
to 
$1.00 or more, 
Seeds of 
for herb 
above, 
plants must 
20c pkt. 
amount 
_—. 
the young plant allowed to root in the pot, then 
taken up, hardened off in a cold frame and 
nursed until ready to ship. When we get all 
around, it is then generally pretty late to set 
strawberry plants if we expect a good crop the 
next summer. You can grow a crop of early 
vegetables, such as peas, early potatoes and the 
like and then set out these transplanted straw- 
berry plants and get a good crop from them 
the next summer. Everbearing strawberries do 
especially well when they are _treated according 
to The New Strawberry Culture. The past 
season (1942), we set our everbearing straw- 
berry plants—Gems, Berri-Supreme and Minne- 
sota 1166 varieties, about July 1st. In a little 
over a month, they began to fruit heavily, and 
until some time in November, we had the finest 
berries and the best crop of everbearing straw- 
berries per plant we have ever grown. The 
plants did) not make many new runners, but 
they certainly bore in great profusion and are 
in fine shape to bear a full crop in June of 1943. 
We can go on and hoe and cultivate them, just 
like a new set bed, as there are comparatively 
no runners in the way to bother. 
HARDY PERENNIAL 

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size bloom. 
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The New Strawberry Culture 
‘Is a new idea in strawberry culture studied 
out by myself and which we have practiced 
for many years and which is now being taken 
up more or less by all the leading strawberry 
growers. It saves time and expense and is 
really the most valuable idea we have. ever 
given the strawberry growers. 
It refers to taking plants up early in the 
spring and trenching them in or in heeling 
them in, which ever phrase you prefer to use, 
closely together, in little beds, and keeping 
them there until about the first of June, and 
then setting them out in the field permanently. 
The advantages of this method are many. One 
man can heel in ten thousand plants in a day 
and perhaps it would take him nearly a week 
to set them out in the field permanently. If the 
weather is unfavorable when the plants come 
from the nursery they can be trenched in and 
watered and saved, when if transferred directly 
to the field, perhaps a large percentage of them 
would die. The ground can be got in better 
condition, all rubbish removed and many weeds 
VENUS—Very striking, deep pink, med- 
Early, 
-and blight 
plant tall. 
white and red. 
The field where the plants are to be finally 
set, should be given the best of cultivation. It 
should be plowed several times if necessary, 
and harrowed until fine as an ash heap. To- 
wards the last, it should be cultivated very 
shallow so the moisture will be near the sur- 
face. This continued stirring, sprouts and kills 
many of the weed seeds; and when the plants 
are set out there will not be as much labor 
required in killing the weeds and caring for 
them during the rest of the season and, best 
of all, two or three of the first and most 
laborious hoeings will be entirely avoided. Be- 
ing constantly stirred, the soil is in the best 
possible condition, and the plants are most eas- 
ily transplanted. 
When ready to set the plants, we mark the 
ground as wanted and take the plants up with 
earth clinging to the roots and set them out. 
It is a good plan to wet the little beds down 
thoroughly and then more earth will cling to 
the roots when the plants are taken up. It will 
be found that the plants are free from mildew 
and when transplanted they start 
and grow right along, seeming to have recov- 

Transplanted 
Plant Aug. 12th 
How to Save Plants in Dry, Unfavorable 
Weather 
Tf you receive plants and _ other growing 
things, like shrubs, vines, etc., in hot, dry 
weather, it will not do to put them out in the 
sun and let them be exposed to the hot, dry 
winds and extremely hot sunlight, without some 
protection. When you get an order of straw- 
berry plants in the heat of summer, we advise 
the patron to open the package at once and 
spread out the plants in a cool dry place, pre- 
ferably a back room where the sun does not 
shine in, or in the cellar. If the plants are 
dry, they may be set in a shallow receptacle, 
with a couple of inches of water in the bottom. 
They may he left there until evening or after 
the sun has gone down, then set out carefully. 
If the soil if dry, it is a good plan to wet the 
soil thoroughly around the plants after they 
are set. In the morning, before the sun gets 
up high, it is best to cover them with some- 
thing like bran sacks, old carpets or news- 
papers, to protect them from the direct rays of 
the hot sun. Old quart berry baskets can also 
be used. This covering may be kept on until 
the plants revive or ‘‘freshen up.” For the very 
best results, it is a good plan to remove the 
covering at night, so the dew can reach the 
plants. Two or three days should be sufficient 
to enable the plants to come back to normalcy. 
Water when necessary, but never water in the 
hot sun; it is liable to cook and kill the plants, 
wait till after sundown. If a good rain comes, 
your troubles are oyer. 
Nearly all kinds of plants, shrubs, vines and 
even small trees, can be set in hot summer 
weather, especially if we get frequent rains, 
provided they are well wet in and shaded from 
the hot sun for a few days after setting. We do 
not like to remove the leaves to prevent exces- 
sive wilting, unless it is absolutely necessary, 
as defoliating a shrub or plant in summer or 
early fall is liable to make it less hardy to 
endure the winter. 

