Strawberkies ^ How To Grow Them 
W. ELLIS PENNYPACKER IN HIS HALF-ACRE OF THOROUGHBREDS 
LJERE is what Mr. Pennypacker writes about it: "In regard to your Thoroughbred plants, I like them fine, 
and never have missed a crop since I began in the business. In the month of June, 1906, we picked from a 
scant half-acre 3,839 quarts of strawberries, for which I received $323.82. In one day — June 9 — we picked 518 
quarts which I sold at wholesale for $52.08. I certainly am well pleased with the returns received from your Thor- 
oughbreds." Mr. Pennypacker's field is at Burchrunville, Pa. 
grains and fertilizers that have been distributed 
through the soil. 
Another important result of proper cultivation 
of the soil is in the loosening of it up in such a 
way as to leave small air spaces between the 
soil grains, the result of which is to furnish air 
to the bacterial germs so they may well perform 
their work of transforming the raw materials in 
the soil into an available form as plant food. 
The more uniformly these microbe organisms 
perform their part of the work, the more vigor- 
ously will the plants grow. Before describing 
more definitely the way to cultivate we shall 
enumerate its several advantages. 
1 . It prevents the formation of crust on the 
surface of the soil. 
2. It creates and maintains a blanket of 
dust over the surface of the ground, which re- 
tains moisture in the soil and keeps its tempera- 
ture at a normal degree. 
3. It enables bacteria to secure ample quan- 
tities of air. 
4. It destroys weed seed while in the ger- 
minating stage ; and this, by the way, is the best 
time to kill all obnoxious growths. 
5. It mixes the fertilizer with the soil, so 
that the bacterial germs may work up the fer- 
tilizer into available forms of plant food. 
6. It keeps the strawberry runners from 
overflowing into the space between the rows. 
The best cultivator we ever have used is the 
Planet Jr., as shown on Page 63. The teeth of 
this cultivator are chisel shaped and so arranged 
that every particle of the soil is cut as the culti- 
vator passes over the field, which is a very im- 
portant feature. 
The plants should be cultivated after each 
rain, as soon as the soil is dry enough to crum- 
ble, and should it remain dry the cultivation 
should be repeated every eight or ten days, thus 
replacing the old dust mulch with a new dust 
mulch. 
When the plants become large and begin to 
spread out it is a good plan to have the cultiva- 
tor teeth that run next to the plants about two 
inches shorter than the other teeth. When ar- 
ranged in this way the teeth will go deeply 
enough to break the crust near the plants with- 
out cutting any of the roots of the plant. About 
twice each month a five-tooth cultivator should 
be run through the center of the space between 
the rows. It may go four or five inches deep 
and will loosen up the soil where the horse has 
tramped it down while doing the shallow culti- 
