PLANT-SETTING BRIGADE ON THE KELLOGG FARMS 
the soil is in condition to roll is take a hand- 
ful and press it firmly in the palms of your 
hands. If it shows the least indication of be- 
ing "pasty" leave the roller in the shed. A 
heavy rain firms heavy soils sufficiently of itself. 
/^NE of the most beautiful sights in this 
world is a field of strawberries with every 
row exactly spaced and as near a straight line as 
it is possible to secure. And it is difficult to 
conceive of a beautiful patch, no matter how 
fine the plants, where the rows are zig-zag, 
criss-cross, or, as one friend 
Marking Out called it, "diangling." It 
the Rows . ', , 
For Plants ^ simple matter to keep 
the rows straight, and one 
of the simplest devices we have seen costs prac- 
tically nothing and may be made with little ex- 
pense or labor. Take a piece of scantling six 
feet long, cut it into thirds, sawing diagonally 
so as to leave each piece the shape of a sled- 
runner. Now take an inch-thick board, four 
inches wide, and, if the rows are to be three feet 
apart, the board should be six feet long. To 
either end spike a runner, with the third runner 
directly in the center, and you have as perfect a 
marker as you please. Now keep a sharp eye 
out, walk straight toward a given point — and 
your rows will be the talk of the town. 
l^O plant is ready for setting until its roots 
are cut back at least one-third and the 
ulder leaves removed. Many are the advai-ita- 
Res of pruning, and we have yet to have pre- 
sented a valid reason why it should not be 
done. In setting an un- 
pruned plant there is dan- 
ger of doubling up the 
roots, and the plants will 
be delayed from a week to ten days in conse- 
quence, and the vitality of the mother plant 
will be lessened by the demands made upon it. 
Another advantage lies in the fact that when 
Pruning 
the 
Plants 
A Properly Pruiit'd Plaut 
the roots are cut back the wound will callous 
and numerous small feeders will at once start 
and go to feeding upon the mineral elements of 
the soil. When the 
plant is dormant it may 
be more closely pruned 
than when it is in a 
growing state. Prun- 
ing is a simple matter, 
and anyone with a sharp 
pair of scissors may do 
the work. And there 
need be no fear on the 
part of the novice that 
he will do any injury to 
his plants if he will fol- 
low these simple in- 
structions. The work 
itself is an interesting feature of strawberry pro- 
duction, and the pleasure one takes in it is not 
its least-valued recompense. 
CEX in plants is one of the most important 
considerations, and as we have now reached 
the point where plants are to be set out, we shall 
discuss the subject of proper mating, for a mis- 
take at this point means disappointment at 
fruiting time, if the grower has by any oversight 
planted pistillate varieties 
(female) without a bisexual 
(male) near by for purposes 
of poUenation or fertiliza- 
tion. First let it be understood that a staminate, 
bisexual or male plant — these three words are 
used interchangeably and mean, in the case of 
the strawberry, the same thing — let it be under- 
stood that the male plants may be grown suc- 
cessfully without mating, although years of 
experience leads us to conclude that even a male 
variety will do better when set near another 
bisexual; re- tainly this is true of certain bisexuals 
that are weak in pollen. In all case< tlie pistil- 
late or female i>lant miiit have a lu.iie, or no 
of 
Plants 
i 
