BRIDGMAN NURSERY COMPANY, BRIDGMAN, MICHIGAN 
3 
will stand more water than 
Raspberries or Blackber- 
ries. As soon as you can, 
go over them with 
a cultivator, in a 
day or two, then 
hoe them in the 
row where the cul- 
tivator did not 
get; hoe close and 
careful. These first 
few hoeings are 
nice for the ladies 
if you can talk 
them into it; you 
will not need to 
talk to them when 
the Strawberries 
get ripe — that's the 
time it will be hard 
to keep them away. 
Keep up this hoeing and 
cultivating every ten days 
or two weeks. Keep them 
clean and well hoed. The 
buds should be picked off 
the newly set plants, if you 
don't they will start to bear 
the berries that are set on 
them, and this will sap its 
vitality and will take all its 
force and strength to form 
the berry in place of mak- 
ing new runners. 
Nice Work for the I/adies. 
After a patch of Straw- 
berries is set and they 
commence to show new 
life with their nice green 
glossy leaves, and in a few 
days with their buds and 
flowers, then the clever 
housekeeper, if she has 
time, can do her part. 
These blossoms should be 
picked off and the little 
weeds that commence to 
show around the plant and 
everywhere need to be de- 
stroyed, and with a nice 
sharp, clean, bright new 
hoe it is no hard task to 
keep ahead of them. At 
much to do. But do It. 
runners commence, if they 
they should be cut off. If other kinds, 
them around in the rows till you think you 
have enough started for your next year's crop, 
which should be 10 to 12 new on each original 
plant set. Do not let your row get too heavy, 
or dense with too many plants, or your next 
crop of berries is apt to be small. The good 
housekeeper can do this and do it right, and 
her reward come full and plenty. If everbtar- 
ing, in a few weeks, if others, in the following 
spring, and the very first thing that gets ripe, 
and they will belong to her in addition to the 
eggs and butter, and other things she has grown. 
One acre of strawberries will make a good sized 
bank account which will make her independent 
with which many hearts can be made glad, the 
the effort has not been a very serious one. 
You needed the outdoor exercises and it brought 
you in direct touch with nature. 
Preparing Your Soil. 
If you are a farmer and can raise crops as 
good as your neighbor you need but little talk 
on the subject. The main feature of preparing 
soil is the ease with which they can be taken 
care of. Remember about flrmlng the plant 
well when it is set. 
Mulching. 
If you live in a country where your soil 
heaves out the wheat, clover and so on, in the 
A Specimeit of Our Well Grown 
Strawberry Plants. 
first there is not 
Then when the 
are everbearing, 
place 
winter time, mulch your 
plants with wheat straw, 
wild grass, or pine needles. 
Anything that will 
prevent repeated 
freezing and thawing 
during the winter. 
The best time to ap- 
ply the mulch is 
when the ground has 
frozen so you can go 
on it with your team. 
When the leaves 
commence to perk up 
in the spring rake 
off toward the cen- 
ter. If you can't-get 
it all in there, re- 
move from field. 
The two cuts on 
page 2 show the dif- 
ference between the perfect 
or male blossoms and the 
imperfect or female blos- 
soms of strawberry plants. 
If you get plants from old 
beds or from people who do 
not understand the business, 
you are liable to get all im- 
perfect flowered varieties, 
and thus lose a whole year's 
work, but if you grow pistil- 
late or imperfect flowered 
varieties, you must plant 
staminates near them or 
your fruit will be only in- 
ferior nubbins. 
How to Pack. 
Do not try to work in the 
small and poor berries. If 
you are going to send your 
culls to market you will be 
out boxes, express, etc. 
Make your package aver- 
age. Don't be too fussy 
with the packing, just make 
it look natural. Too much 
handling spoils the looks of 
a berry. 
In the Great Fruit Belt of 
Michigan. 
We are situated in the 
great Fruit Belt of Michi- 
gan, and our Strawberry Plants are not exposed 
to the cold winds of the plains, which are apt 
to freeze the heart and life out of them, and 
this accounts for the fact that we are ahead 
of the whole plant growing world. 
Twice the number of cases of strawberries 
are now grown on an acre from our plants, 
than formerly. If you have access to a good 
lot of manure you are all right. Twenty tons 
to an acre will put your land in condition to 
bring you splendid returns. We have never 
used any commercial fertilizer outside of stock 
yard manure. Pulverized sheep manure is with- 
in the reach of most all garden flowers. The 
nitrates, phosphates, guano and others all are 
good as your soil may need them. Strawberries 
are great producers and need food in the soil. 
For quick returns strawberries will do the 
trick. 
It is a good plan to spread your manure, horse 
or cattle, nice and evenly, and go over it with 
a disk or common spring drag. It will pay to 
do this several times before you plant your 
field. 
Unpack tlie Plants When They Reach You. 
We call your attention to the shipment when 
it reaches you, and we wish to impress upon 
you this point. Liberate them, as soon as you 
can, get them out of the package they came in, 
cut open the bunches and set them out in a 
trench of moist, loose soli, about as deep or a 
