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time; the materials should be straw or light manure; the plants 
should not be covered too deep; the mulch should not be removed 
in spring until after plant growth starts, but it is not safe to let it re¬ 
main on until the plants begin to bleach. After the covering is re¬ 
moved, they should be irrigated frequently until the fruiting 
season is over. The strawberry is a heavy drinker, and during the 
fruiting period should not be allowed to suffer for water. On light 
or sandy soils they require irrigating twice a week, while on clayey 
land once a week will be sufficient. 
PICKING THE FRUIT. 
When the berries are to be shipped, they should be picked 
every day, and should not be thorougly ripe, as they will reach 
market in poor condition if allowed to ripen on the vines 
before being picked. Each berry should be picked with a stem 
from one-half to three-quarters of an inch long, as the fruit 
keeps much fresher and better in every way if the cap, or calyx, is 
undisturbed. We believe if growers would grade their berries they 
would be handsomely paid for the extra labor. After fruiting, the 
beds should be barred off— i. e., a furrow thrown from each side of 
the row; the plants should then be hoed, and where very thick, 
some should be cut out. After hoeing, the middles should be kept 
well cultivated. It is not advisable to let a bed fruit more than two 
years—three at the very outside Some of the most successful grow¬ 
ers consider that one year is long enough for a bed to stand, but for 
the ordinary cultivator, we would not recommend such a system. A 
new patch should be set every year, so there will always be one at 
its best. 
Strawberry growers under irrigation possess a great advantage 
over their fellows outside the irrigated districts, for drouth often cuts 
short the finest of prospects. In this State there is no better field in 
fruit culture for intensive work than that of strawberry-growing. 
With a proper soil, good varieties, and a reasonable amount of atten¬ 
tion, strawberries are among the most profitable of small fruits 
grown. 
SELECTION OF VARIETIES. 
The selection of varieties is a matter of the greatest impor¬ 
tance to the grower of strawberries for market. If the bulk of the 
crop will have to be shipped, the grower should be sure that he 
plants varieties that are good carriers. For home use, or market 
close at hand, it is not so important that a berry should be a good 
shipper—but a variety possesing this quality in connection with 
other good qualities is all the more desirable. With beginners, the 
mistake is often made of planting too many sorts, and frequently 
those that have not been thoroughly tested in that particular sec¬ 
tion. But few varieties succeed equally well in all parts of the 
