6 J. W. JONES & SON, FRANKLIN, VIRGINIA 



criginal bed, and to pack the dirt firmly around the roots. This done there 
is little choice as to the method of doing it. The cultivation is always im- 
portant and should be started as soon as the planting is finished. If one 
will take the trouble to destroy all grass and weeds the year previous on land 
to be planted to strawberries, it will be found to pay handsomely, as the 
seeds thus destroyed will not be in your berry beds to plague the grower 
and run up the cost of hoeing. Keep them clean until frost, hoe shallow 
so as not to disturb the roots, and success is assured. One other bit of ad- 
vice: until July 1st, remove all blossoms from the young plants. It will pay 
well in increased health and vigor. 
FALL PLOWING FOR GRUBWORMS 
One of the most destructive pests known to berry growers is the June 
Bug larvae, or common grub worm. Use land that has grown cultivated 
crops for two years previous to setting the plants, and then plicw as late in 
the fall as possible. This hardly ever fails to control them. 
DISEASES 
Strawberries do not suffer from as many ailments as do most of the other 
fruits. Perhaps the worst of all foes are the “leaf spot” and “leaf scorch’’. 
The first is rarely very serious, but the “scorch” may be serious as to kill 
the entire foliage and sometimes the plants. The accepted remedy is to spray 
with Bordeaux Mixture as soon as the leaves attain any size in the Spring 
and to repeat as often as necessary so as to keep the leaves healthy until 
the crop is picked. 
THINNING 
For best results beds should never be too thickly set with plants. It has 
always been observed that the plants along the edges bear the most berries 
and of the best size, but it has now been determined that for the largest crop 
each plant should have at least thirty six square inches of space, that is 
they should be six inches apart in all directions. Obviously it will be difficult 
to make such spacing exact, but in general such approximate room will be 
found to pay. It should be bourne in mind that this must be done early so 
the plants will attain the larger growth the wider spacing will give them. 
Such attention will cost, but in the end it will pay. 
Set A Trial Bed 
_ Just a helpful suggestion. Plan to set a trial plot of berry plants. One 
dozen of each variety will do, and the cost will be small in comparison to the 
possible results obtained. No fruit is so susceptible of a different result in 
a different soil and climate, as is the strawberry. You may read the descrip- 
tions of varieties in this little book, buy and set the plants, and find at fruit- 
ing time that you do not get the quantity or quality of fruit you had ex- 
pected. Naturally one thinks that the catalog description was a gross exag- 
geration. Not at all. We try to tell the truth. They have just behaved dif- 
ferently with you than with us. Since this is so very generally true, plant 
a trial plot of your own. It will richly repay you. It is just about.the only 
way to find a correct answer to a question so persistently asked us: “What 
variety shall I plant?’ We want to help, and so wish we knew, but so often 
we don’t. Of course there are fundamental factors that are always involved 
and therefore that may always be kept in mind. 
1. If you have a home market you want quantity and appearance. Then for 
early plant Premier, Dorsett and Fairfax, medium Big Joe, Catskill and 
Midland, for late Red Star. 
2. If you ship to fairly near market, you want quantity and appearance be- 
cause in quantity you get your profit. We still advise Dorsett, Fairfax and 
Premier, then Big Joe and Catskill, Midland and Red Star. 
. If appearance alone is your chief aim, plant Catskill and Dorsett. 
. If quality is the biggest thing, plant Dorsett or Fairfax. 
. If we were going to select a list of varieties to cover the season and to be 
planted on the greatest variety of soils and in any climate, we would say: 
for early Premier, Dorsett and Fairfax; midseason Catskill and Midland. 
Late Red Star. 
Ot Co 
