26 



a V-shaped trench about four or five 

 inches deep. Cover the roots with two or 

 three inches of soil leaving the buds ex- 

 posed. Wet the soil and plants thor- 

 oughly. A light covering may be neces- 

 sary. 



Incidentally, there is one way to play 

 safe. If you have cold storage available 

 order your plants shipped in March 

 while they are still thoroughly dormant. 

 Even moderate delays in transit won't 

 hurt them at that time and they will keep 

 perfectly in cold storage at 32 Degrees 

 F. until planting conditions are just right. 

 If plants are dug after they have made 

 lots of foliage and possibly blossoms, 

 they should not be held more than a few 

 days even in storage. 



U. S. Government and New York State 

 experiments have shown that anyone who 

 cannot normally set plants by April 15th 

 could confidently expect much better re- 

 sults with stored dormant plants than 

 with freshly dug ones. 



WHAT IS THE BEST METHOD OF SET- 

 TING PLANTS? Any method is good 

 which leaves the roots reasonably straight 

 down in the soil, spread some if possible 

 with the soil pressed firmly against the 

 roots and the bud just at the surface of 

 the packed down soil. A good garden 

 trowel is the best tool for the work in 

 small plots. Others are a spade, dibble, 

 paddle or in larger fields a horse or trac- 

 tor-drawn transplanter. With plants that 

 have very long roots clipping them off to 

 about 4 to 5 inches in length will make it 

 easier to get a good job of setting. It will 

 not hurt the plants. No matter how long 

 or how short the leaf stems, fruit stems or 

 roots may be at time of setting, the bud 

 must be just at the surface. (See picture.) 



HOW FAR APART SHOULD PLANTS 

 BE SET? In general we recommend set- 

 ting plants 18 to 20 inches apart in rows 

 SVz to 4 feet apart. This requires about 

 7,000 plants per acre. (See Table.) Some- 

 what closer planting is satisfactory in 

 small gardens where space is limited, for 

 the hill system as with everbearers, or 

 for late setting where a good stand is un- 

 certain. Closer setting is suggested also 

 for varieties that make few plants. With 

 the new virus free stock of vigorous grow- 

 ing varieties somewhat wider setting will 

 usually give a satisfactory fruiting row. 



For the small garden order 7 plants for 

 each 10 feet of row you want to set or 

 figure 1 plant for each 5 square feet. Thus 

 for a plot lOx 10 you would need about 

 20 plants. 



High yields can be had from small plots 

 by using the hill system where all run- 

 ners are cut off. Use planting plan sug- 

 gested for everbearers on page 30. A 

 variation would be using rows 314 feet 

 apart, set plants 12 inches apart with two 

 runner plants, one each way, from each 

 mother plant set. 



HOEING, CULTIVATING AND TRAIN- 

 ING. Frequent hoeing and cultivating 

 make larger, stronger fruiting beds and a 

 better crop of berries. The purpose is to 

 keep down weeds and grass and to keep 

 the top soil loose. Loose top soil helps 

 conserve soil moisture and makes it 

 easier for new runners to take root. Shal- 

 low cultivation is best, 1 to IV2 inches 

 deep with the hoe or slightly deeper with 

 horse cultivator. 



There are three other important jobs to 

 be done along with the hoeing work. 



(1) Uncover the buds. At the first or 

 second hoeing any of the plant buds 

 which have become covered with packed 

 or caked dirt must be uncovered. Neg- 

 lect in this is often the greatest single 

 cause of a poor stand. The outside leaves 

 may remain fresh and green for sometime 

 but if the bud is smothered the whole 

 plant will eventually die. 



(2) Cut off the blossoms at each hoe- 

 ing. The vitality necessary to mature a 

 cluster or two of berries is needed by the 

 newly set plant to make a strong, vig- 

 orous plant growth. For exceptions see 

 page 31. 



(3) Most of the training of new runners 

 is done at hoeing time. A well spaced 

 matted row is the best system for getting 

 the largest crops of the best berries. It 

 will not pay to be too fussy about exact 

 spacing distances but it should be kept in 

 mind that 4 to 8 plants per square foot of 

 fruiting bed is plenty. An excess is no 

 better than weeds. Train the first strong 

 new runners out like spokes from a wheel 

 and root them until a fruiting row 1 V2 to 

 2^/2 feet wide has been formed. When 

 that has been done as many as possible 

 of the later runners should be pulled or 

 cut off. 



