CULTURE - Continued 



Mating Varieties — All the varieties we offer are per- 

 fect flowering and will produce a full crop when planted 

 alone. 



Mulching — Mulch should be applied at the rate of about 

 three tons per acre or 2 inches deep, just before the first 

 hard freeze, if possible. Straw, strawy stable manure, 

 wild hay, marsh grass are materials commonly used. 

 Mulching will prevent winter injury and heaving of the 

 plants from freezing and thawing. In the spring as 

 growth starts rake mulch into alleys, where it helps to 

 keep the berries clean and also conserves moisture. 



Spraying and Dusting — As strawberries are seldom 

 subject to any serious damage from disease or insects, 

 spraying or dusting is not commonly practiced. Setting 

 healthy plants of varieties immune or resistant to disease 

 is much more desirable. In sections where Weevil (Clip- 

 per) prevail they can be controlled by dusting the beds 

 just before the first buds appear, and again about 10 

 days later with a mixture of 859c Sulphur and 15% 

 Arsenate of Lead. 



Summer and Early Fall Planting — There are two rea- 

 sons why Summer and Early Fall planting is seldom suc- 

 cessful : first, it is almost impossible to get good plants 

 and even if you get good plants they seldom, if ever, give 

 as good results as plants set in the early spring. Don't 

 put off your planting until Fall. If you do you are almost 

 sure to be disappointed. 



Distance to Plant — Plants should be set 15 to 30 inches 

 apart (distance should vary according to the bedding 

 habit of the variety) in rows 3% to 4 feet apart. 



Plants required per acre at various planting distances : 

 Rows Distance in Row Plants per Acre 



3V> feet apart 15 inches 10,000 



Sy 2 feet apart 18 inches 8,325 



3% feet apart 24 inches 6,225 



3% feet apart 30 inches 5,000 



4 feet apart 15 inches 8,750 



4 feet apart 18 inches 7,300 



4 feet apart 24 inches 5,425 



4 feet apart 30 inches 4,375 



Cultivation — Plants should be kept thoroughly culti- 

 vated all through the growing season. Cultivating at 

 weekly intervals until bed forms will greatly reduce the 

 amount of hoeing required to keep down weeds. Plants 

 should be hoed soon after set and any plants too deep or 

 too shallow should be corrected. Hoe and cultivate shal- 

 low near the plants to avoid disturbing the roots. In later 

 hoeing, after the plant bed is formed, attention should 

 be given that the plants do not become too densely set in 

 the row, especially with varieties such as Blakemore, Dor- 

 sett and Fairmore. The well spaced row will produce 

 more and better fruit. 



Removing Blossoms — Flower stems usually appear on 

 strawberry plants soon after they are set in the field 

 and as the production of fruit is a severe drain on their 

 vitality, the flower stems should be removed as they 

 appear. With Everbearers the blossoms should be re- 

 moved until the plants are well established. This will usu- 

 ally require about sixty days. 



BLUEBERRY CULTURE 



Adaptability — Cultivated blueberries are being success- 

 fully grown from North Carolina to the Northern bound- 

 ary of the Country, and are generally adapted wherever 

 wild blueberries and huckleberries are found. We do not 

 feel any exact limit of their adaptability has been estab- 

 lished, and would suggest small plantings anywhere 

 except in the deep South or where the soil is alkaline 

 or very dry. 



Soils — On natural blueberry soils having an abundance 

 of humus and a fairly constant high water table, blue- 

 berries grow well under clean cultivation. Such soils 

 must have good surface drainage. Planting on wide 

 ridges, six to seven inches high, is a good practice. This 

 practice of ridging is now generally followed on this type 

 of soil. On regular soil, the site selected for the blue- 

 berry planting should also have good surface drainage, 

 be well supplied with humus and retentive of moisture. 

 It should be borne in mind that the productiveness of a 

 blueberry planting depends largely on the moisture sup- 

 ply in the upper soil, which may be maintained by 

 applying a heavy permanent mulch. Blueberries require 

 a somewhat acid soil, growing well on soils ranging from 

 p.h. 3.8 to 5.5. Soils having a high p.h. value should not 



be used. For small plantings, large holes may be dug 

 and filled with soil having the desired p.h. with humus 

 in the form of peat or leaf mold added. 



Planting — For commercial planting, plants are set 

 every four feet in rows eight to ten feet apart as many 

 varieties of blueberries reach a height of six to seven 

 feet and a width of five to six feet. Plants should be set I 

 slightly deeper than they grew in the nursery, with the 

 roots well spread out. When planting, we place a thin 

 layer of pulverized peat and sand, which has been soaked 

 and mixed half and half, below and above the roots. We 

 feel this makes an ideal rooting medium, and will keep 

 the plant well supplied with moisture until it becomes 

 established. Before planting, one-half to two-thirds of 

 the top growth should be pruned off. For the home plant- 

 ing plants may be set in whatever manner is convenient, 

 giving them about thirty-two square feet of space to 

 each plant. 



Mulching — On all but natural blueberry soil, mulch 

 should be applied as soon as the plants are set. Such 

 materials as straw, salt hay, sudan grass, pine needles, or 

 leaves may be used, applied at the rate of six to eight 

 tons per acre. Further applications should be made each 



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