Vol. LXVI. No. 2999. 
NEW YORK, JULY 20, 1907. 
WEEKLY, fl.00 PER YEAR. 
HOW TO GROW MONSTER STRAWBERRIES 
With Expense Lillie Object. 
What would you do if you wanted to produce strawberries 
of such mammoth size that a dozen of them would fill a 
quart basket? What varieties would you pick out, and how 
would you handle the fruit from the planting to the picking? 
Would you use potted plants, and would you set hr Spring 
or Fall? Of course this is not a question which concerns 
the practical fruit grower, but it has been asked by some 
amateurs who say they do not care about the cost so long 
as they can show big fruit. 
Good Practice in Ohio. 
Twelve strawberries large enough to fill a quart basket 
the way I fill my baskets are generally grown in a farm 
paper whose editor cares little for truth, though I be¬ 
lieve it has been done in some instances. The nearest 
I ever came to it was 18 berries to the quart. They were 
placed in the basket in three layers, six berries in each 
layer, and filled the basket even full. The varieties were 
Jessie and Bubach No. 5. If 1 wanted to grow such 
monster berries re¬ 
gardless of ex¬ 
pense and did not 
care for profit, just 
so as to be able to 
show the largest 
fruit, I would se¬ 
lect a young clover 
sod, manure it 
heavily in the Fall 
with the best of 
stable manure. 
Early in the Spring 
I would plow it 
deeply and prepare 
a thorough seed 
bed as deeply as 
possible. As early 
as practical I 
would set plants of 
the three varieties 
■—Bubach No. 5, 
Jessie and Presi¬ 
dent. President I 
fruited for the first 
time last year and 
though season and 
everything else was 
against it, I picked 
two berries that 
would easily, with 
ten more of equal 
size, have filled a 
quart basket heap¬ 
ing full. I would 
want thrifty, 
stocky plants to 
start, grown from 
other plants that never fruited before. These I 
would set in rows three feet apart and two 
feet apart in the row. I would allow each plant to 
make four runners and place them an equal distance 
apart. As soon as these four plants were fully estab¬ 
lished I would remove the mother plant and keep the 
ground well worked during the growing season. Early 
in December I would mulch with strawy horse manure 
and later on add more straw until the plants were cov¬ 
ered at least six inches deep. This mulch I would leave 
on as long as possible in the Spring so as to retard 
growth and thereby prevent the killing of blossoms by 
late frosts. In the Spring after the plants had begun 
to set fruit spurs I would go over the plantation and 
remove from each plant all but one spur. If that one 
was too large I would remove from it all but two ber¬ 
ries. I would see to it that the ground was heavily 
mulched and no weed allowed to come through. If the 
plant made too heavy growth I would remove from 
each one a portion of the foliage; in fact, I would en¬ 
courage that plant to concentrate all its energies on 
those few berries. I believe I have tried all of the large 
varieties of berries and on my soil the three above 
named varieties have proven the best and largest. The 
question of variety must be settled by the grower. 
Ohio. J. H. BOLLINGER. 
Would Use Marshall. 
If I wanted to produce extra large strawberries and 
did not mind the time or expense I would plant the 
Marshall. Set plants in the Spring in ground that had 
been well manured the year before. Before setting 
plants would work in some good fertilizer. Set plants 
15 inches apart and cut all runners. Mulch between the 
rows with well-rotted manure before ground freezes and 
cover the whole bed with straw after ground is frozen. 
The next Spring I would rake off straw and dig in ma¬ 
nure and give a light application of nitrate of soda to 
start plant growth. I would cultivate thoroughly until 
fruit was set. Then mulch with clean s'traw, have the 
rows far enough apart so that a shallow trench can be 
dug with a hoe. Stop up both ends and fill it with water 
twice a week. Also use liquid manure. I have had 
good results by making holes with an iron bar and fill¬ 
ing with liquid manure. Don’t try to grow a quart to a 
plant, but only leave a few berries on each plant. I am 
trying the Dixon for a new variety. Set them in May. 
Abundance of food is needed for big fruit. 
Massachusetts. f. p. briggs. 
A Veteran's Views. 
To raise the largest berries it is necessary to have 
proper varieties, a rich soil and give the best cultivation. 
William Belt, Nick Olitner or Marshall are among the 
largest. To have berries for next year plants should 
be procured at once. If they are to be ordered from a 
distance well-grown potted plants will probably be the 
safest to buy. If they are to be home grown strong 
runners should be selected—not over two from one plant 
—and layered into three-inch pots. These should be 
watered frequently for three weeks, when they will be 
ready for removal to the permanent bed. The ground 
should be prepared at once by raking off all rubbish 
and applying about half a ton of well-rotted stable 
manure to the square rod. This should be mixed with 
the surface soil so thoroughly that to the depth of six 
inches the bed will look like potting soil. It should be 
raked frequently until the plants are ready and the more 
tramping it gets the better. Plant in double rows 18 
inches apart and the same distance between the plants. 
Then have a space of 30 inches before making the next 
double row. The crown of the plant should be level 
with the surface and the ball of earth should be rather 
drier than the soil in the bed and pressed firmly in its 
place. From that time on to the end of the growing 
season all that can be done is frequent and shallow 
stirring of the surface and cutting off all runners as 
soon as they appear. About the last of October when 
the ground is liable to freeze an inch in a night the 
whole surface of the bed should be covered with an inch 
or two of manure, 
but the foliage 
should be left ex¬ 
posed. This pre¬ 
vents the roots 
from being injured 
by a sudden freez¬ 
ing of the soil 
when too wet, and 
yet it allows the 
plant to grow every 
day when the 
weather will per¬ 
mit to the begin¬ 
ning of Winter. 
Then the whole 
bed should be well 
covered with 
straw. So far there 
is nothing unusual 
in this treatment. 
It is simply good 
cultivation, such 
as any Fall-set bed 
should receive, ex¬ 
cept that the plants 
have an extra 
amount of room, 
which will be need¬ 
ed before the fruit 
ripens. When 
growth commences 
in the Spring the 
straw should be 
moved from di¬ 
rectly over each 
plant, leaving a 
slight opening, so 
that the new leaves may be unobstructed in their 
growth. When the plants come into bloom they must 
be covered on frosty nights to protect the blossoms. 
This is usually done with the straw from between the 
rows, but a nicer way is to use cheap building paper, 
which can be unrolled and placed over the row and 
again rolled up with little trouble. 
When the first few berries are set on each fruit stalk 
the real work of producing mammoth berries com¬ 
mences. Select the berries you want on each plant and 
cut off all the others and the blossoms. Now your op¬ 
portunity is to prolong the time between the setting of 
the fruit and its ripening and to force its growth all 
that it will bear during that period. To retard the ri¬ 
pening some shade must be provided during the hottest 
part of the day. This can be overdone. Just as soon as 
you have made a selection of the berries to be grown 
liquid manure may be applied. It is better to have it 
weak and use more of it than to have it strong. A few 
quarts of hen manure or a larger quantity of stable 
DISH OF HOPE FARM STRAWBERRIES, PRESIDENT AND MARSHALL. Fig. 268. See Hope Farm Notes, Page 559. 
