1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
863 
“THE NEW STRAWBERRY CULTURE 
BENEFITS OF A DOUBLE TRANSPLANTING. 
Best Conditions for the Little Plant. 
DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSPLANTING—Every 
strawberry grower knows that plants suffer a check 
or set-back when they are transplanted, the serious¬ 
ness of which is determined by the condition of the 
soil and the weather at the time. We have known 
strawberry plants, when set late in the season as 
June 15, to grow and make as wide matted rows as 
other plants set two months earlier. The reason of 
this was that the soil was moist and the weather hap¬ 
pened to be cool and damp when the plants were put 
out, and fine showers came to help them before they 
had exhausted themselves in wilting. The best time 
to make plants live in transplanting is in very early 
Spring, when the soil is moist and the air cool. But 
everybody has not soil that may be worked very early 
in the Spring, and if they have they are not always 
ready to do everything at once. It is often a great 
convenience to delay the planting of the strawberry 
bed till after the oats and the potatoes are in and the 
garden is planted. Nurserymen cannot anticipate the 
time patrons want their plants, and they often arrive 
before the ground is plowed or fitted in any way. 
There have been more failures through the plants ar¬ 
riving at an inopportune time than from any other 
cause. We hit upon the so-called new strawberry 
culture from trying to save small lots of new varieties 
that came very early in the season. We used to pack 
them in moss in the cellar, and invariably lost them 
if the plants were left there over two weeks. When 
plants come from the South we receive them in March 
or February, and bury in a snow bank, digging down 
to the earth and burying plants, box and all without 
unpacking. As Spring comes, we cover the snow with 
straw to prevent it from melting, and keep the plants 
there till the snow is all melted. We then take them 
out and trench in as hereafter explained. If plants 
from the South are ordered at the time they are want¬ 
ed for setting at the North, they will be loaded with 
blossoms or green berries, and be enfeebled in vitality 
because of this. 
THE NEW PLAN.—Our plan is to trench the plants 
closely together in a favorable spot, such as an old 
flower bed or garden. The richer the soil the better, 
as the plants are crowded, and have little chance to 
reach out for fertility. We find a spot where a great 
brush heap has been burned an ideal location. It 
should be where the sunshine reaches it, and prepara¬ 
tion must be made for shading and watering when 
necessary. Of course the soil must be well-drained 
and porous, because it is handled so early in the 
Spring. When we have the plants 
ready the piece of ground is spaded 
and leveled off with garden rake, and 
all rubbish removed. With a shovel 
or spade, a trench is opened on one 
side, about as deep as the roots of the 
plants require. We cut the roots back 
to about four or five inches, and the 
trench ought to be dug about six or 
seven inches deep. We have the sides 
of the trench a little slanting, so the 
plants will not tip over when they are 
put in, before the soil is drawn up to 
them. Breaking open the bunches of 
plants, the roots are spread out so that 
each plant touches the earth and oc¬ 
cupies about % inch to one inch of 
space in the trench. As soon as the 
trench is full, or before it is full, if 
more convenient, the soil is drawn up 
to the plants, filling the trench, and 
then the earth is firmed down to the 
roots by treading with the foot. Some 
loose soil is thrown on top as a mulch. 
The little rows are made about six 
inches apart, and between every three 
rows a path is left to facilitate getting 
about for watering, mulching and spraying. About 
10,000 plants can be trenched in on a square rod of 
land. We usually do the trenching in the months of 
April or May and keep them there till June 1. On 
sandy soils, the trenching can just as well be done in 
the Fall and will give better results for such soils, 
because the final transplanting should be done earlier 
in the Spring than on clay soil. 
HOW CARED FOR—As soon as the plants have 
all been trenched they should be mulched with fine 
rotted manure or straw, working this in among them, 
covering all the surface to prevent drying out. They 
should then receive a thorough wetting down, so that 
the water will soak to the very bottom of the roots, 
and then be shaded for several days, or until they will 
grow without wilting in the hot sunshine. When the 
plants have been there for about a week, they should 
be sprayed with Bordeaux, and this operation con¬ 
tinued at intervals of about one week as long as they 
remain in the little bed. This rids them of the leaf 
blight and all other fungous diseases. We use a so¬ 
lution of four pounds lime, six pounds sulphate of cop¬ 
per and 50 gallons of water. Fig. 335 shows the 
writer engaged in trenching in a lot of the Van 
Deman strawberry plants; Fig. 334 a bed of new va¬ 
rieties, the little stakes marking and separating the 
varieties. We think so well of this method of caring 
for the plants that we have gone from trenching in 
a few new varieties that came early in the season just 
to save them, to digging up all the plants we intend 
to set out on our whole farm, and trenching them in, 
likewise spraying, etc. 
PREPARING THE PERMANENT PLOT.—While 
the plants are in the little beds, the plot of land that 
they are finally to occupy is receiving the best of cul¬ 
tivation. It is practically impossible properly to fit 
a piece so early in the season as is necessary for the 
/■ '•> 
A LITTLE BED OF TRENCHED PLANTS. Fig. 334. 
