The New. Strawberry Cultur 
A Brief Practical Treatise by our 
L. J. Farmer, Author of “Farmer on the Strawberry.” 
SS orl neth le l ie  le eee: 
3 

The author ‘“‘heeling in” strawberry plants as per ‘New Strawberry Culture”’ 
Foreword 
In my sixty years experience, I consider The 
New Strawberry Culture, the most valuable 
idea that I have given the strawberry world. 
My little book, ‘Farmer on the Strawberry”’ 
has gone through four editions, I have written 
numerous articles for the horticultural press, 
have lectured on my favorite subject before 
_farmer’s institutes and horticultural societies in 
several states and Canada; have introduced 
and promoted many valuable varieties, includ- 
ing the fall bearing, but I believe that nothing 
I have ever done anywhere equals The New 
Strawberry Culture idea in value. 

<i What is. the New Strawberry Culture? 
a 
Most strawberry plants, especially those set 
for commercial purposes, are planted or set out 

a 

“Y 
-in March, April or early May. A comparativeiy 
few, and these are mostly set for home use, 
are set in August and later. The New Straw- 
berry Culture consists of, instead of setting the 
plants in early spring, of heeling or trenching 
them in, early in the spring and holding them 
in little beds until June 1st or later. The ad- 
vantages of doing this are that we save all the 
work of hoeing, cultivating and otherwise car- 
ing for them, from the early spring, until the 
time that we finally set them permanently in 
the field, where they are to eventually remain. 
How to Do the Work 
The plants should be taken up as early, or 
even earlier, than as if we were to set them 
out in the permanent field. Instead of setting 
them, say 1 foot apart, in rows 3, 4 or 5 feet 
apart, we set them as close as possible in little 
beds, the rows about 6 to 8 inches apart and 
the plants from % to 1 inch apart in the row, 
or so they just touch each other or have a half 
inch space between them. A well worked, well 
drained piece of land, such as we find in the 
best part of any garden, is the ideal place. For 
doing the work, we need a good spading fork 
for opening the trenches and a round pointed 
shovel for cleaning and_ straightening the 
trench. Two persons fit in better in doing this 
work than three; as one opens the trench and 
does the most of the hard work, while a woman 
or child is often as valuable to spread the 
plants and push in the soil to keep them up- 
right. With another person to help me, I have 
sometimes trenched or heeled in 20,000 plants 
in one day. 
The trench should be made 8 to 10 inches 
deep and inclined a little, so the plants will 
stand up after being placed, and not topple 
over. A little loose earth pushed up to them, 
will hold them better in place, until the trench 
is filled in with fresh stirred earth, a little 
above the level. The earth must be well tread 
about the plants, after the trench has been 
filled up and a little loose earth scattered on 
top to. prevent..baking. of. the «soil. After five 
or six little rows have been put in, it is best - 
to mulch between tue rows with fine cut straw 
or sawdust, to conserve moisture and help keep 
down the weeds. It is a good plan to cover the 
beds with old carpets or burlap sacks for a few 
days, until the plants recover and “brighten” 
up. If the heeling in has been done in April or 
late March, it is a good plan to cover the entire 
bed, plants and all, with about three inches of 
clean straw, to protect from heavy frosts which 
might injure the new set plants. These plants 
can be kept in the little beds for months. If 
they are set out permanently in June, you will 
get almost as many new plants and as wide a 
fruiting row, as if they had been set in very 
early spring by the old method. 
The Many Advantages 
Just see how much time and work you save 
in the several hoeings and cultivations with the 
horse, that are saved from early spring until, 
say, the first of July. When set in the little 
beds, the plants recover from the “shock’’ that 
they usually experience in transplanting. When 
set in the permanent field in June or early July, 
they start right off and grow right along. 
Strawberry plants, to do their best, should be 
sprayed with Bordeaux mixture and the insects 
that pester them, killed with arsenate of lead 
or some other poison, and it is a lot of work 
to do this in a large field where the plants are 
several feet apart each way. In the little beds, 
it is an easy matter to spray and poison the 
plants before they go into the large field. 
If sawdust,. preferably old sawdust, is used 
to mulch the plants between the rows, the 
plants can be kept in good shape, for final set- 
ting, until September. There will be weeds 
that will come in and these should be pulled; 
and it may be necessary to take up the plants 
and disbud them, to prevent the drain on them 
by fruiting, when the same process of heeling 
them in, must be gone over again. We have in 
some cases, taken them up three or more times, 
cleaned them of dead rubbish and runners, and 
again heeled them in, to keep them in the best 
possible shape for selling or resetting. While 
the plants are in the little beds, the plot that is 
to finally receive them can be given thorough 
cultivation, “such™as “plowing “and Harrowing, 
every week or so, until it is in the best possible 
shape for receiving the plants, to say nothing 
of the weeds that have been destroyed. Instead 
of being compelled to set out the plants perma- 
nently the day he receives them from the 
nursery, the grower can heel them in and then 
select any time afterwards, most convenient for 
him, to set them out in the open field. When 
taking up these transplanted plants for final 
planting, it is a good plan to wet down the bed 
thoroughly, then when we take them up, a good 
deal of earth will cling to the roots and the 
plants will suffer hardly any setback in trans- 
planting. It is also true, that transplanted 
plants properly grown and handled right by the 
nurseryman, will almost always be in fine shape 
for permanent transplanting when received by 
the grower from the nurseryman. 
Transplanted Plants Versus Pot Grown 
Plants 
Transplanted plants can be grown and 
handled at about 1% (one-third) the cost of pot 
grown plants. We consider them just as good 
or better. They can be packed in baskets or 
crates or any container that ordinary straw- 
berry plants are packed in and carry just as 
well. Pot grown plants are expensive to handle 
in every particular. It is almost impossible to 
get pot grown plants ready for planting before 
the middle of August. They come from the 
young runner plants and the pot must be 
plunged into the soil by the side of the row and 
