Grow Your Own Fruit 
IV. STRAWBERRIES AND GRAPES—THE WHOLE MATTER OF SELECTING VARIETIES, 
SETTING OUT PLANTS, CULTIVATION, AND WAR AGAINST THEIR ENEMIES 
A RE you one of the 
thousands who, while 
possessing at home a gar¬ 
den plot with a nice sunny 
exposure, still annually con-' 
sent to pay fifteen to 
twenty-five cents a quart 
for half ripe or over ripe 
berries. Do you realize that 
strawberries may be grown 
readily in any good sunny 
garden and that the twenty- 
five cents you pay for a box 
of extra early, extra bitter 
berries will actually buy twenty-five straw¬ 
berry plants; and that these plants with 
their runners set out and well cared for 
will produce easily half a quart each next 
season? But that is not the whole story. You can grow better 
berries than you can buy, because the quality is never perfect un¬ 
less the berries are ripened on the vines and fresh gathered. 
The two great deterrents to home strawberry growing are not 
any difficulties met in growing the plants; they are, first, lack of 
definite information on the subject, and, secondly, the necessity of 
waiting until the following season for a crop. It is so hard to 
make any of our own plans reach beyond the usual annual circle. 
With the price of layer plants of the best varieties so low, it 
will hardly pay to get plants of some unknown sort from a neigh¬ 
bor’s bed, but getting the plants near at hand has one advantage; 
they should be kept out of the soil but a few hours. However, if 
you have your bed ready, the plants from the seedsman or nursery¬ 
man will not suffer, because they will be (or should be) carefully 
packed to keep the roots moist. In either case be prepared to 
get the plants into the ground as soon as they come into your 
possession. 
It has been said that strawberries can be grown in any soil. It 
is true, that at least some 
varieties will do well in al¬ 
most every soil, but good 
rich sandy loam, with a 
southern exposure, pro¬ 
tected on the north is the 
best if early berries are 
desired. A northern ex¬ 
posure is more suitable for 
the late varieties. In 
either case, the situation 
should be open and airy. 
These are two require¬ 
ments, deep soil and thor¬ 
ough draining, if the larg¬ 
est, finest berries are 
wanted; both may be had 
at little expense for such 
a small area as will be re¬ 
quired in the home garden. 
In addition, the soil 
must be thoroughly pre¬ 
pared. This is even more 
important with strawber¬ 
ries than with most gar¬ 
den crops. Unless the 
ground is in excellent con¬ 
dition, cross plow and sub¬ 
soil plow should be used 
and then thoroughly fined 
and harrowed. 
Manure, too, is important. 
Old, fine mixed, yard ma¬ 
nure will be the best thing 
to get, or a manure com¬ 
post, well rotted up. If not 
enough manure can be got, 
supplement with chemical 
fertilizers—the best com¬ 
bination being ground bone, acid phosphate 
and muriate of potash in equal proportions 
and at the rate of five pounds per square 
rod. Whether manure or fertilizer is used, 
supplement with light dressings of nitrate of soda, (i) just after 
setting, (2) in August or September of each season’s growth and 
(3) soon after the blossoms open in spring. 
The young plants, or runners, for new beds are usually set out 
in the spring — April or first part of May—and on the whole this is 
more satisfactory than autumn setting. For the pot-layered sys¬ 
tem described later, early autumn setting is necessary. The spring 
weather is more likely to be favorable to rapid new growth and the 
“layers” that have wintered over are all well hardened and ripened 
and in better shape to stand the disturbance incidental to trans¬ 
planting. When setting out runners from one’s own bed, so that 
the plants need be out of the soil only a short time, fall planting 
need not be disadvantageous if a favorable day and time can be 
chosen. 
Before setting, the plants should be put in shape by removing 
all dead or broken and large leaves and trimming back the roots 
about one-half. This gives a nice stocky, stubby little plant that 
can be “set” nicely. If your plants have been shipped from a dis¬ 
tance the roots may have 
been “puddled” or dipped 
in clay mud, to keep them 
moist. If so, rinse them 
off in water and trim be¬ 
fore planting. The actual 
operation of setting the 
plant in the soil is one of 
the most important in the 
whole culture of the 
strawberry. It is best to 
do this work on a cloudy 
day or late in the after¬ 
noon. If only a few rows 
are being set, they may of 
course easily be watered 
and shaded. The soil 
should be so well prepared 
that it will not be neces¬ 
sary to use a dibble, as the 
roots should be spread 
out. Do not cover the 
crown. Set the roots in 
as deep as is necessary to 
cover all the roots, but not 
by F. F. Rockwell 
Photographs by Nathan R. Graves 
Proper mulching of the strawberry bed is probably the most important 
element in success. Use salt or meadow hay, preferably 
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