333 
1914. 
A WELL-KEPT STRAWBERRY CROP. 
We are sending a picture of an acre strawberry bed 
about to go into Winter quarters (see picture). Last 
year this acre was manured and planted to sweet 
<-<un and at last cultivation Crimson clover was sown, 
getting a line stand of clover. In the Fall the clover 
was manured and this Spring, when the clover was a 
foot high, it was plowed. After putting same in shape 
we mixed one ton of fertilizer, consisting of 1,C()0 
pounds of raw bone and 400 pounds of muriate of 
potash and applied 1.000 pounds of this mixture on the 
acre. We then planted the bed in rows live feet apart 
and three feet apart, in the row. As the runners came 
we spaced them nine inches apart each way, which 
made the beds have live rows each and a two-foot walk 
between. We want to know if a good heavy covering 
of wheat straw will produce as gooff a crop as a cover¬ 
ing of manure. Our reason for covering with straw 
is to do away with weed seed which we are sure to get 
with bought manure, and the fact of having plenty of 
straw on hand and we also think there is sufficient 
nitrogen in the ground. Could you suggest any better 
fertilizer formula than the one we used? 
'Phe variety of berry shown in the picture is Gaudy, 
which is our best market berry. l)o you know of a 
better market variety? The approximate cost of grow¬ 
ing to date would be about SHOO, including plants, 
interest on land, fertilizer and labor. I would also 
like to know whether 200 pounds of sulphate of potash 
applied in Spring would be any benefit tit flavor and 
color of berries, as you advised sulphate mixture against 
muriate; We have another acre where the plants are 
a good deal larger, planted tin* same way. l>o you 
think it would be advantageous to space them one foot 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
crop. Where stable manure is used heavily for 
mulching, little if any extra nitrogen is needed, but 
this amount of dried blood will we believe help out 
the bone. I should also recommend the use of 
sulphate of. potash in the place of muriate. The 
sulphate will he likely to give a little better quality 
and a trifle higher color, and where you are trying 
to raise the finest berries the sulphate is well worth 
the extra price. Where one can produce such a 
field as is shown in your picture, be ought to do 
everything possible to give those berries the finest 
possible chance. The use of sulphate in the Spring 
will not make great difference with the crop, as 
you now have it. We prefer one foot apart to nine 
inches. Where the plants are so crowded the ber¬ 
ries do not color well and in a damp season there 
is danger from rot. About one ton of your fertilizer 
mixture would be the limit of economical fertilizing. 
CHERRY CULTURE IN WISCONSIN. 
Sour cherries thrive in many parts of Wisconsin, 
and this State boasts tin 1 largest cherry orchard in 
I he world. 700 acres in one solid block. Door Coun¬ 
ty. where this monster pie factory rs located, now 
Door County cherry growers have brought pruning 
to a very high degree of perfection, and on account 
of this a cherry orchard here at eight to 10 years 
is a sight to behold. The trees are loaded with fruit 
literally from “center to circumference.” This is done 
by careful, systematic and heavy pruning every year, 
and the system practiced is contrary to all tin* pre¬ 
cepts laid down in books. The heavy pruning at 
planting time is something, we are told, that must 
Ik* avoided, but it is as essential in training the 
cherry tree as in the apple. We are also told that 
heavy pruning of the bearing cherry is bad, but the 
Door County growers take out more wood from their 
cherry trees than from their apple trees. Large 
branches as well as small ones are removed, and no 
rules are laid down. Each succeeding tree presents 
a new problem, or rather two problems; to admit 
light and air to the center of the tree so that fruit 
buds may thereby be developed clear back to the 
main axis of the tree, ami to reduce the fruit bear¬ 
ing surface to correspond to the strength and vigor 
of the tree. "Quality first,” is slogan of these 
growers. 
Cultivation of these orchards is not different from 
that practiced in the best apple, peach or cherry 
A WELL-KEPT PENNSYLVANIA STBAWBEKKY FIELD. 
apart instead of nine inches, which could be done by 
planting tin* rows six feet apart and still have the 
two-foot walks? Some of our practical neighbors claim 
this bed is too thick. What is your opinion? Let us 
know the greatest amount of fertilizer that can be 
used to the acre to produce the largest crop of berries 
profitably on good farm land, kugf.ne f. gent her. 