best results, by the old method. Especially is this true 
if the soil is clayey in nature. By this method we 
have all the time up to June 1. The plot can be 
plowed several times, all the rubbish removed, and the 
piece harrowed again and again, killing all weeds that 
sprout, and exposing to the birds and poultry every¬ 
thing in the line of insects, such as May bugs. White 
grubs, etc. When the piece is thoroughly fined and 
leveled we stop plowing and deep cultivation, and just 
go over the piece with a weeder, stirring the surface 
slightly. This makes the soil damp just below the 
inch of mulch, and when the plants are transplanted, 
they go into moist soil and grow right along, receiv¬ 
ing no further check. When ready to transplant, the 
whole bed of plants is wetted down thoroughly and 
the plants are taken up and placed in pans. It will 
be found that tiny roots have grown from the main 
roots throughout their length, and these will hold the 
soil so that the transplanted plant will in many re¬ 
spects be like a potted plant, but with none of its dis¬ 
advantages. The reader will readily appreciate the 
advantages of this system. Plants can come at any 
time from the nursery, and a few hours’ work will 
save them for a more opportune time of planting. They 
may be rid of fungous disease much more economical¬ 
ly on one rod of ground than as if spread over an 
acre. The soil where they are to grow and bear fruit 
can receive more thorough preparation; they can be 
kept in the little beds till the weather is just right for 
planting. A few days do not matter, we have kept 
them as late as June 15, but as a rule the earlier they 
are trenched in the little bed the earlier they should be 
finally transplanted. l. j. farmer. 
Oswego Co., N. Y._ 
The filthy milkman frequently hides his milk—for¬ 
maldehydes It. Unless the baby who drinks it has hide 
on his stomach he will soon go higher. 
THE EUROPEAN APPLE TRADE. 
WHAT VARIETIES ARE BEST SHIPPERS? 
Destructive Fruit Diseases. 
The export trade in apples is getting to be a large 
business. The exhibition at Paris did much to bring 
our fruits before Europeans, but Americans should 
not think that exhibits are all that are required to 
control this trade. Canada, Australia and Cape Col¬ 
ony are already hard at work attempting to solve the 
question of transportation, which, after all, is the 
point of vital importance. Unless our American ship¬ 
pers can keep pace with the English colonies in this 
matter of fruit transportation, the prizes at Paris and 
the fine color and quality of our goods will not en¬ 
able us to lead the trade. The authorities at Washing¬ 
ton fully understand the situation, and Secretary 
Wilson has gone so far as to recommend the spend¬ 
ing of $10,000 in exhaustive investigations of the sub¬ 
ject of fruit shipments. Prof. W. A. Taylor, Acting 
Pomologist, tells us that there is a general lack of 
information concerning the shipping of various va¬ 
rieties of apples. 
“I suppose you are speaking of apples sent in cold 
storage?” 
“Yes, certain long-keeping kinds, for example like 
Ben Davis, rather inferior in quality, are the best 
shippers. They keep well at almost any temperature 
between 32 and 40 degrees, if well packed and in sound 
condition when stored.” 
‘‘But how about the better quality of apples?” 
“Some of the best, such as Jonathan, Northern Spy, 
and York Imperial are very uncertain. They some¬ 
times come out bright and sound in the Spring, and 
at other times they lose a large part of their value 
through decay or scald.” 
‘‘I presume that this is true also of the high-qual¬ 
ity or more delicate apples.” 
“Yes, such apples as Grimes Golden, Huntsman and 
Rhode Island Greening are rarely held In good condi¬ 
tion later than midwinter. It is thought, however, 
that under conditions which are not yet well under¬ 
stood many of these delicate varieties can be held un¬ 
til late Spring or Summer in excellent condition, thus 
extending their marketable period into the late Win¬ 
ter and Spring when fruit is scarce and high, and, the 
market usually filled with inferior varieties.” 
“That being the case, of course, it is important to 
know more about cold storage.” 
“Yes, indeed, both storage men and dealers as well 
as producers feel the need of a better knowledge than 
now exists. In other departments of agriculture, 
scientists have been able to discover the principles 
which control the production or storage of delicate 
products. The fact that under the same 
conditions, the better class of apples 
may be kept until late Spring, is evi¬ 
dence that certain principles govern 
such keeping, and it is doubtless pos¬ 
sible to study the matter out so that 
we may control it.” 
“What other matters are also of su¬ 
preme importance in this line?” 
“We must understand the best 
means of controlling certain diseases 
that seriously affect the quality and 
durabilitj' - of our fruit.” 
‘What is probably the most import¬ 
ant of these diseases affecting the 
apple?” 
“Without doubt the ‘ripe rot’ or 
‘bitter rot,’ which has been widespread 
through the southern and middle apple 
States. In some important districts 
this disease caused an almost total loss 
of the Winter fruit after a full crop 
seemed assured. Single dealers have 
It suffered losses amounting to $20,000 on 
fruit which was purchased ‘in lump’ 
and destroyed by rot after purchasing. 
The president of the National Apple 
Shippers’ Association estimates the losses to the ap¬ 
ple industry from this disease alone this year as about 
$10,000,000. The losses from Apple scab have also 
been heavy.” 
Every apple shipper win probably agree with Prof. 
Taylor that a thorough understanding of these mat¬ 
ters would benefit the fruit growers in this country. 
The farmer himself cannot possibly hope to study 
out the principles of cold storage, nor can he investi¬ 
gate Apple scab or ripe rot and learn for himself how 
to handle the disease. That must be done by trained 
specialists, as such work has been done in the past. 
This will cost money, but the money will be well 
spent and will be but an infinite fraction of the benefit 
that will come to American fruit growers in case the 
purposeu investigations are anywhere near as success¬ 
ful as similar ones have been in the past. The need¬ 
ed appropriations for this work should in our opinion 
be granted at once. This is a matter of great import¬ 
ance, for we may lose the chance of securing the apple 
trade of Europe, in case we permit Canada and the 
other English colonies to get ahead of us In settling 
these important questions. 
TRENCHING IN PLANTS FOR NEW STRAWBERRY CULTURE. Fig. 335. 
