12 
COLORADO EXPERIMENT STATION 
last few years has averaged about $2.00 per crate. Some growers 
roughly estimate that about one half or 50 per cent, of the gross returns 
is profit during normal seasons. 
INSECTS AND DISEASES 
The strawberry is comparatively free from the insect pests and 
fungous diseases that infest this plant in many other regions. A few 
growers report the work of the strawberry leaf roller as occurring to 
a small extent, but not in sufficient amount to make spraying with 
insecticides necessary. The Experiment Station Entomologist, Prof. C. 
P. Gillette, states that but very little damage is done by insects upon the 
strawberry in this state. 
Of the fungous diseases of the strawberry the leaf spot is the most 
common. It seldom occurs however, on vigorous beds in favorable 
situations to such an extent as to cause appreciable injury. In low, 
moist situations and on certain varieties it has in some cases been serious 
enough to call for spraying. Bordeaux mixture is used for this 
purpose, one application just before blossoming and one or two after 
harvesting the crop being recommended for this purpose. 
A more serious and obscure trouble has been noticed by some 
growers as affecting the roots of the plants. It has been found most 
serious on land where the water level in the soil was close to the sur¬ 
face and where the physical condtion of the land is unfavorable for 
the plants. This trouble manifests itself in the blackening and dying 
of the roots of young plants before bearing, in some cases appearing 
at the beginning of the winter season. It also occurs on land that 
has been continually cropped with strawberries and other garden crops 
without rotation with some leguminous plant. Some study is now 
being undertaken here with the idea of determining if possible the 
cause and prevention of this trouble. 
