1907. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
6o3 
GROWING. FANCY STRAWBERRIES. 
A Successful Grower’s Practice. 
I shall confine my remarks to the way and manner in 
which I have grown some very fine fruit, not forgetting 
that the season had much to do with my success, as 
well as with others who raised remarkably fine berries 
that year. I have fine berries every year, but have not 
succeeded in growing four-ounce berries since 1898. 
Though I have continued to cultivate the same variety 
each year, namely the Glen Mary, 1 have other vari¬ 
eties as well, but this one is the largest. I had four of 
this variety which completely filled a quart box when 
placed side by side as close as they could be put in the 
box, filling it from the bottom to the top, though the 
weight was short 14J/2 ounces, instead of 1 SJ /2 which I 
understand is the lawful weight. This I suppose was 
occasioned by the spongy texture of the berry. A box 
of small fruit will weigh heavier than large ones. 
My method of cultivation is as follows: Select a 
piece of land which has been under cultivation for a 
few years to avoid the .grubs which infest newly-broken 
sod or grass land. Manure freely with well-rotted 
manure; plow and harrow it thoroughly. Plow furrows 
five feet apart, as many as you wish to have beds of 
berries. Manure these furrows with any good compost; 
close them again with the plow, so as to form a low 
ridge three or four inches above the level of the surface 
of the ground; rake ofif evenly to this height, and set 
the plants about two feet apart. Nip off all blossoms 
as they appear through the season. Water as you plant 
if the season is dry. As the young plants begin to grow 
top-dress the rows with compost of hen manure and 
such horse manure as can be got from the blacksmith 
shops, containing the parings of horses’ feet, and hoe 
in. Apply this dressing liberally, or any other good. 
short manure; cow or hog manure when well rotted is 
excellent. Spread the manure out about two feet from 
the row on each side, and as the runners grow plow 
lightly on each side of the row to form a bed 3 / 2 feet 
wide. In the Fall, when the plants are well rooted, 
dress the bed off with a rake, keeping it elevated a few 
inches, and oval on the top, to turn the water off 
in wet seasons. If you wish the beds to look nice draw 
a line along the edge of the bed 18 inches from the 
center row, and place the plants to the line 15 inches 
apart. Water them as you plant to settle the earth 
about them. When this is completed the bed is three 
feet wide and as straight as a line, and the path two 
feet wide between the beds. If you have taken care 
of the young plants through the Summer and given 
them plenty of nourishment and kept them free of 
weeds the plants should be strong and of rank growth, 
and the beds will look fine. Remember that the straw¬ 
berry makes all the fruit buds and all the necessary 
preparation for next year's crop during the preceding 
Fall, and only perfects, finishes and ripens the fruit the 
next Spring. At all times remove all surplus runners 
and plants, and after the beds are set nip off all runners 
as they appear. It is best, if there are plenty of young 
plants, only to produce two plants from each runner ; this 
insures early strong plants. The late ones are smaller 
and may not fruit the next season. 
It is necessary during the first Summer to place the 
runners near where it is intended that they shall remain, 
so as to have as little shifting of the plants as possible; 
this is done by frequently going over the beds and plac¬ 
ing the vines where you wish the young plants to take 
root, and after placing them lay a small stone or a 
clod of earth on the vine to hold it fast until rooted. 
I finish the edge of the bed by taking the plants out 
of the middle of the bed where they arc too thick. 
The plants should stand from 12 to 15 inches apart 
when the bed is completed. See that the surface water 
can drain off. I now get a carload of stable manure 
from Philadelphia, let it rot until the ground begins to 
freeze. I then have the long straw shaken out of it 
and the short manure is used to cover the beds with, 
covering them so that only the ends of the leaves are 
to be seen. This protects them from the severe weather 
of the Winter. In the Spring the plants will grow 
through this covering, and the mulching remains to 
keep the ground cool and moist, and it protects the 
fruit from the dirt and sand. Should it be necessary 
in places to remove a little of the covering where it is 
too thick do so, to relieve the plant. The paths between 
the beds will need weeding and hoeing, and such weeds 
and grass as may begin to grow on the beds must be 
pulled out. Of late years just before the fruit begins 
to ripen I have had a quantity of corn fodder cut up 
with a fodder cutter, and after the paths are cleaned 
the fodder is placed in the paths, which keeps the fruit 
clean on the edge of the beds. If all has been well and 
faithfully done the beds should now be an ornament to 
any vegetable garden, and may be shown with pride and 
satisfaction. 
It is customary to plant in the Spring, as early as the 
ground can be worked and the plants can be procured; 
so necessary is this to inspre getting plenty Qf young 
plants early in the season with which to set the new 
beds, that I have thought many times of preparing the 
ground in the Fall, say during October, and planting as 
recommended to be done in the Spring, then protect the 
plants by covering them lightly; this covering to be 
removed in the Spring, or if short to be hoed in. This, 
I think, would enable the new bed to make an early 
start and would be of great benefit by giving the young 
plants a few weeks longer to develop in. Pinch off all 
blossoms as in Spring planting, that no strength may 
MUSLIN WINDOW SCREEN, 1Vjx3 FEET. Fig. 298. 
be wasted or taken from the young plants. The only 
reason why I have not practiced this method of Fall 
planting is because the work on the farm occupies all 
our time, and Winter sets in by the time the Fall work 
is completed, but I hope some time in the future to try 
it and to see how it will work. 
