190?. 
279 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 
Preparing for a Cood Crop. 
Location. —The strawberry field should 
be so located as to be well protected 
against late frosts. A high plateau or a 
projecting second bottom so situated as 
to be exposed to an air-draft through the 
valley will be most likely to escape injury. 
As a general rule bottom lands or those 
protected from the winds by surrounding 
bills or forests should be avoided; yet 
a field located near the water will often 
be protected by fog rising from the stream, 
pond or lake. It is well to select a well- 
drained field with a slight eastern or 
so theastern exposure, yet sufficiently roll¬ 
ing to give some portion a northern ex¬ 
posure, the reason for which will soon 
appear. 
T he Son..—Good potato soil is good 
strawberry soil. In general, a heavy, 
sandy loam is best. I like to use, what I 
have always had, three grades of soil; a 
light sandy loam with an eastern exposure 
for the earlies, a heavy sandy loam for 
mid-season varieties and a clay loam with 
a slight northern exposure for the late 
sorts. With such selection, a wise choice 
of varieties and a proper handling of 
mulch the fruiting season can be extended 
two or three weeks. One season we be¬ 
gan picking the earliest on May 20 and 
finished the latest on July 9. The next 
season being somewhat later we began on 
June 3 and finished on July 15, a period 
of six weeks, while no one variety was in 
fruit over about two weeks. Had all been 
on the same kind of soil and had been 
uncovered at the same time, as was the 
case with my first field, the fruiting season 
would not have continued longer than 
four weeks. 
Preparation of the Soil. —Ground on 
which a clover sod, a crop of Crimson 
clover or of rye and vetch has been 
plowed in and followed by corn or pota¬ 
toes that were given clean cultivation will 
be in good condition for strawberries. I 
would not use stable manure in the im¬ 
mediate preparation of the soil, though 
this may be used in producing clover to 
plow in. If an old sod is to be used it 
should have two hoed crops, cleanly culti¬ 
vated, before setting the plants, in order 
to avoid damage by grub worms. With 
such a field a good plan would be to 
plow it to the depth of about eight inches 
late in the Fall or early Winter to allow 
it to be pulverized (“weathered”) and re¬ 
ceive a good supply of moisture for Sum¬ 
mer use, and in the Spring plant to a 
small variety of sweet corn rowed four 
feet apart north and south. At the last 
working in July sow 15 pounds per acre 
of fresh, .home-grown Crimson clover 
seed and cover it with a small-tooth 
cultivator. When in bloom the next 
Spring plow this in and plant to potatoes 
that can be dug early in September. When 
the ground has been cleared sow one 
bushel of rye and one-half bushel Winter 
vetch per acre, and harrow in. 1 his 
cover crop should be turned in early in 
April. Now the roller and harrow must 
be used thoroughly. The soil must be 
made fine and very compact—much more 
compact than for any other crop. O'f 
course, care must be taken not to roll 
when the soil is so moist as to form hard 
clods. Sandy soil will not be in danger 
of this, and cannot be rolled too much, 
'l'he surface should be worked as level 
and smooth as possible, so that a slight 
mark may show distinctly. I he man set¬ 
ting tin- plants must be able to see at a 
glance just where the level of the surface 
is in order to know where to leave the 
crown of the plant. This cannot be de¬ 
termined if the ground is left with bar- 
row marks and the rows drawn with a 
heavy marker. To facilitate proper culti¬ 
vation the rows should be drawn per¬ 
fectly straight. It should be cross-marked 
in order to expedite accurate setting and 
to enable one to cross-cultivate with a 
wheel hoe during the first two months 
after setting. Tt is best to draw the rows 
four feet apart north and south, which 
if practicable should be the long way of 
the tiefftl, and cross mark 18 iiitht* apart. 
Marking —I make a special implement 
for this purpose, as follows: fake an oak 
or White elm board about 10 inches wide, 
eight feet and two inches long, and one- 
half inch thick; on that fasten three 
runners about four inches wide, one inch 
thick and two feet long, with the lower 
edge beveled, placing one on each end and 
the other in the center. On the other 
side fasten five runners, one on each end 
and three between, 18 inches apart. Equip 
with a tongue so fastened that the marker 
can be drawn with either side down. This 
is to be drawn by hand. Such a board 
will be sufficiently flexible to accommodate 
the runners to any inclinations of the 
surface. Now, by stretching a line along 
one border of the field’ the marker can 
be drawn along beside it so as to make 
a perfectly straight mark. When that is 
drawn turn and place one runner in the 
last mark and keep it there across the 
field. Thus the rows will be uniformly 
four feet apart. When the field has been 
marked one way turn the marker over 
and cross-mark in the same manner. 
Where these marks cross will be the 
place for the plants. 