Pennsylvania. 
The picture certainly shows a well nigh ideal 
stand of plants in the Fall. We have rarely seen 
a better one. Gandy is an excellent market variety 
on soil which suits it. Usually this is a rather low 
situation, a soil containing a good deal of organic 
matter; yet we have known cases where (he Gandy 
did remarkably well on higher soil, without much 
humus. In Florida, for example, we understand that 
the Gandy is still a very popular variety, although 
it does not rank as a heavy ylelder. It requires good 
culture and strong manuring. It is well known in 
the market both by appearance and flavor, and as 
it comes late in the strawberry season, it is well 
liked by most growers, and is probably, all things 
considered, the best late market variety where the 
soil is suitable. As for a fertilizer on such soils 
where manure is not used as a mulch, we should 
use some dried blood, or other organic nitrogen, 
along with the bone and potash; 200 pounds of 
dried blood added to the mixture you mention would 
help the berries, by giving them a little more nitro¬ 
gen to he used later in the season. We doubt the 
wisdom of using much nitrate of sort a on the straw¬ 
berry crop. An organic form like dried blood or 
cotton-seed meal will usually pay better on this 
has over 3,000 acres of cherry trees, and more ro be 
planted this Spring. Bayfield, at the very northern 
rip, also has several hundred acres. These two 
northern points are particularly favored on account 
of proximity to large bodies of water, lakes Mich¬ 
igan and Superior, soils light in texture but fertile, 
which are underlaid with limestone. Cherries thrive 
in many of the southern counties and the Lake Mich¬ 
igan shore belt, but are entirely out of the ques¬ 
tion in north central Wisconsin on account of late 
Spring frosts. 
No cherry trees whatever are propagated by Wis¬ 
consin nurserymen, as our climatic conditions are 
unfavorable to the budding of any kind of fruit 
trees. Most of the stock planted comes from south¬ 
ern Indiana and Ohio. The well-grown one-year- 
old tree is the favorite with the big planters. Some 
two-year stock is used, hut nothing over that is ever 
handled by the nurseries, except to gratify the wish 
of some city farmer who insists on plenty of wood 
and brush for his money. 
The cherry is no different in its requirements in 
Wisconsin than elsewhere; it will not thrive except 
on well-drained land, and is profitable only on light 
soils. In the big cherry districts of Wisconsin the 
trees hear surprisingly early. A tree two years 
planted often bears a quart of cherries, and at four 
years six to eight quarts. The one-year trees are 
well branched, and when set are cut back severely, 
leaving but three or four branches and each branch 
cept the leader, cut hack to two or three buds. The 
orchards elsewhere. Catch crops are grown for the ‘ 
first three or four years, sometimes longer, peas, 
beans or potatoes, rarely any other crop. Neither 
strawberries, rasplierries nor any other than an an¬ 
nual crop is ever found in these orchards. In the 
older orchards clean culture is the universal practice, 
and it is clean culture. The pony gang plow, two or 
three light plows in one gang, is most popular for 
the first Spring cultivation. This is followed by 
either an extension disk or spring-tooth harrow 
many, many, times during the season. A cover crop 
is always planted, where no catch crop is grown, 
and buckwheat is now the popular crop. This is 
planted so as to yield a crop of grain and cut to 
leave the hulk of the straw on the ground. The 
larger growers are now using buckwheat as a com¬ 
bined crop, giving clean culture until August. 
The spray pumps are rarely idle, first a dormant 
lime-sulphur spray followed by Bordeaux three or 
four times before the picking season, and at least 
once after. Slugs, shot-hide fungus and all the other 
cherry ills are present, but none is feared. It is 
just simply spraying and cultivate, cultivate and 
spray without ceasing. That all this is essential to 
any kind of success is proven by occasional orchards 
whose owners have depended on Door County soil, 
climate and Divine Providence to produce a crop. 
FREDERIC CRANEFIELD. 
There are always three great honest words to fall 
back upon—“I don't know.” Some wise men seem to 
think there are pins in this seat. 
