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LIBRARY

OF THf

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.

GIFST OF

C/ass

STRAW
BERRY

•

*ty

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

Published by

GERMAN KALI WORKS,

93 NASSAU STREET,
NEW YORK.

G-

NOTICE.

This book will be sent Free of Charge to any farmer who
applies for it.

Principles of Profitable Farming,
Potash in Agriculture,
Farmer's Guide,
Cotton Culture,
Tobacco Culture,
Tropical Planting,
Stassfurt Industry,
Fertilizing Sugar Cane,

Fertilizing Sugar Cane in the Hawaiian Islands
Fertilizing Tobacco,
Sugar Cane Culture,
The Cow Pea,
Plant Food,

Truck Farming,
Experiments with Fertilizers,

are other publications valuable to farmers, copies of which will be
sent free on application, by

Addressing,
GERMAN KALI WORKS,

93 Nassau Street, New York City.

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

THE growing of strawberries has become quite an
important industry in almost every section of the
United States. The reasons for this are plain. The
strawberry is a plant that can be made to grow profitably
on almost any soil; it is sure of a ready market, which, on
account of a growing demand, continually enlarges so that
there is no serious danger of overproduction, and it is a
money crop coming very early in the season, when a little
money "comes in handy" before money is received from the
other crops. It is not difficult to grow strawberries, but it
takes knowledge and experience to get a steady and fair
profit. Every place has its peculiar local conditions of
climate and weather. It is impossible to make rules to fit
all these conditions, but a careful reading and consideration
of the following pages may help the grower or farmer to
adapt measures to his own conditions. One thing should
always be kept in mind: Take pains. If you do that you
will make a success of strawberry culture.

Selecting the Soil. The strawberry plant can be grown
on most soils. Perhaps the best land naturally is a dark
sandy loam. Any soil which will produce a good corn crop
will make good strawberry land. A rather light soil,
loamy, is certainly preferable, but natural conditions may
be greatly modified in the desired direction. An open,
well drained soil, of even texture and kept free of weeds, is
just the thing. To a very considerable extent, even heavy

4 STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

clay soils may be brought into this condition by the use of
lime and sub-soiling. The plant needs an ample supply of
moisture, but cannot develop if its roots are in a cold,
sodden soil. Avoid very low-lying plots, as there is in such
conditions considerable danger from frost. A slope to the
south will make the fruit earlier; a slope to the north or
northeast will encourage late ripening.

Preparation of the Soil. The soil should have been in
some cultivated crop the year previous to a planting of
strawberries, as this gives not only a soil in good tilth, but
also guards against a too free growth of weeds and checks
various insect attacks. Red clover sod or land that has
laid fallow, is apt to be infected with white grub and
other insect enemies. A clover sod may contain large
stores of plant food in the form of organic matter, but it
will decompose so slowly that the plants will be kept back
until late in the season, when a too free growth is not de-
sirable. If the clover sod or fallow land is plowed in the
spring and planted to a cultivated crop, it will be in excel-
lent condition for strawberry planting the following fall,
winter, or spring.

Plow thoroughly, even cross-plow if the soil is heavy.
If cloddy, reduce to a fine condition by thorough harrowing.
It will most always pay to subsoil, especially in sections
given to droughts, as the capacity of the land to retain
moisture is thereby increased. Clay lands should always
be subsoiled.

On hilly land, the beds may be ridged across the slope;
if the soil is light, some such protection against washing is
necessary. Terracing will pay where it is needed, especially

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

if pains are taken to maintain the terraces every time the
land is broken.

Selecting Varieties. It is not always safe to pick out a
variety of strawberry from the accounts given in plant
catalogues. A perfect all-around berry is about as hard to
find as a perfect all-around milk cow. Usually it is best to
take the advice of a neighbor who knows about the different
varieties, or if you cannot get this, you can write and get

the opinion of the editor of a farm journal.

Varieties change much as fashions change.

There is not much foundation for the claim

that certain varieties are suitable for light

soils, or heavy soils, etc.

Large crops of fine berries

are only grown on soils very

rich naturally, or made so

artificially.

