Strawberries 
R. T. Kelly, Plant City, Fla. 
Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
There are several reasons why straw¬ 
berry growing has become an import¬ 
ant industry. Of these I will mention 
a few. The strawberry crop comes in 
a season when it has practically no com¬ 
petitors. It meets a ready market at 
fair prices and is a money crop. The 
shipping season for strawberries is con¬ 
tinuous from about the ist of Decem¬ 
ber to the ist of April. Each section 
has its certain conditions which may be 
different from all other sections. There¬ 
fore we cannot lay down a set of rules 
for berry growers in all strawberry sec¬ 
tions to follow; but careful selection 
of soil, plants, and co-operation in mar¬ 
keting applies to all berry sections. 
Most of the low lands of Florida will 
grow strawberries, but a dark, sandy 
loam is preferable, and they will do well 
on a gray sandy soil, if it is properly 
drained. Avoid low lands that will be¬ 
come water-logged, for this will give 
trouble. 
In preparing the soil I would recom¬ 
mend deep plowing with implements 
that will not bring* sub-soil to the sur¬ 
face. Use disk harrow for pulverizing 
where practicable. The land should be 
kept in first-class condition, so that 
when setting time comes the plants will 
have a good bed to start in. 
plants 
A number of berry growers order 
plants in the spring from which they 
grow plants for the berry crop. These 
% 
ordered plants can be set from March 
until May and should be set in MA or 4 
foot rows, about 18 inches in the row. 
Land that is a little high and sloping is 
preferable for a plant bed on account of 
drainage. Blooms should be picked off 
and the plants trained along the rows to 
allow working. The Missionary variety 
seems to have the lead, as it comes in 
early and bears about as long as the 
market is good. 
In our part of the State September 
and October is the usual time of setting 
for the berry crop, and there are two 
methods of setting, the single and the 
double row methods. Single rows 
should be 3 feet apart, slightly ridged, 
and plants ten inches apart in the row. 
Double rows should be four or five 
feet apart, slightly ridged, and plants 10 
or 12 inches each way. Berries require 
a great deal of moisture and frequent 
and shallow cultivation is necessary to 
conserve the moisture that is in the soil. 
FERTILIZING 
From six to eight hundred pounds 
of a 4-6-10 fertilizer per acre should be 
drilled about 15 or 20 days before set- 