Something might be said upon the advisability of 
cleaning up old beds for the second year’s crop. It has 
been my experience that most varieties give the best 
results when new beds are planted every year, but there 
is one exception, and that one is the Gandy. It bears 
much better the second year, and will do well even the 
COTTON DUCK WINDOW SCREEN, Fig. 299. 
third year. When the beds have been made as recom¬ 
mended it is an easy matter to clean them after fruiting, 
for the next year’s crop. I mow the tops off, then a 
man takes one side of the bed at a time; he should get 
on his knees, gather the runners and leaves of each 
plant in his left hand, and cut them off; then scrape the 
dry mulching from the bed into the path in which he 
is kneeling. This is easily and quickly done, as the 
plants all stand clear of each other. The paths are then 
cleaned and the rubbish taken away to be burned. Do 
not burn on the bed, as the dry mulching will make too 
hot a fire, and would be likely to kill the plants. Then 
A THICKET OF AILANTIIUS. Fig. 300. 
hoe between the plants with a narrow hoe; apply good 
fertilizer (dried blood is good), sprinkle between the 
plants, hoe after every rain, or as often as necessary 
until frost closes the growing season; then cover as 
recommended for young beds. Perhaps I have ex¬ 
tended these remarks to a greater length than necessary, 
but as one of our Revolutionary patriots said that 
“eternal vigilance is the price of freedom,” so I say 
eternal diligence is the price of success. 
Pennsylvania. Joseph haywood. 
The Double Row System. 
I have grown strawberries since 1855; and have had 
many very fine exhibits at our horticultural meetings. I 
have grown in hills, in single and double rows and in 
matted rows. I got the best results by planting in 
double rows; rows one foot apart and plants one foot 
apart in the rows, leaving a space of two feet between 
each of the double rows. 1 set out all my plants in August. 
I try to get young plants as soon after fruiting as I 
can possibly get them. 1 aim to set them out from 
about tenth to latter part of August. As soon as I set 
out any plants, say one or two rows, I follow with clean 
horse manure, fresh from the stable, and mulch the 
plants solid about two inches; then follow with hose, 
and water thoroughly; one or two such applications of 
water will stop all chances of the manure heating, and 
all the fertility in it will be out in the soil. I also apply 
about three inches of manure in the two-foot space be¬ 
tween the rows. After heavy rains I cultivate slightly 
with a six-tined steel rake, just enough to break the 
crust, and again take back of hoe or rake and pack it 
enough to make it firm, so that the moisture will not 
escape. The manure is strictly manure, no sawdust or 
other bedding material in it. I get it every morning 
across the alley, and when I do not apply it for mulch, 
I put it on a pile to rot thoroughly to put in the ground 
when I make my new beds. During the Summer I fre¬ 
quently add more manure so as to have a good solid 
mass of it when frost and cold weather stops growth. 
I have grown a great many seedlings; one of them I 
named “Kittie Rice,” for a young lady across the street. 
I have grown it 16 or 17 years, and it has never missed 
doing well. It is one of the most beautiful berries I 
ever saw; good quality and always where exhibited 
was first choice, while not as large as many others. It 
is imperfect, but does not grow buttons as many others 
do; the very last berries are perfect. It was intro¬ 
duced by Matthew Crawford. john f. beaver. 
Ohio. 
Cane for Strawberry Mulch. 
In regard to a mulch for strawberries, we have the 
same trouble here; not only is straw scarce and high, 
but the thrashing machines here do poor work, leaving 
a good deal of the grain in the straw which we all know 
is a great nuisance in the fields of berries. As a grain 
to sow after berry fields arc plowed under I would give 
first preference to sugar cane sown quite thickly, say 
two bushels per acre. This gives a dense, heavy growth 
of fine stalks which are easily handled. Hard on the 
soil, some will say, but I differ with them when sown 
late and not allowed to go to seed. I also find that it 
leaves the ground in a fine mellow condition. I would 
next recommend pop corn sown in the same way. In 
corn growing sections it is a good plan to run the 
stalks through a shredder for this purpose. There is 
no better mulching material on earth than shredded 
corn fodder, but we should be careful to see that there 
are no morning-glory vines in the fodder. 
Illinois. EDWIN H. RUHL. 
JERSEY CATTLE , EXPRESS COMPANIES 
AND SEEDS. 
Permit me to express my appreciation of your posi¬ 
tion in the A. J. C. C. controversy, and to add that 
while your paper is all interesting, the editorial part is 
the first to claim my attention. I am interested in 
upholding the purity of the Jersey breed of 
cattle, and cannot understand how any sane 
member of the A. J. C. C. can approve of the methods 
adopted by their representatives. It is but recently that 
I purchased a registered Jersey bull to head my herd. 
Before purchasing I received several replies to my in¬ 
quiries from breeders of prominence relative to their 
Jersey bulls. I need not say that I wanted cne of the 
best, but that controversy was on, and the stain was 
becoming more fixed on records submitted in the same, 
and I hesitated, dropped all communications with those 
breeders, until through a chance observation I noticed 
the advertisement of a man whose name carried convic- 
tion of an “honest deal.” From him I purchased simply 
because of his standing; otherwise, 1 would in all prob¬ 
ability have hesitated to invest a dollar. Yet I am but 
one of the thousands watching this controversy and 
wondering “who’s next.” Your efforts to dislodge the 
express companies from their fortress of arrogance, 
extortion and cold contempt for the rights of shippers 
deserves all the moral support your many patrons can 
give, for like the Wadsworth upheaval, an indignant 
public when once thoroughly aroused can accomplish 
great things. Next thing of importance is to get after 
the seedsmen selling dead seed to farmers and gar¬ 
deners. “There’s lots of ’em”; some whose name ap¬ 
parently stands high. It may be true they indemnify, yet 
of what use is that to the man whose time and oppor¬ 
tunity for a successful crop is lost? The money in¬ 
vested in the seeds is the least value. j. F. D. 
Illinois. 