There are two distinct

classes of strawberry plants,
Blossom of a staminate, known as the perfect and

or perfect, strawberry

plant. imperfect varieties ; also

known as staminate and pistillate. The per-
fect or staminate plants are bi-sexual, which
means that they produce fruit as a natural Blossom of a" Pistillate,

or imperfect, straw-

condition; the pistillate varieties are one- berry plant,

sexed, and will not produce fruit unless planted in proximity
to staminate varieties. The safest plan is to plant one row
of staminate plants to every two rows of pistillate.

6 STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

There is some dispute as to the relative merits of the
two classes, but it is generally admitted that the pistillate
varieties are the hardier and most suitable as a market
berry. When planting the two classes together, it must be
remembered to have the two varieties ripen at the same
time, and if possible, of the same general color and shape.
Unless they blossom practically together, the influence of
the staminate variety may be wholly lost.

When to Plant. Plants may be set at any time in the
year, except winter in the north, or when the weather is
very hot, or the soil very dry. As hot and dry times are
likely to occur in summer, it is best not to plant at that time
unless potted plants are to be used, or the plants may be
moved with a considerable ball of earth adhering to them,
which is rarely practicable on a large scale.

The safest time to set is when the sun is weak, for then
the soil is apt to be moist and cool — say from September
i5th to April i5th. Another rule is never to transplant
after blooming has commenced ; and yet, very successful
settings are made with blooming plants, the bloom being
pinched off. In the far South, nearly all planting is done
in September, October and November, and a full crop of
berries harvested the following spring.

In the north comparatively little planting is done in the
fall, yet it may be safely done at any time up to freezing
weather. Plants set in the north in the fall should always
be mulched, as described later on. This is to prevent the
"heaving" of the soil during hard freezes, and the conse-

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK. 7

quent ''lifting" of the plants. Early spring, as soon as
the soil can be prepared, is the favorite time for planting
in the north. This is also the best time for stiff soils,
such soils being most given to heaving out in the middle
states.

South of the latitude of Washington, D. C, late fall and
winter planting is the best on very stiff soils likely to be
wet, on account of the danger of heaving out by freezes.
If the soil is at all light, every good day in the late fall and
winter can be used in preparing the land, and in planting.
The strawberry plant is at that time very easily set without
loss, and it is also out of the way of the spring work. How-
ever, planting may be done at any time, and even a little
after the plants begin to bloom, though the earlier it is
done the surer the stand.

How to Plant. Run off the rows three feet apart. If
the area is limited, two and one-half feet will do if the plants
are to be grown in hills or stands. If matted rows are to
be grown, three to three and one-half feet will be required.
After the fertilizer has been applied in the furrow, and
mixed with the soil by running a cultivator or light plow
through it, list on this with one light furrow from each side.
Knock this list or light bed down with hoes or a light horse
drag. On wet lands, especially in the far south, it is found
necessary to have the beds much higher. Strawberries
planted on low beds do much better where there is likely
to be a drought, or even ordinarily dry weather, during the
growing or ripening season.

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

Plant set too high.

After the lists or beds are knocked down, open broad

deep holes for the plants. Trowels or dibbles, though good
to open holes, are too tedious for a
large planting. Poles or stakes with
the large end trimmed wedge-shaped
and shod with iron two or three inches
wide, do as well as trowels and are
much faster with
less tedious work.
Stakes without the
iron will last well

if the land is not too heavy.

If the plant roots are very long, trim

them back to about four inches; wet the
roots well and drop
at once, planting

as fast as dropped. The plants should
be set just deep enough to cover the
roots and no deeper. The roots should
be spread as near a
fan shaped as pos-
sible in the broad
holes, and the earth

pressed firmly about them.

The distance apart in the row must

be governed by whether the aim is to

follow the stool or hill system, or the

matted row. Plants to be grown in Correct setting-of plant both

, , , , , , with regard to depth and

StOOls Should be Set 15 inches apart, ^ L arrangement of roots.

Plant set too deep.

Plant carelessly set with
roots bunched.

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

and if the soil is not rich even 18 inches apart; if matted
rows are to be grown, the plants should be two feet apart
in the row.

Stool Plants and Matted Rows. Stool plants is the
usual name for planting in hills. By this method the soil
may be worked
both ways with
horse hoes, and
thus save greatly
in the amount of
labor by hand.
About 12,750
plants are re-
quired per acre,
and all the run-
ners are clipped
as fast as they
appear. After
the first bearing
year some run-
ners are allowed
to set plants, for
transplanting or

fruiting the fol- Strawberries planted by the hill, or stool, system.

lowing year. The object is to save hand labor, and to
maintain a clean cultivation.

