E. W. TOWNSEND SONS - 
STRAWBERRY 
CULTURE 
DIRECTIONS 

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VARIETY SELECTION. 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 
mark, using the same side of the mark on each row for 
equal width. 
CARE OF PLANTS ON ARRIVAL. Townsend’s 
apes come to you properly cleaned and bunched ready 
O set. 
If the roots are too long to set in a stony soil, clip off 
@ 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 31% 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, 
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 
€asy, 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. Tillage in newly set strawberry 
fields should be thorough in the early part of the season, 


Just right 
SALISBURY - MARYLAND 25 

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- 
mers. 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, poth 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 a2 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. 

