Vol. LVI. No. 2461 . 
NEW YORK, MARCH 27, 1897. 
*1.00 PER YEAR. 
FRAMEWORK AND PIPES OF ASPARAGUS HOUSE. Fig. 90. 
appearance and larger in size. Of course it is best 
only to stir the surface a few inches and then 
cover with straw or some coarse material at once. 
The practice here is not to cultivate in the spring, 
not because growers are not in favor of cultiva¬ 
tion, but because the other method is easier and 
not so risky. The soil after cultivation must be 
well covered with straw to prevent evaporation 
and the berries from becoming soiled. I was led 
to see the beneficial results from spring culture by 
noting how much finer were the berries on the 
rows that we had dug close for plants to reset. We 
put the straw back up around the plants and the 
yield from the narrow rows was as large as from 
the whole rows that had not been dug from, and 
the berries were nearly twice as large. We culti¬ 
vated a patch all through the picking season one 
year, with the result of getting a large yield of 
fruit. We were troubled with the berries getting 
“ sandy ”, however, and we would not recommend it 
to others. In order to cultivate berries in the spring, 
the cultivation must be kept up till the growth stops 
in the fall. 
In the spring as soon as the soil is dry enough to 
SHOULD STRAWBERRIES BE MULCHED 
OR CULTIVATED 
IN SPRING BEFORE FRUITING? 
Practices in Various Localities! 
Certainly, cultivate the strawberry beds in the 
spring before the fruit is gathered. Year by year, 
my faith increases in cultivating in spring ; it 
promotes growth, the general warmth of spring 
fosters the plants to bear abundantly. One acre 
under good cultivation will produce more than two 
when badly tilled. T. c. kevitt. 
New Jersey. 
Leave Mulch Between the Rows. 
Cultivation in the spring will, certainly, make 
the fruit dirty and unsalable. The general prac¬ 
tice here is to plow up the plantation after one, or 
at most, two years’ fruiting, planting enough each 
spring to supply the prospective demand for this 
kind of fruit. I have found it easier and more 
economical to plant a new plantation than to clean 
out an old one. In my earlier years of fruit-growing, 
When Spring Cultivation Succeeds. 
Whether a strawberry patch should be 
cultivated in the spring or not to secure the 
best results, depends on the last fall’s treat¬ 
ment. If the cultivation was discontinued 
very early in the fall, or if continued and 
made very shallow, the roots of the plants 
will run close to the surface, and in cultivat- 
ASPARAGUS HOUSE COVERED WITH CANVAS. F,o. 89. the I> atCh in the S P rill S' We ” 0uld de ' 
stroy a lot of valuable roots. If, however, 
I had a rather costly experience in attempting to do the cultivation has been kept up rather late and given 
too much, but I soon came to the conclusion that it quite deep, such as would result by the use of narrow- 
was better to have too little rather than too much toothed Planet Jr. cultivators as long as the ground 
land in strawberries. I mulch heavily with straw in could be worked, the roots would run down deep, and 
early winter, and when I uncover in the spring 
after all danger is over from frost. I leave the 
straw between the rows as close to the plants as 
possible, and by this means, prevent the soil from 
being washed on the fruit by the spring rains. I 
change my strawberry ground frequently and. by 
this course, get my ground in much better con¬ 
dition, and at the same time avoid trouble from 
noxious insects. wm. jackson. 
Southern Illinois. 
TRANSPLANTED CABBAGES. Fig. 92. 
such as chickweed, which go through our open win¬ 
ters and make a patch look like a weed field by the 
time the berries are ripe. A shallow cultivation and 
a little hoeing will kill out the weeds, and if well 
mulched, not do an irreparable damage to the 
crop. Our best growers, however, try to 
keep out the winter weeds by seeding down 
to a close sod for two years, then follow with 
a cultivated crop and fall-plow the land; 
thus to a great extent, the weeds will be ex¬ 
terminated, and a clean field needs no spring 
cultivation to break off many of the roots 
in which are stored up the material which is 
to form the luscious and healthful fruit. A 
good heavy growth of cow peas will aid very 
much in discouraging the seeding of the win¬ 
ter weeds, and avoid the necessity of fall plow¬ 
ing and add to the fertility of the land. 
Delaware. a. w. slaymaker. 
The Practice in Delaware. 
It is almost generally admitted here that the 
best practice in strawberry culture is to leave the 
ground entirely undisturbed in the spring before 
fruiting, but for several reasons, a large propor¬ 
tion of our growers do cultivate their strawberry 
beds in early spring and then mulch thoroughly, 
with reasonable assurance of harvesting a good 
crop. The reason that leads to this practice is that 
the grower depends on the fruiting beds for his 
supply of plants, and after he has dug such plants 
as he thinks can be spared from the fruiting rows, he 
has to cultivate to smooth down the surface which has 
been all dug up for the plants. Another reason for 
the practice here is the strong growth of winter weeds, 
USE OF CANS IN TRANSPLANTING. Fig. 91. 
For Description of Illustrations See Next Page. 
cultivation in the spring would not injure them. I 
am in favor of this latter method. I believe that it 
pays to stir the soil around strawberry plants early in 
the spring. The yield is larger, the fruit is finer in 
plow, the cultivation may be given, and after it is 
done, all the stirred surface and the surface around 
the plants must be thoroughly covered with some 
coarse clean mulch ; straw is one of the best mulch¬ 
ing materials that we have for strawberries. 
Oswego County, N. Y. l. j farmer. 
Never Cultivate in Spring. 
My observation is that, whenever from any cause 
the mulch has been removed from a portion of the 
strawberry bed and the ground cultivated or dug 
over for plants or experiment, it has. on comparison 
with the undisturbed part, been found to have 
lessened materially the size and quantity of the 
fruit. An experiment made several years ago 
showed me that the root growth of the plant was 
much larger than I had thought, for well-grown 
plants in rows three feet apart by one in the 
row, fill the surface soil with a complete 
network of fine roots so thick that the blade 
of an ordinary knife could not be thrust into 
the ground anywhere between the rows with¬ 
out severing many. My understanding is that 
every root cut or broken by cultivation or in any 
other way after the blossom buds are formed, de¬ 
stroys a relative portion of the force necessary to 
bring the crop of fruit to perfection. Again, more 
than nine-tenths of the weight of a well-grown 
strawberry being water, we find it very necessary, 
in this part of Illinois, to preserve the moisture 