Matted rows refers to setting the plants in wide rows,
and permitting runners to set between the plants in the

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

row, and also to spread out between the rows. For matted
rows only about 7,500 plants are required per acre. Matted
rows cannot be cultivated with horse hoes as completely as
can the hill set plants, but a much larger number of plants
may be massed on an acre. If the soil is very fertile, or

kept in such con-
dition that large
quantities of
fertilizer may be
used, matted
rows will pro-
duce more
berries than the
stool system;
but, it must
be remembered
that 100 plants
require just
twice the water
and food neces-
sary for a good
development of
50 plants. By

Strawberries planted by the matted row system. the matted TOW

system the plants sometimes increase so rapidly that the
entire space is taken by the plants, and frequently they are
kept cut back to occupy half the space. The wisdom of
the wide rows depends* on the strength of your soil, and
your liberality in feeding it.

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK. it

Stool plants stand drouth better and bear more market-
able berries to the acre than matted rows, because a more
thorough tillage is possible. The stool system requires
about 60 per cent more plants to the acre than the matted
row system. In matted rows the young plants are apt to
set too thickly, and weeds grow up among the plants
causing much tedious hand work. Stool plants can be
easily kept clean with horse cultivators, helped out with
hoes.

The stool system cannot be followed to advantage un-
less the runners are cut as fast as they grow. Use knives
and cut close to the plant. If allowed to grow and remain
long on the parent plant, the runners weaken it greatly and
the best results will not be possible. Otherwise, it is safer
to plant for and follow the matted row system; in which
case the runners are allowed to grow and take root, though
not allowed to set too thickly. If the rows become too
thickly set they should be thinned out in the fall to five
or six inches apart, a task hardly practicable on a large
scale.

Proper Cultivation. Frequent cultivation is best and
cheapest in the end. After every packing rain, the soil
must be stirred to a depth of from one to two inches — (very
shallow near the plants.) This will not only keep back
the weeds but also prevents the loss of water from surface
evaporation. It will not do to wait for a rain if a drouth
threatens. The plants should be cultivated every week,
otherwise the moisture supply will be lacking.

12 STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

Plow the middles to within six inches of the plants with
a light small toothed cultivator, and stir around the plants
with hand hoes. This method of cultivation must be kept
up as late in the fall as the weeds and grass continue to
come. Whether the matted row or the stool system is
followed, clean culture is indispensable to success. It is
not only a matter of destroying weeds, but also of keeping
up the proper supply of moisture.

MANURING.

Correct fertilizing is far more important than the selec-
tion of the soil, for almost any soil will make fine berries if
properly manured. No soil can make them for any length
of time without judicious and liberal manuring. Some of
the reasons why it pays to fertilize strawberries are:

(i) it vastly increases the yield, (2) gives larger berries,
(3) a better color and flavor, and (4) firmer fruit. The last
named quality — firmness — enables berries to be shipped
long distances to a market and arrive fresh.

Several of the best known varieties were at first con-
sidered almost worthless, owing to a lack of firmness to
carry them to the market, and freshness to sell them after
they got there. The remedy for all this has been found in
the liberal use of the mineral fertilizers. A strawberry
crop on one acre needs for its development during three
years on an average, 223 pounds of nitrogen, 375 pounds
of potash, and 83 pounds of phosphoric acid. If liberal

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK. ' 13

crops are expected, the soil must supply the proper
amounts of plant food. The objection to farmyard manure
is that it contains too much nitrogen as compared with
the potash and phosphoric acid.

A strawberry fertilizer should contain the three princi-
pal plant food ingredients in about the following propor-
tions:

Ammonia, 3 per cent.

Potash, ------ 9 per cent.

Phosphoric Acid, - - - 7 per cent.

That is, every 100 pounds of fertilizer should contain 3
pounds of ammonia, 9 pounds of potash, and 7 pounds of
available phosphoric acid. The phosphoric acid is placed
far above the actual needs of the plant as shown by the
analysis, because this fertilizer is likely to take insoluble
forms in the soil; the ammonia is placed low as top dress-
ings are made in the spring.