Fertilizers. —I mention fertilizers next 
because I usually apply them to the row 
after marking and before setting the 
plants. I do not broadcast them, since 
the plant roots do not extend far later¬ 
ally, so that the fertilizer between the 
rows would be of little service. A strip 
a foot wide embracing the row will be 
sufficient, and 400 pounds per acre on 
fairly good soil will be enough. With an 
abundance of clover humus in the soil 
we will still need phosphorus and potash 
to give solidity, color and flavor to the 
fruit. The proportion of these will be de¬ 
termined by the nature of the soil, sandy 
soils needing a greater proportion of pot¬ 
ash than do clay soils. On a sandy loam 
I would use a fertilizer showing about 12 
per cent actual potash and 10 per cent 
phosphoric acid. This would be secured 
by mixing 1,5()() pounds of 14 per cent 
rock phosphate with 500 pounds sulphate 
of potash. For clay soils I would mix 
1,700 pounds of the phosphate with 300 
pounds of the potash, which would give 
nearly 12 per cent phosphoric acid and 
over seven per cent actual potash, hor 
strawberries or jxitatoes it is best to use 
the sulphate instead of the muriate, be¬ 
cause it is more quickly available to the 
plant and contains no chlorine to injure 
the berries or promote the development of 
scab on the potatoes. 
The Plants.— Great care should be ex¬ 
ercised in selecting plants ; what are termed 
“border plants,” that is, such as come 
from old plants that have fruited one or 
more years, should not be used. Use 
only layers from young, vigorous plants, 
and such as are well developed, with 
strong roots. If one grows bis own plants 
lie will be sure of having what lie wants; 
and this he can well afford to do after he 
once has made a beginning. But in set¬ 
ting the first field and in stocking his trial 
grounds it will be necessary to purchase 
from nurserymen. In doing so, one 
should have a care not to fall into the 
hands of some cheap John and get in¬ 
ferior stock or plants untrue to name. 
Select some nurseryman of long reputable 
standing who cannot afford to compro¬ 
mise his credit for a few dollars. 1 be 
difference between a good plant and a 
poor one is tile difference between success 
and failure. Orders should be sent in 
early, as thus one will be more likely to 
secure what is ordered and get the plants 
in good season. Remember the sexual 
nature of the varieties; some having im¬ 
perfect flowers and requiring a perfect 
variety associated with them. 1 usually 
set two rows of one, then two rows of 
the other. Thus a picker going up and 
back on one variety will not be so liable 
to mix varieties. I. a. thayer. 
“Da.you think that the session of C on- 
gress was a success?” “It was,” an¬ 
swered Farmer Corntossel, “a great suc¬ 
cess. It didn’t do any particular dam¬ 
age.”—Washington Star. 
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66 
FUMA 
91 
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gods grind slow but 
exceedingly small.” So the weevil, but you can stop 
thcl, grind “fyflj, BiSlllpIlitle” “ ° th ° rS 
with 
are doing. 
EDWARD It. TAYLOR, Penn Ynn, N. Y. 
Meeker 
Disc Smoothing Harrow 
Onion Seed Drills, and Wheel Hoes 
Southport (ilobe Onion Seed 
Send for Catalogue and Price*. 
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Southport, Connecticut 
Buckeye Clipper 
Wo will build 
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Sold on 
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with a guar¬ 
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For stylo. sTrcngtm and all-round service, our 
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J. A. SPENCER, DWIGHT, ILL. 
THE WARD BLACKBERRY 
Is the most productive and therefore the most profit¬ 
able ber.y on tlio market to-day Write for price on 
root cutting plants. 
D. It AI 111) & SON, Itiiird, N w .Jersey. 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS . 
$l.!iO per 1,000 and up. Haspberry. Blackberry and 
Currants at low prices. Heavy rooted high grade 
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Route 8, Bridgman, Mich. 
S T*< A WHERRY PLANTS forty of tint best 
varieties; prices reasonable. Write for catalog, it 
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<v Rflfi an acre profit raising strawberries’. I toll 
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MULTIPLIER ONION SETS 
*2.50 per bush, F. II.THORNTON,Blue Anchor,N.J. 
R HUBARB BOOTH, 15c. each; O for T5o,, postpaid; 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, New York. 
TILE DRAINED LAND IS MORE PRODUCTIVE 
BOUND TILE 
_.. . - - c._ _L__ 
admits air to the soil. In¬ 
creases the value. Acres of swampy land reclaimed and made fertile. 
Jackson's Bound Brain Tile meets every requirement. We also make Sewer 
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for wbat you want and prices. JOHN U. JACKSON, JU Third A,o., Albmy, N. Y. 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKF.R, 409 Pearl St., NEW YORK. 