The following article was written about 23 
years ago and first appeared in the 1920 edi- 
tion of “Farmer on the Strawberry.” I reprint 
it here to show that my ideas have not changed 
much in all this time. 
Same plant 
trimmed 
Ideal plants but many 
young runner plants 
are wasted 
Young 
killed before the plants are finally set upon it. 
Whether the plants come from the nursery or 
are taken up directly from one’s own patch, 
they should be in good condition and as near 
dormant as possible. For this reason, we ad- 
vise getting plants in the fall and trenching 
them in, if impossible to get them early enough 
in the spring; especially is this true for the 
warmer sections of the United States and else- 
where. 
In trenching strawberry plants, we open little 
furrows with a shovel or spade about 8 inches 
deep and slanting just a little so that when the 
plants are set in, they won’t tip over but will 
stand upright. The string that holds the bunch 
of plants is cut, the plants spread out and 
placed upright, the crowns on an even with 
the surface and about % to 1 inch apart in the 
row, depending upon how long you wish them 
to remain there. The closer the plants are set 
in the rows, the sooner they must be removed. 
As each handful of plants is put in, we push 
in a little earth to hold them upright and when 
the trench is full of plants, we fill in with earth 
and tramp beside the plants with the foot to 
firm the soil. A little loose soil is scattered on 
top, and then we call the work of one row 
finished. The next row is made in just the 
same way, about 6 to 8 inches from the first, 
and so on, till three or four rows are trenched 
in. Then a space of one foot or more of land 
if left for a path and another set of little rows 
are put in. As fast as the plants are trenched 
in, we cover them with blankets or old sacks to 
keep the sun and winds from drying them out. 
When the plants are all put in, we scatter fine 
straw between the rows to act as a mulch to 
prevent the plants drying out and also to shade 
the plants for a few days until they get well 
established and growing nicely. We take old 
bicycle crates and tack on strips of canvass 
made from feed sacks and find these very con- 
venient for shading the trenched-in strawberry 
plants. It is no trouble to get about ten thou- 
sand plants on a square rod of land. 
These plants should be watered when neces- 
sary and sprayed when they seem to need it. 
They will soon start root and top growth and 
in a few weeks will be green and growing and 
ean be set out at any opportune time. 
Fall Bearing Young plant with earth 
Strawberry Plant 
on roots 
Photo August 12 
ered in the little beds from the shock that 
strawberry plants often seem to suffer when 
taken up and transplanted ordinarily. By fall, 
these plants if well cared for after transplant- 
ing, will make almost if not quite the number 
of new runners and young plants that plants 
set in April by the old method would make, and 
the labor in caring for them has not been half 
what it would be by the old method. 
If plants are left in these beds too long, they 
get tall and spindling. For this reason we ad- 
vise spreading the plants farther apart in the 
row, when they are to be kept later than June 
1st. When the work is done right and at the 
opportune time, the results are very satisfac- 
tory. For the North, we advise trenching in 
April or forepart of May, but in the South we 
prefer October or November. We have never 
advanced any idea that we consider of so much 
value as this “New Strawberry Culture” idea. 
There is hardly a well informed fruit grower or 
nurseryman who knows of it, who does not now 
put it in practice, and I was the first to advo- 
cate it at the Western New York Horticultural 
Society meeting of January, 1892. 
When plants come long distances and they 
arrive in poor condition, it is almost impossible 
to save them without special treatment. If 
they are planted right out in the open field, 
unprotected, the chances are that most of them 
will succumb to the elements. They must be 
well watered and shaded, and there is no way 
that it can be done so economically, as when 
set temporarily in these little beds. Then there 
is no way that they can be sprayed so eco- 
nomically as when trenched in closely together. 
It would take a lot of time and material if 
one had to spray 10,000 plants if set out per- 
manently on an acre, but when heeled in on 
one square rod, it can be done quickly and with 
little spray material. 
At first, we recommended this method for 
those who were rushed with general farm work 
and had very little time to attend to setting 
the strawberry bed at the usual time. Not only 
could the plants be saved and cared for, but 
they could be held until the rush of spring 
work was over and an opportune time came for 
setting them out permanently. 
HIBISCUS (Mallows)—Peachblow. Pink, 
One of the most valu- 
