, and 

 the plants, if dormant, will keep for a week or ten days 

 in good order. Healing in is all right if done by an ex- 

 perienced hand, but it is slow and tedious, and the danger 

 is getting the tops and crowns wet when handling and 

 watering, and for this reason we prefer to keep the plants 

 in the box packed in moss. 



Distance to Plant for Matted Row System 



For most sections of the country, the matted row system 

 is considered the best and most practical of all. Rows 

 three and a half to four and a half feet, depending on 

 varieties used. Usually a matted row should be three feet 

 wide when plants are laid by, and sufficient room should 

 be left for the pickers. It is always best to keep the 

 middles of the row cultivated out as long as the runner 

 plants form. Plants should be set from 15 to 24 inches 

 apart. Good rank growing varieties like Premier, Aberdeen. 

 Blakemore, Dunlap, Howard's Supreme and Jupiter should 

 be set 24 inches apart in the row, with rows four feet apart. 



Everbearing in Hill System 



The photograph on page 20 carries with it a convincing 

 story that the Hill System Is one way to grow Everbearin:.' 

 Strawberries succes.sfully. We recommend keeping the run- 

 ner plants cut off, or not allowing more than five or six 

 well-spaced runner plants to form. Large, vigorous plants 

 are grown in this way, and it is nothing unusual for each 

 plant to pick a quart of berries during Summer and Fall. 

 Some of our customers reporting yields much larger than 

 this. These rows are spaced 30 inches apart to allow for 

 horse cultivation; the two rows in the bed are spaced 12 

 inches apart and the plants are set 18 inches apart down 

 the rows. With this spacing it requires sixteen thoxisand 

 plants to set an acre. This spacing allov.-s plenty of room 

 to work with a hoe around the plants at all times. Appli- 

 cations of plant food can be easily applied any time during 

 the summer months as cultivation continues. Feeding the 

 plants while they are fruiting can be readily accomplished 

 by broadcasting fertilizer or chicken manure around the 

 plants without injury to them. Cultivation is made much 

 easier as each space affords sufficient room around plant 

 to keep down all grass and properly mulch by shallow 

 working with the hoe during dry weather. 



Cultivating 



Tillage in newly set strawberry fields should be thorough 

 in the early part of the season, in order to preserve mois- 

 ture so that plants can become established thoroughly in 

 the soil and later in the season to conserve moisture 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 one or two 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. 



Mating Varieties 



If you order all perfect flowering varieties, plant them in 

 large plots just as they come. But, if you order part im- 

 perfect flowering you should plant every third or fourth 

 row to some perfect flowering sort of the same season 

 (and there are some mighty fine imperfect sorts that 

 should not be overlooked). We offer four imperfect flower- 

 ing varieties in our list. May Queen, Howard's Supreme. 

 Townsend's Big Late and Sample. 



Varieties that are not marked in our price-list Like. 

 Premier, or Big Joe. Need no other varieties planted with 

 them as they are Perfect flowering varieties. Also all the 

 everbearing varieties listed are Perfect flowering, and can 

 be planted alone. 



Number Plants Required to Set An Acre 



Number Plant 

 Plants Spacing 



Strawberries, Field Culture 8000 3 ^ 2x1 ^ 2 



Strawberries, Garden Culture 2 1 2x1 ' 2 



Everbearing Strawberries. Field 8000 3 » 2x11 2 



Everbearing Strawberries. Garden II2XI 



Everbearing. Double Row Hill System 16000 2i2Xl>2Xl2 



Blackberries ITOO 8x3 



Red Raspberries. Hedge Row 2400 6x3 



Red Raspberries. Hill System 1800 5x5 



Black Raspberries 1700 7x3*2 



Dewberries, Solid Rows 2400 6x3 



Grapes 490 9x10 



Asparagus 3200 7x2 



Compfefe Cuffure Guide on Small Fruifs will be sent free fo any one requesfing fhis booklet 



STRAWBERRY PLANT PRICES WILL BE FOUND ON PACE 30 



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