SETTING STRAWBERRY PLANTS. 
DE careful men, take plenty of time and set them right. That is what the foreman keeps telling the men as 
he passes back and forth inspecting their work. Each one has a dibble and a metal basket full of plants. 
The man at the tub submerges them in strong, tobacco tea to protect us and our customers against any root 
aphis. Every plant is dipped before it is set. We take no chances on anything. An ounce of prevention is 
worth a pound of cure. This is why we can guarantee our Thoroughbred plants to be absolutely healthy. Take 
one pound of tobacco stems and boil in five gallons of water. Use when cold. 
pounds of bone meal and 200 pounds of muri- 
ate of potash in the spring, working it into the 
soil before plants are set, will balance things up 
and make more berries, besides adding color 
and firmness. Commercial fertilizer, without 
the use of manure or some leguminous crop 
plowed under, never gives as good results as it 
does with it. It is a fact long ago observed, 
that increasing the organic matter in the soil 
increases also its water-holding power. It re- 
quires a large percentage of moisture to convert 
plant food into a state of solution. Then bac- 
teria, like the yeast germs, can manufacture the 
gases and soluble foods, which rootlets quickly 
absorb. The rootlets of plants do not have 
mouths, but are more like the inside walls of 
the stomach; they feed by absorption and they 
can use only such foods as are in the form of 
liquids or gases. We mention this so the 
reader will see the necessity of humus in con- 
nection with fertilizers, also that he will apply 
the bone meal and potash before plants are set, 
so it will decompose and be taken up by the 
soil grains, where it will be prepared into avail- 
able form through the natural course. 
Bacteria Makes Plant Food Available 
BACTERIA are minute organisms that per- 
form important functions in plant and 
other forms of life, and require certain 
conditions for their best growth. They thrive 
best at a temperature of between 40 and 95 de- 
grees. The presence of water, air and an 
abundance of decaying organic matter are 
necessities, and it is the business of the berry 
growers to see that all of these requirements 
are properly met. Keep the soil well aerated 
by frequent cultivations and hoeings; this will 
provide proper soil mulches and keep the water 
content normal. Bacteria also cause the decay 
of barn-yard manure and all manurial plants 
plowed under to enrich the soil. With the aid 
of heat and moisture they convert the decayed 
organic matter into plant food, and if the amount 
of air be limited, one part becomes immediately 
available, while the other part goes into 
humus. But if the soil particles are large and 
the air spaces large, then air will be admitted 
too freely, and the bacteria will render all the 
constituents of the manure at once soluble, and 
decomposition will not stop at the point where 
