FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Ill 
Strawberry Culture, 
By J* M* Brownlee. 
Mr. President^ Ladies and Gentlemen : 
The soil furnishes anchorage for the 
roots of the plants, and a reservoir for 
food and moisture. It makes almost no 
difference to the plant whether the soil be 
ligTit or heavy, sandy or clay, so' long as 
these objects are accomplished. The plant 
lives on the foo'dl it finds in the soil and 
not on the soil itself. It is true that the 
strawberry—like any other crop^—must 
generally thrive best on rich sandy loam. 
But is this not the ideal soil for any crop? 
It holds fertilizer and moisture, but is not 
easily puddled. It becomes sufficiently 
compact without getting hard or lumpy 
and it admits air. These qualities are es¬ 
sential and they can usually be had with 
less labor and care in sandy loam than in 
any other soil. Here in Bradford county 
you may see all kincils of soils planted to 
strawberries, from low stiff, tO' high sandy 
loam, and with little difference in the 
yield. I don’t believe there is any crop 
grown that is less particular than the 
strawberrv about the kind of soil on which 
it is grown, not even grass. 
KIND OF BERRIES GROWN. 
There is very little discusision to be had 
on the berry most grown here, as the 
Klondyke is grown almost exclusively 
throughout Florida. There may be a few 
Lady Thompsons grown here, but very 
few indeed. The Klondyke was origi¬ 
nated in Louisiana some years ago. It has 
a very vigorous bush, free from, rust or 
blight, and a very dlark green foliage. 
The fruit is simply perfection, being large 
and exceedingly high colored, and very 
firm, which makes it a good shipper. 
This berry was introduced here about 
six years ago, and has held its own better 
than any other variety ever planted here. 
The Klondyke is a very prolific berry. 
When we have anything like a good sea¬ 
son you may expect anywhere from nine¬ 
ty to one hundred and ten bushels per 
acre. 
PREPARATION OF LAND AND METHOD OF 
CULTIVATION. 
In preparing landl for strawberries, it 
is very essential tO' have your ground free 
from grass and well pulverized, for when 
you make your ground up you do not 
want any cavities underneath the plant. 
It makes it difficult in getting plants to 
live, and even if they should live over a 
cavity, the plant will be a shy bearer. I 
usually plant berries after oats; plow in 
the oat stubbles before the grass comes 
through and then keep it thoroughly disk¬ 
ed until ready to bed, which may be from 
July 15th to September ist, just as you 
may choose. In bedding my groimof, I 
use eight and one-half feet for bed, and 
put four rows of berries to the bed, make 
the two center rows 18 inches apart and 
outside rows 22 inches from center rows. 
The cultivating is done with a hoe and 
hand cultivator. Run the hand cultivator 
about once a week if the ground is wet. 
This keeps the ground loose and prevents 
grass from comiing through. I use a 
horse cultivator to plow out my water 
furrows. 