Often, and especially on sandy soils, it pays to use pot-
ash in larger proportions than the above formula calls for.

A fertilizer containing 3, 9 and 7 per cent respectively
of ammonia, potash and phosphoric acid will be a good
strawberry manure. You can make this mixture yourself,
or have the dealer make it for you. It should be applied
at the rate of 500 pounds per acre drilled in before plant-
ing, and thoroughly mixed with the soil by running a
cultivator or light plow along the furrow before the land is
listed, or bedded. In the spring, an application of 150
pounds of nitrate of soda should be broadcasted per acre,

Without Fertilizer.

With Phosphoric Acid and Nitrogen.

With Potash, Phosphoric Acid and Nitrogen.

Illustrations showing: effect of fertilizers on strawberry plants.
Experiment by Prof. E. Lierke, Germany.

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK. 15

as soon as the first signs of growth appear. For fruiting
beds, the full application of 500 pounds per acre is made
broadcast in the summer or fall, and worked in with a
cultivator if the ground is not frozen.

A great deal of such fertilizer can be profitably used on
the strawberry if applied at proper intervals, as follows: In
the spring before planting, again late in the summer or
early fall around the plants, and again in the winter or very
early spring directly over them — in all from 900 to 1500
pounds may be used with profit. This mode of fertilizing
will nearly always be found more profitable than applying
all the fertilizer in one annual application.

One point must always be remembered, and that is,
never sow fertilizers directly on the plants in warm weather
while they are in the green growing state, and never sow
it on them even in winter unless the leaves are dry. In the
far south where the plants keep green all winter, the
fertilizer must be distributed around the plants, preferably
just before rain.

If a suitable commercial fertilizer is not obtainable, the
mixture may be made on the farm from fertilizer chemicals.
The following materials are most suitable:

For Ammonia:

Nitrate of Soda, containing 18 Ibs. of Ammonia per 100 (i8#).
or Sulphate of Ammonia, " 23 " " " " 100(23$).

For Potash:

Sulphate of Potash, containing 51 Ibs. of Potash per 100 (51$).
or Muriate of Potash, " 50 " " " " 100(50$).

or Kainit, " 12 " " " " 100(12$).

l6 STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

Phosphoric Acid:

Acid-Phosphate, containing 14 Ibs. of Phosphoric Acid per 100 (14%)
Dissolved Bone, " 16 " " " " " " (16$)

Cotton-seed meal may%also be used; it contains 8 pounds
Of ammonia and about 2 pounds of available phosphoric
acid per 100 pounds.

For an application which will be the same as 500 pounds
of the formula given as best suited for the strawberry, make
the following mixture :

For Ammonia: 100 Ibs. Nitrate of Soda, or

75 Ibs. Sulphate of Ammonia, or
200 Ibs. Cotton-Seed Meal.

For the Potash: 90 Ibs Sulphate of Potash, or
95 Ibs. Muriate of Potash, or
400 Ibs. Kainit.

Phosphoric Acid: 250 Ibs. Acid Phosphate, or
225 Ibs. Dissolved Bone.

Liming the soil at the rate of 40 bushels of agricultural
lime per acre, just before planting, will generally be an
advantage, especially if the soil is inclined to be clayey, but
if sulphate of ammonia is used liming is a necessity. For
the spring top-dressing, nitrate of soda is used only, and
this application is to be in addition to the 500 pounds per
acre.

In preparing all fertilizers, a thorough mixture is very
necessary for good results. None of the above ingredients
are injured by exposure to the sun; they can be sown over
or around the plants and left for the rain to wash in, with-
out loss of strength.

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK. IJ

The Crop-Making Power of Fertilizers. It has been
found that the crop-making power of a manure or fertilizer
is no greater than its weakest ingredient. This means that
if a manure or fertilizer contains only a small amount of
one of the three fertilizing ingredients, it will not produce
good results or yields.

As has been stated, one acre in strawberries during a
three years' growth, uses up 223 pounds of nitrogen, 83
pounds of phosphoric acid, and 375 pounds of potash.
Therefore, plants to do well must have these quantities. To
take these different elements from the soil without putting
them back sooner or later exhausts the soil.

