J. H. Shivers Plant Farms, Allen, Maryland 5) 

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 setting the plants. Where applied in the 
drill, it should be worked in thoroughly, going at least twice in each row 
with a horse and cultivator to mix it in. If applied broadcast, 1,000 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. I have 
used as much as 700 pounds without injury, but have seen severe injury from 
1,000 pounds in the drill, not thoroughly 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 materials 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 6-8-6 and 5-10-5 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. 
WHEN TO PLANT 
The best time to plant is sometime during March or April, 
or as soon as the ground can be made ready for planting. Order 
your plants as early as possible; plants set early start quicker and 
make a more vigorous growth of plants. I begin shipping during 
warm spells in winter, and after March first in unlimited quantities. 
Many inquiries come in regards to planting in August. Plants at that 
season of the year are not matured enough to permit digging or shipping with- 
out too much waste. Therefore, spring is the most natural and successful 
time for planting . 
METHOD OF SETTING 
There are many methods of setting strawberry plants. No particular 
method has advantage over another except in the saving of labor. The im- 
portant thing is to get your plants in the ground the same depth as they grew 
in the orig:t::i bed and to pack the dirt firmly around the roots. This done, 
there is little choice as to the method of doing it. 
SETTING THE PLANTS 
We recommend setting the plants in rows 3% to 4 feet apart, or even as 
much as 4% feet, if the soil is very fertile. The plants should be set 15 to 
24 inches apart in the row, depending on the varieties set, the width of the 
rows themselves and the fertility of the land. Free growing varieties like 
Dunlap, Missionary and Blakemore which make large numbers of plants 
should be set farther apart than varieties like Chesapeake, Lupton and others 
that make larger plants, and not so many of them. When set in rows 38 feet 
8 inches apart and spaced 18 to 20 inches apart in the row, it requires about 
8,000 plants per acre. 
