28 
HOEING, CULTIVATING AND TRAINING. 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. 
Shallow cultivation is best — 1 to V z 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. Neglect 
in this is often the greatest single cause of a poor 
stand. The outside leaves may remain fresh and 
green for some time but if the bud is smothered the 
whole plant will eventually die. 
(2) Cut off the blossoms at each hoeing. The 
vitality necessary to mature a cluster or two of berries 
is needed by the newly set plant to make a strong, 
vigorous plant growth. Blossoms may be left on 
vigorous plants of Everbearing varieties after July 20. 
(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" _ to 
2 : ; feet wide has been formed. When that has been 
done as many as possible of the later runners should 
be pulled off or cut off. 
TIME-SAVERS! 
Those All-Star Collections 
on page 3. 
Have a Look! 
Veriey, McKinley, Gus, Ed. 
Four of our dependables who 
help prepare your plants for 
shinment. 
IS MULCHING NECESSARY? Mulching is neces- 
sary for winter protection in all the Northern States 
and would be helpful in many fields as far South as 
Virginia and Kentucky. In addition to giving protec- 
tion from cold, mulching helps to keep down weeds 
and grass, to conserve soil moisture and to keep the 
fruit bright and clean. 
The mulch should be applied in the fall after frost 
and light freezes ,25 to 28 degrees F) have occurred 
but before hard freezing .20 degrees F or lower'. It 
should be removed (at least partly^ soon after growth 
starts in the spring. 
Wheat straw and marsh grass are considered the 
best materials. Rye straw, pine needles, coarse 
strawy manure and various kinds of hay are satis- 
factory. Use whatever you have or can buy at a 
reasonable price. 
WILL IRRIGATION PAY? If you have irrigation, it 
will certainly pay to use it for strawberries, espe- 
cially just before fruiting time. However, irrigation 
is not necessary. Most of the fine berry crops in 
this country are produced on good strawberry soil 
that holds moisture well because stable manure and 
green crops have been added, or because of a high 
water table. 
DO STRAWBERRIES NEED SPRAYING? When 
good varieties are selected and clean healthy plants 
are used, strawberries do not need spraying as a 
rule. If insect or disease troubles should appear, 
our FREE circular on STRAWBERRY INSECTS AND 
DISEASES may be helpful in identifying the cause 
and applying the remedy. 