Again, farmyard manure made chiefly from grain and
hay is not well balanced in fertilizing ingredients for fruit.
For example, seven tons of farmyard manure of good
quality will give the following amounts of fertilizer:

In an Acre Strawberries. In 7 Tons Manure.
Nitrogen, - - 223 Ibs. 77 Ibs.

Phosphoric Acid, 83 Ibs. 57 Ibs.

Potash, - - - 375 Ibs. 74 Ibs.

Thus, fully thirty-five tons of farmyard manure would
be needed to furnish the required amount of potash for an
acre of strawberries, and even then if the season is favor-
able the excess of nitrogen produces rank growth of foliage
at the expense of the fruit.

As we have pointed out, by the matted row system only
about two-thirds as many plants are set per acre as by the
hill or stool system, but the runners are allowed to grow so

l8 STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

that the actual number of plants fruiting is greater. While
less fertilizer may be applied to the matted row system the
first year, the difference must be fully made up the follow-
ing year. A strawberry bed soon runs out, in fact it is
often claimed that one good fruiting year is all that may
be profitably worked. If the plants are properly fertilized
the beds should last three years, but they must be manured
each year, and quite as much attention paid to tillage as
during the first year of growth. To have fine, large berries
and plenty of them, large healthy plants are necessary and
these are obtained only by thorough fertilization and care-
ful tillage and runner pruning.

Use of Mulch. The object of mulching is to keep the
fruit clean, and the soil cool and moist. It aids liberal
potash manuring in securing that clean, clear color and
gloss, which attract customers in the markets. Gritty
berries dull in appearance and otherwise undesirable bring
the poorest prices.

Any material which lies close and is heavy enough to
stay on the plants will answer the purpose of mulching.
Pine needles are widely used in the south ; wheat and oats
straw, or salt-marsh hay are also excellent, but should be
weighted with a little earth. Care must be taken not to
use old hay full of weed seeds.

The mulch should be scattered evenly very close around
the plants, and over the whole width of the rows if
practicable. It should be applied very early, but not
before the plants begin to grow unless it is desired to

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK. 19

retard fruiting a few days. Care must be taken not to let
the mulch lie so thick at any point as to smother the plants.
Shake the material loose and scatter it just thick enough
to hide the ground. The mulch should be removed from
over the plants if they do not come through readily.
When a mulch is applied after the growth has well started,
it is best to apply it closely around and between the plants
by hand.

Winter Production. Winter protection is necessary
where the temperature falls to zero, and is needed even in
warmer latitudes, especially in stiff soils. This protection
is precisely the same as the mulch, except that it is more
thickly applied. The mulch should be at least two inches
thick, while three will be better in very cold sections, or
where there is much thawing and severe freezing in the
late winter. In the spring, the rows must be opened to
permit the plants to get through easily. Both for mulch-
ing and for winter protection, the work must be done
thoroughly.

Immediately after fruiting, remove the mulch and com-
mence the regular cultivation of the plants. While a mulch
will conserve moisture in the early days of the summer,
later on the sun will destroy its usefulnes, and tillage must
be used. Winter protection should not be supplied before
the ground begins to freeze hard.

Picking and Shipping. Women and girls make the
best berry pickers. Let each picker have a series or
number of rows for the whole season. Then the pickers

20 STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

will come to take an interest in the rows assigned to them
and will be apt to show care and thoroughness. The grower
should provide each picker with a light picking tray in
which the quart baskets can be placed as fast as filled. It
is well to have a covering for the tray to keep off the sun
and rain.

If there is no house near the field, a rough shed should
be erected to shade the berries when they are picked. A
good method of keeping count of the picking is to issue to
the pickers basket checks. Let each picker have so many
checks, and then give up a check for every basket of fruit
brought to the store shed, where the account can be checked
by the field boss. The price which the grower gets, depends
in a large measure on the berries being picked at just the
right stage of ripeness, and in their being carefully handled
and packed. Berries should be picked by the stem, which
should be pinched off about one inch long. The berries
should never be taken in the hand.

Grade the fruit honestly all through, but dress off the
baskets neatly, slightly heaped in the middle of the basket,
turning the reddest side of the berry up. Always pack
the berries as ripe as you find they will carry to market
well. Refrigerator cars make it possible to pick berries
much riper than some years back when only ordinary cars
were used. Use only new fresh crates and baskets, which
can be bought cheap in large quantities. Consult your
commission merchant as to the size of the crates to be
used ; different markets require different sized crates.

