J. H. Shivers Plant Farms, Allen, Maryland 4: 


Organic matter in the form of legume crops, manure or sod 
should be turned under far enough in advance of planting to allow it 
to become decomposed in the soil. 
SOIL PREPARATION: Soil for setting strawberry plants should 
be plowed deeply and harrowed until it is loose and level. I like 
Fall plowing as it allows the soil to settle and turned under vegetable 
matter to decay. Spring plowing is all right, but Fall plowing is better 
when possible. The land should be thoroughy harrowed in Spring, 
followed with a culti-packer or roller to preserve moisture after 
planting. It is best to plant some cover crop such as oats or rye 
which is to be plowed under except in the case of sod land which 
should be left rough over winter to kill white grub. 
Several weeks before planting, the cover crop should be turned 
under or rough land disced thoroughly. A week or 10 days before the 
plants are set, the final preparation of the plant bed should be made 
at which time the fertilizer should be applied. 
Stable manures are the best fertilizers I have found. They not 
only furnish the necessary plant food, but also make the heavier soils 
of finer texture, and the light sandy soils of greater water holding 
capacity. This may be applied in the fall and plowed in or spread on 
land after plowing and worked in the soil, well. The best results I 
have ever obtained is by opening the rows and putting some fine 
manure in the row during the winter. 
However, if coarse manure is not convenient you can get very 
good results from commercial fertilizer. A mixture composed of 
1,500 pounds dissolved bone and 500 pounds super phosphate. The 
analysis of this mixture is about 3-10-0. Use about 500 or 600 pounds 
of this per acre in the drill before the plants are set, or alongside of the 
plants, and thoroughly work in with hoe or cultivator soon after set- 
ting the plants. Where applied in the drill, it should be worked in 
thoroughly, going at least twice to each row with a horse and cul- 
tivator to mix it in. If applied broadcast, 1,00 pounds or more per 
acre of this mixture thoroughly harrowed in before the plants are set, 
can be used without injury and possibly to advantage. If this amount 
is to be used, however, I would much prefer to put five or six hundred 
pounds in the drill and use the balance as a side dressing in late 
summer. Not more than six hundred pounds should be used in the 
drill. I have used as much as scven hundred pounds without injury, 
but have seen severe injury from 1,000 pounds in the drill, not thor- 
oughly mixed with the soil. In no case should nitrate or potash salts 
ever be used in any mixture drilled under the plants. Contact of any 
of these material with the roots will surely burn them. In the past 
many thousands of plants have been killed by such methods. As a 
top dressing to be used in late summer, or in early spring before 
growth starts, I have seen 4-8-4 and 7-6-5 fertilizer give excellent 
results. In a very dry season on very light soil, I have seen fertilizer 
applied in early spring cut down the yield by producing a heavy growth 
of foliage which sucked out the scanty supply of moisture, 
