52 E. W. TOWNSEND SONS + SALISBURY »- MARYLAND 
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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, 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 
mark, using the same side of the mark on each row for 
equal width. 
CARE OF PLANTS ON ARRIVAL. Townsends’ 
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 FOR MATTED ROW 
SYSTEM. Generally, the matted row system is con- 
sidered the best and most practical. Plant rows 315 to 
412 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 Su- 
preme 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 set 
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. 
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CULTIVATING. Tillage in newly set strawberry 
fields 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 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. . 
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 increased 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 localities 
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 between 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 commonly used. From 3 to 5 tons of straw 
is required per acre. Marsh hay is also used to advantage 
when obtainable, 1 to 3 tons per acre being required. 
ry NUMBER PLANTS REQUIRED TO SET AN ACRE 
Number Plants 
Plants Spacing 
Strawberries, Field Culture ............... 8000 342x1¥2 
Strawberries, Garden Culture ............ ae 2Yex1Ve 
Everbearing Strawberries, Field .......... 8000 344x1¥% 
Everbearing Strawberries, Garden ........ Fee 142x1 
Everbearing, Double Row Hill System -. 16000 2144x1'4%x12 
BigekberrieSs) slice) coe ee ee ee 1700 8x3 
Red Raspberries, Hedge Row ............. 2400 6x3 
Red Raspberries, Hill System ............ 1800 5x5 
Black Raspberries: 2c: sono ence eee 1700 7x3 % 
DEwDERTICS SOlid -ROWSe eee eee nee eee 2400 6x3 
GEADES © osccsis eine os Se ee eee 490 9x10 
ASParagusy sc. sooner gl soe eee 3200 1x2 
@ Complete Culture Guide on Small Fruits Will Be 
Sent Free to Anyone Requesting This Booklet 
