Section of Our Variety Spacing Experimental Plot for Fruiting in 1936 



Visit Our Variety Spacing Experiment at Fruiting Time 



In May and June 1936 we will be fruiting 

 berries from an experimental plot in spacing 

 Dorsett, Fairfax, Catskill, Blakemore, Big Joe 

 and Premier plants. This is being done in co- 

 operation with the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture and University of Maryland. They will be 

 responsible for taking the records. It is one of 

 the finest experimental plots we have ever seen 

 and we are expecting to get some valuable in- 

 formation from it. We invite you to come and 

 see this plot at fruiting time. You will be wel- 

 come. Best date about May 25th, 1936. 



Other strawberry spacing experiments con- 

 ducted by Agricultural Experiment Stations, 

 with probable date of ripening, are as follows : 

 Willard, North Carolina. . . April 25th, 1936 

 Amherst, Massachusetts. .. June 10th-15th, 1936 



Wooster, Ohio June 10th-15th, 1936 



East Lansing, Michigan . . . June 15th, 1936 



Visit some of these if you can. We are sure 

 you will be welcome. Other stations may be 

 doing some spacing work also. We are informed 

 that both Tennessee and Rhode Island have 

 planned some spacing work for 1936-37. 



What to Expect From Spacing Strawberry Plants 



For improving both the quantity and the quality of strawberry crops we believe some attention 

 to thinning and spacing the plants offers greater possibilities than any other practice. As stated 

 on page 11 it may not pay to be too fussy about exact distances, but if in the ordinary operations 

 of hoeing it is recognized that all plants in excess of four to six per square foot are weeds which 

 rob the producing part of moisture and fertility a great deal can be done in this respect at not 

 much extra cost. To indicate actual results from spacing plants we are repeating the table from 

 work done in North Carolina in 1933-34 which we used last year. 



Yield Per cent of 

 in 32-qt. Per cent Relative berries show- 

 System of training crates of U. S. size of ing decay 



per acre No. 1 berries berries after 24 hours 



Double hill row with runners rooted early 110 90 100 5 



Rows 24 inches wide with plants spaced 9 inches 



apart 156 84 88 8 



Rows 24 inches wide with plants spaced 6 inches 



apart 149 80 80 10 



Matted rows 12 inches w ide 66 68 72 16 



Matted rows 30 inches wide 72 57 62 26 



Note that yields increase with wider spacing up to 9 inches apart. Xote also the poorer keeping 

 quality of berries from the thick, densely shaded matted rows. In other of the \ T . C. experiments 

 rows with plants numbering 30, 4, 1.8 and 2/3 of a plant per square foot produced yields of market- 

 able fruit of 40, 119, 131, and 99 crates per acre respectively. 



To check this up with our discussion of leaf area on the next page it is pointed out that plants 

 in the row spaced 9 inches apart which produced 156 crates per acre had. in the previous fall, 9 2/10 

 leaves per plant, while plants in the 30 inch matted row which produced 72 crates per acre had only 

 3 leaves per plant the previous fall. 



The benefits from spacing will be much greater with free growing varieties like Dorsett, Fairfax, 

 Blakemore, Narcissa, etc., than from others which normally do not make as many plants. Further- 

 more, with a variety like Dorsett which is very easily over-fertilized greater amounts of fertilizer 

 can be used profitably in building up a few large strong plants which have been rooted early and 

 retained. 



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