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK. 21

Always pick the berries as cool as possible, and it is an
advantage to have them picked dry. Do not wait, however,
for the sun to dry off the dew if the weather promises to be
at all warm, for the sun in drying off the dew will heat the
berries. When refrigerator cars are used, heat is not to be
feared, for the fruit gets chilled in a few minutes after being
placed in the cars.

Garden Culture. As space in the garden is usually
limited and cultivation is usually done with a hand hoe or
hand cultivator, strawberry plants may be safely set much
closer than in field culture. A good plan is to have the
rows one foot apart, and to set the plants one foot apart
in the row. Between every three rows of plants have an
alley or walkway two feet wide, which gives access to the
bed for cultivating and picking the fruit.

If the soil is not very rich it will be better to set the
plants 15, or in extreme cases 18, inches apart. The same
fertilizers recommended for field culture may be used, but
the quantity may be greatly increased as it is practicable to
mix the ingredients quite thoroughly with the soil. Five
hundred plants occupying a bed 20x40 feet if set 12 inches
each way, will if well manured and kept free of weeds,
fairly supply a medium sized family. By setting early,
medium and late varieties, the season can be prolonged for
about six weeks. A bed to do well must have thorough
shallow culture, and have all the runners clipped off as soon
as they appear.

22 STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

No particular variety can be recommended which will
be the best under all conditions ; improvements are being
made all the time. It will be best to get the advice of some
reliable nurseryman as to the kind to plant for any given
locality.

DISEASES OF THE STRAWBERRY.

All of the ills of the strawberry may be directly traced
to neglect in one form or another. The most common evil
is due simply to starvation. The strawberry plant produces
an enormous quantity of fruit on a very small framework,
and starvation is very quickly followed by plain signs of
impaired vigor or vitality. So general is incomplete
fertilizing, that it is common talk that strawberry beds are
only profitable the first year. The following comprise the
most injurious diseases:

Leaf Blight. This is recognized by the withering of
the leaves, usually accompanied by the formation on the
leaves of spots, brownish at first but soon becoming dry and
whitish with a circle of red, and finally the entire leaf
assumes a red-spotted or red discolored appearance. The
injury is caused in summer after the fruit is off, by
preventing leaf development and thus lessening the power
of the plant to make a proper growth of fruit crowns for the
next year. It generally affects plants which have made a
heavy growth of foliage from a too free supply of available

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK. 23

nitrogen and a lack of potash and phosphoric acid,
especially if the new growth is suddenly deprived of free
sunshine by a too heavy application of mulch. It seems
sometimes due to a weakened vitality by deficient fertili-
zation, but infested plants may communicate the disease to
perfectly normal plants.

Infested beds may be moved in the fall and the leaves
burned where they lie. Repeat in June, or as soon as the
fruit is off, raking up the mulch to aid in the fire. Frequent
and thorough spraying with Bordeaux mixture is said to be
beneficial. Spray every two weeks beginning just after
fruiting, and continue until fall. For the garden, the
affected leaves may be raked out by hand, and burned.
Clean cultivation, and the destruction of old beds are
material aids.

Dieback, or White Bud. The first indication is the
appearance in the center of the crown of young leaves of
slightly reddish-yellow, or purplish tinge, and an unnatural
crinkling of the leaf. The disease soon takes possession of
the whole plant, and all its leaves are greatly shrunken.
The name "white bud" is sometimes given, from the
bleached-out color of the youngest central leaves of the
crown.

The remedy is simple : Feed the plants. Kainit seems
to be about the most effective single application, and the
quickest in its results, but do not apply directly on the
plants. The instructions under manuring apply in this
case. Probably the best remedy is an application of com-

24 STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

plete fertilizer, as described earlier in this book. The
whole secret is to furnish the plant something to eat as
soon as possible.

White Grub. This grub, for whose existence the June
bug is responsible, feeds on the roots of strawberry plants
and generally begins its attacks in June or July. The leaves
of the plants suddenly wilt, and a slight pull brings up the
whole plant with but a fringe of its root system attached.
The grub is a white or yellowish white worm, from one to
one and one-half inches long, with a large chestnut brown
head.

