10 ALLEN’S Book oF BERRIES — 1929° 
plants do not become crowded too thickly on the bed. If the plants can be 
spaced in training them so that each plant is a few inches from any other 
plant, but with a well filled-in row 15 to 18 inches wide, you will have a very 
favorable condition for getting large crops of fancy berries. Of course, a 
wider bed is O.K. where the rows themselves are set 4 feet or more apart, 
and a narrower bed might be more desirable where the rows were only 3% 
feet apart. But in any case, make sure of your fruiting bed by letting the 
first runners root, cutting off surplus late runners, if desirable. 
If you desire to use the hill system, the plants should be set considerably 
closer together and all the runners kept off. We feel that the hill system, if 
used at all, should be only in cases where the ground is very limited or per- 
haps with the Everbearing varieties. 
MANURE AND FERTILIZER 
Barnyard manure spread broadcast on the land after it is plowed and 
thoroughly disced in is the best thing you can do to add fertility to the land 
and to get a better growth of strawberry p!ants and fruit. However, this is 
not necessary. Green manure crops and fertilizer will give very good re- 
sults. We have had some remarkable results in plant growth from using a 
mixture composed of 1,500 pounds dissolved bone and 500 pounds of acid 
phosphate. The analysis of this mixture is about 3-10-0. Use about 500 or 
600 pounds of this per acre in the drill before the plants are set, or along- 
side of the plants, and thoroughly work in with hoe or cultivator soon after 
setting the plants. Where applied in the drill, it should be worked in thor- 
oughly, going, at least, twice to each row with a horse and cultivator to mix 
itin. If applied broadcast, 1,000 pounds per acre of this mixture thoroughly 
harrowed in before the plants are set can be used to advantage. Not more 
than 500 or 600 pounds of this mixture should be used per acre in the drill. 
We have seen 1,000 pounds per acre used in the drill with the result that a 
great many of the plants were killed by the fertilizer. 
As a top dressing to be used in late summer, or in early spring before 
growth starts, we have seen 4-8-4 and 7-6-5 fertilizer give excellent results. 
In every dry season on very light soil, we have seen fertilizer applied in 
early spring cut down the yield of producing a heavy growth of foliage 
which sucked out the scanty supply of moisture. Moist soil, full of humus 
or naturally springy, would have made the fertilizer application a paying 
investment even that year. 
Nitrogen and phosphorus seem to be the most necessary elements for 
plant and fruit growth, but potash probably helps with the coloring of the 
berries and their shipping qualities. 
Except in very acid soil, lime should not be used for strawberries. An 
excess of lime in the soil is likely to have a very detrimental effect on the 
growth of the plants. 
PERFECT AND IMPERFECT VARIETIES 
Perfect flowering varieties planted alone will mature a crop of perfect 
fruit. Imperfect flowering varieties should have perfect varieties planted 
with them, at least one row for every five or six. When two varieties are 
used in equal amounts, they are often alternated three or four rows of each. 
In our price-list, perfect flowering varieties are followed by “per” and im- 
perfect varieties by “imp.” 
