4 
THE FLANSBUEOH & POTTER CO. CATALOGUE. 
Summer and Fall Plants. 
The best time to set strawberry plants is in the spring and the earlier the 
better, but they may be set successfully at any time that the young plants are 
big enough, if there is plenty of rain, or proper care is given. 
We are always anxious to accommodate those who wish to test new varieties 
a year sooner, or who neglected to order for the home garden at the proper 
season, or in the case of market gardeners, who have crops coming off their 
ground which they wish to set to strawberries as a matter of economy and ro¬ 
tation. To such our printed rate per dozen will apply as soon as any plants are 
large enough. Before September 15 the rate per 100 will be one-half more; 
after September 15 our printed rate per 100 will apply for as many as desired. 
Later in the season, the loss of plants not well rooted, which must be thrown 
away, is not so great and if several thousand are wanted, write for prices on 
the list desired. 
For the Beginner. 
The nature of the soil, to grow this fruit, is not -so urgently important as 
many supposed. A good sandy or clay loam that has been worked with applica¬ 
tions of manure in cultivated crops, or a loose clover sod, if in good heart and 
free from grubs is reckoned best. But strawberries are grown with profit on all 
kinds of soil, including muck. There is nothing that responds more quickly to 
every advantage given, or that will go so far beyond the ordinary with extraor¬ 
dinary culture. But special soils require special treatment. If your soil is thin 
or leachy, the more manure it will require to build it up. Ashes and commercial 
fertilizer may also be applied as a top dressing, and harrowed in; and there is 
greater need of extra-shallow cultivation in the growing season; with a thorough 
fining of the surface soil among the plants, forming a dust or dirt mulch to 
prevent the escape of moisture, and a further mulch of straw, marsh hay, leaves, 
straw manure or shredded corn stalks in winter and the fruiting season. Muck 
soil requires heavy mulching in the winter to prevent heaving, and also to retard 
the blossoming beyond the greatest danger from late frosts as well as to retain 
the moisture and keep the berries clean. 
These are about two extremes of soil, and both are often used by commercial 
growers. For instance, if it is desired to lengthen the fruiting season to the 
utmost limit we would grow our earliest varieties on sunny exposure, sloping to 
the east and south, on quick, warm soil, removing the mulch early in the spring 
to let them get a start, and replacing it only just before fruiting; while we would 
set our latest sorts on level ground, or sloping to the west and north, mulching 
heavily in winter, letting it remain directly on the plants in spring as long as 
possible with safety, then raking off and tramping down between the rows only 
Just enough to allow the plants to grow up through that which remained, thus 
retarding the first natural growth of vine, and blossoming and fruiting season. 
It is risky to attempt to force the season backward beyond a certain limit, for 
there is always some growth underneath the mulch as soon as the frost is out of 
the ground in the spring; and if the mulch remains too long this growth will have 
become bleached and tender, and liable to be injured by the hot sun or a sudden 
freeze before it can get green and tough again. But with watchfulness and care 
they may be induced to ripen a week or ten days later, without the slightest 
injury; and this means profit for the grower as surely as the extra early berries 
that commence the season. The same variety will ripen earlier on a sunny ex¬ 
posure, and later on a level or northern slope, as the case may be, and there is 
still a great difference with early and late sorts. The object is to keep the late 
sorts dormant by heavy mulching as late in spring as possible; and for this 
reason it should not be applied until the ground is frozen hard and deep; while, 
on the other hand, the sooner the mulch is on the early sorts before the ground 
freezes hard the quicker it will thaw out when it is removed, and the plants 
start to grow. 
A plant that has borne fruit is more or less exhausted with the effort, and 
can survive only by growing a new set of roots nearer the surface of the soil, 
and above the old roots, which become woody, and die. They ripen the second 
crop of berries a little earlier than the first but it is not expected that they will 