The eggs are deposited in untilled ground, especially in
pasture fields or hay fields which have been carried over
two or more years. The authorities claim that a top-
dressing of kainit is beneficial, applied just before a rain.
Fall plowing is effective. Do not use sod lands for straw-
berries until at least two years cultivation occur before
fruiting, even planting near a hay field is dangerous.
Kerosene emulsion diluted ten times and poured on the
surface of the ground around the infested plants will prove
beneficial in garden culture. Clean culture is a preven-
tive.

Cut Worm. This is a brownish green-spotted worm,
about one inch long. It works chiefly in the early spring
by neatly clipping off the roots of tender plants just at the
surface of the soil, or slightly below it. It is too well known
to farmers generally to require further description here.

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK. 25

As with the "white grub," clean cultivation and the same
preventive conditions apply to the cut worm. It is never
bad in thoroughly tilled soil, unless near a pasture or hay
field. Scatter over the land a week before the plants are
set, cabbage leaves or small bundles of green grass which
have been steeped in a solution of Paris green. Make the
distribution in the early evening. Do not follow a clover
sod with strawberries, and you will have no trouble with
the cut worm.

Strawberry Weevil. This is a minute beetle ; the egg
is deposited in the bloom just before it opens, and the stem
is partially severed so that it may droop and stop growth in
order to furnish food and protection in the young weevil.
It may readily be recognized by the drooping immature
buds. The attack is made as soon as the bud approaches
maturity.

The food is largely the pollen, consequently imperfect
(pistillate) plants are not injured. Clean and thorough
culture is both remedy and preventive. The destruction of
old beds, and all infested beds is necessary. Practice a
rotation. In the garden, the plants may be protected by a
covering during the blossoming period, of light muslin, or
even old newspapers.

Strawberry Thrip. The injury is done to the blos-
soms, which wilt and die very quickly after the attack. In
action this pest is so similar to the weevil that it is some-
times claimed that the two are identical. The thrip is very

26 STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

small, about one-twenty-fifth of an inch long, and of a
yellow color. They eat of the stigmas, and the injury seems
to consist largely in preventing the fertilization of the
blossom.

Thorough spraying with a strong decoction of tobacco
seems to be the only remedy, (one pound of tobacco stems
boiled 30 minutes in two gallons of water). The thrip
readily moves from one plant to another, so that the whole
field must be sprayed, and the dose repeated every three or
four days.

Leaf Roller. This is a small greenish caterpillar which
operates at the blooming period, by rolling the leaf so that
its usefulness to the plant economy is destroyed. It is very
easily recognized, and in garden culture the rolled leaves
may be picked off by hand and burned.

Use a Paris green spray early in the season, but do not
continue it long enough to endanger the contamination of
ripe fruit. Mow the infested beds, and burn the leaves as
described for "leaf blight."

Crown Miner. This is a small white or pinkish grub,
about one-fifth of an inch long. It injures plants by boring
into the crowns of young plants. It is common in old straw-
berry beds. Practice rotation, as insecticides are ineffectual.
Care in selecting plants is a precautionary measure, while
the best preventive is thorough and frequent tillage. The
removal of the mulch as soon as fruiting is over is a
preventive measure for many of the evils incident to straw-
berry culture.

STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

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32 STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK.

USUAL DISTANCES FOR PLANTING FRUIT
TREES AND VINES.

(In planting trees the greater distance should be given on
the richer soils.)

Apples 20 to 30 feet each way.

Pears (Standard) 20 u 25 "

Pears (Dwarf) 12 "15 "

Quinces 15

Peaches 18 " 24 "

Plums 15 " 20 "

Cherries 15 "20 " " "

Figs 12 "15 "

Japan Persimmons 15 ''20 " "

Mulberries 20 " 25 "

Oranges (Sweet) 20 " 25 " " u

Oranges (Japanese) 12 "15 'k "

Blackberries 6 by 4

Raspberries 6 " 3

Currants 5 " 3

Gooseberries 5 " 3

Strawberries (Hills) 36 x 18 inches,

Strawberries (Matted rows) 48 x 1 2 "

Grapes , ? . , 8x8 to 19x12 feet

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THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW

AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS

WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO 5O CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.

OCT 21 1936

LD 21-100m-8,'34

YB 46510

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