STRAWBERRY SPECIALISTS il 
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Official Certificate No. 166 Boston, July 31, 1947 
To Whom It May Concern: 
This is to certify that I have this thirtieth day of July 
completed the inspection of strawberry stock of George 
Rennie Farm grown at Andover, State of Massachusetts, 
and find it to be apparently free from all injurious insects 
and diseases which might be transferred on nursery stock 
from the nursery to the orchard or garden. 
This certificate good until July 1, 1948. 
Inspected by A. R. Hastings Signed Q. S. Lowry, 
Assistant Director. 

SPACING OF PLANTS 
Most growers allow far too many plants to set 
in the row. We believe that the largest crops of the 
finest berries can be grown in rows two and a half 
to three feet wide with runner plants spaced seven 
or eight or even nine inches apart. Any plants that 
set closer than this should be treated as weeds and 
should be cut out with the hoe when hoeing the 
plants. Have one end of the hoe very sharp for this 
purpose. In the matted row you will find the most 
and largest berries are at the side of the rows. That 
is because they have more moisture than plants in 
the middle of the rows. In the spaced rows they 
have all the moisture they need to make large fruit. 
In the spaced rows you have very little rot as they 
dry off better after rain. You also get larger berries 
in a dry season. We have a customer on the North 
Shore that set out 500 Howard 17 plants. He al- 
lowed each plant to make only eight runners spaced 
nine inches apart and he picked from the 500 plants 
1300 quarts of berries. All the growers in that town 
are following this system now. Some growers may 
think this is too much work. Suppose you try spac- 
ing the plants in two or three rows and compare 
with the rest of your bed. 
