GREAT CROPS OF STRAWBERRIES AND HOW TO GROW THEM 
Copyright 1915 by R. M. Kellogg Co., Three Rivers, Mich. 
OREGON IMPROVED, A GENERAL FAVORITE IN THE WEST 
IN size, form and color Oregron Improved is much like the Marshall, possessiner all of the strongest features of that great va- 
riety and adding one of the strongest qualities — that of extreme prolificness. There are few varieties that excel the Marshall 
in quality of fruit produced, and fi-om the view-point of quality and yield we consider the Oregon superior to the Marshall, 
which for more than a quarter of a century has been a leader everywhere. This is, indeed, a high recommendation for any vari- 
ety, and our Western friends will make no mistake in setting very heavily to this variety. Grown only at our Twin Falls farm. 
hoeing the plants should be covered very lightly 
with fine soil the same as described under hill 
culture. Plants that are left for fruiting will 
grow to very large size and each plant should be 
allowed to make about one runner plant which 
may form on each side of the row to take the 
place of the plants plowed under when narrowing 
down the rows. The second crop should fully 
equal in size and quality the first crop. 
The Matted Row.— For the benefit of those who 
do not care to grow fancy berries and therefore 
prefer the matted row, would say that this sys- 
tem requires 4,400 plants per acre. The rows are 
made four feet apart and plants are set 30 inches 
apart in the rows. Runners are allowed to form 
at will. In preparing the matted row for the 
second crop it always is necessary to use a break- 
ing plow, or small barshare plow, and throw a fur- 
row from each side of the row, leaving a strip in 
the center of the row about six inches wide. In 
this strip there will be left a sufficient number of 
plants to form a row for the second-year's fruit- 
ing. After the row has been narrowed down with 
the plow go over the rows with the hoe and cut 
out some of the surplus plants, leaving only the 
stronger plants. The plants thus left will repre- 
sent the mother plants from which will grow a 
sufficient number of runner plants to form a 
strong row for the second-year's crop. After the 
plants have been arranged in this way with the 
hoe the ridge between the rows should be leveled 
down with cultivator and a small amount of fine 
soil drawn over the plants which have been left 
for fruiting. Plants under this system never 
should be allowed to remain after the second crop 
is gathered, as the conditions of a field grown 
in this way are favorable to the rapid increase 
of insects which work upon strawberry plants. 
After the number of runners have formed that 
go to make up your system — single-hedge or 
triple-hedge— cutoff all runners that are in excess 
of the system you have adopted as fast as they 
appear, no matter how many additional runners 
may form. The sooner they are cut off after 
growth starts the better it will be. 
Mulching Strawberry Plants 
TN northern latitudes the mulching of plants is 
•'• of the highest importance, considered from the 
viewpoint of protection from alternate freezing 
and thawing which are so hard upon all plant life. 
Freezing and thawing cause the soil to heave and 
this breaks off the fine feeding roots, thus reduc- 
ing the quantity and quality of fruit produced. 
Therefore, as a matter of mere protection, the 
vines should be covered with straw in all of the 
northern states. But mulching performs other 
important functions. If you would grow the 
fancy fruit, the fruit must be clean, and a floor 
of straw upon which the fruit may ripen protects 
the fruit from coming into contact with the soil, 
and where this is done the fruit comes on the 
market clean and free from grit. Therefore in 
the North strawberry plants should be covered 
with straw after the first freezing weather comes 
on in the fall. Between the rows the depth of 
straw may range from two to four or five inches 
with just a light shading of straw over the plants 
themselves, (not to exceed one inch deep). In 
the South mulching is practiced for two purposes 
only — to retain moisture in the soil and to keep 
the fruit clean. In the South, therefore, it is 
necessary to apply the mulching only a short time 
before the buds open. There the mulch should be 
Page Fifty-five 
