Strawberries and How He Grows Them mL.:, 
WARFIELD (P). 
EARLY. It is the great market berry and grown 
generally in every state and territory on all kinds of 
soil except light sand. Its pedigree here shows seventeen 
years of continuous selection and restriction. While it 
makes many runners and plants themselves are smaller 
than most other varieties, yet visitors are surprised to 
see the mother plants in the proi)agating beds as big as 
half a bushel while runners have formed all about them. 
When runners are confined to hedge row it piles up the 
berries in an astonishing way. The berries are deep 
blood red to center, all near the same size, a good ship- 
per. It is known as the great canning berry as well as 
for table at home. On account of its disposition to 
make laterals it should never he grown in full matted 
row. 
The best manure ever invented is the dung of 
animals. When the animal cats grain and 
vegetable matter it takes out enough to build 
its own body and returns the waste material 
to the manure in such shape that it furnishes 
all the elements the plants need. 
On ordinary loamy soil which has been 
cropped for several years you can put on as 
much as you please up to forty loads to the 
acre but you must ever bear in mind that plants 
don't eat manure. In a coarse rank form it is 
even poison to them. All manures must be 
turned into actual dirt before the plants can 
appropriate its elements. 
The ideal way is to put it on liberally a year 
in advance and then sow leguminous plants 
like cow peas, broadcast at the rate of two 
bushels to the acre. Sow in June and plow un- 
der in September and then sow quickly to rye, 
say three bushels to the acre. The rye will 
appropriate the nitrogen and other soluble 
parts to prevent it from being washed away 
and the rye leaves will shade the ground and 
prevent the rain drops and running water from 
puddling the surface of the gromul during the 
winter. I always keep something growing on the 
ground all the time on this account. Mere 
shading the ground makes it rich. We cannot 
always wait a year to manure ground and so if 
we put the manure on during the fall and 
winter, spreading it evenly as we draw it out, 
the rains and snow will wash it out into the 
LADY THOMPSON (B). 
EARLY TO LATE. More largely planted at the 
South than any other berry. By an accident we were 
compelled to discontinue its propagation for three years, 
but now have it well developed and up to standard. It 
succeeds anywhere, but does especially well on sandy soils. 
Is a splendid shipper and an all around good berry. 
Bright red and first class in quality. 
soil. Rotted manure is much the best but this 
cannot always be found so I use fresh manure 
in this way but never i)low under large quan- 
tities of coarse straw as it will seperate the 
soil at the bottom of the furrow and prevent 
moisture from drawing up by capillarity from 
the sub-soil so the ground will quickly dry out. 
Rake up the coarse straw before plowing and 
pile it up for a winter mulch. 
Plow it under and then cultivate it deep both 
ways to mix it all through the soil when it 
will rot very fast. It should be evenly dis- 
tributed through the ground. The more you 
harrow and stir the ground before setting the 
plants the better because exposing the soil to 
the air makes its foods soluble and available 
to the plant. 
. . MANURING IN THE HILL. . . 
It might be wicked to choke the person to 
death who taught people to pile manure around 
the plant or i)ut a great quantity of raw mater- 
ial under it but I wish people had never caught 
that idea for it always does serious injury. If 
you feel the need of adding fertility, put it a 
little distance from the plant and cultivate it 
in. The plant will find it as it sends its roots 
out several feet on each side of the row. If 
you could wash the soil away from a plant 
with hose so as not to break the tender feeders, 
you would be surprised to see how long they 
grow. 
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 
These are now subject to Governmental in- 
si)ection and maj' be relied upon and are there- 
fore being more largely used every year. 
There are many grades of them and like straw- 
berry plants, the higher grades are always the 
cheapest. A ton which costs twelve dollars 
is not as cheap as one costing forty dollars. 
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