The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-04-29
Strawberry Culture.

THE cultivated straw berry has come to
be necessity for the mass, and it needs
no apology for urging its culture upon
every one who owns a rural habitation Of
a few feet of land that may be appropriate
ly applied to the purpose. SeXually con-
sidcred the strawberry is of three kinds:
hermaphrOdite. pistillatc and staminatc-
the first being perfect in itself to the pro-
duction of fruit the second requiring the
aid of one Of the other two: the third bar
ren, not capable Of producing perfect
fruit.
.Soils.-Any soil where Indian corn will
produce a crop will grow strawberries:
still. like the former, the better the soil is
prepared the better the crop; yet some va
ricties seem to elect a different soil from
others; but there IS no soil which will
grow any plant but that some variety NAV
be grown thereon. The large and i'm
proved varieties require rather moist,
deep soil, than dry; especially Is moisture
necessary from the time of setting of bios
SONS and fruit to maturity of the same
Heavy and close soils should be
under drained. SUBSIDIZED and the
mechanical condition rendered suitably
porous. Sandy soils require applications
of muck or black earth to retain moisture.
Thorough culture of any soil is requisite for
greatest production.
Nanure.-Compost manure seems best
adapted for the strawberry. Muck. leaves,
ashes. old pasture sods, applied alone or
cOmpOsted with good stable manure, are
good. Mineral and phosphate rather than
animal fertilizers are to be preferred for
application to the plants; top-dressing the
soil about the hills is always beneficial.
Time to Pldnt.-Either early spring or
September is the suitable season: but for
Northern latitudes spring is the best or
most successful. Plants carefully set in
September will give partial crop the next
season; spring set will bear very few if
any. All half-dead or defective leaves
should be trimmed off, as also the roots
pruned, before setting. Young runners
are best for setting at any season.
Plantia9.-Garden and field culture are
very similar. In garden culture the plants
are set in beds, three rows on each bed,
rows eighteen inches apart, and plants
eighteen inches apart in rows. Cloudy,
moist weather is most suitable. but they
can be set in any weather with suitable
care. If set when dry good soaking of
pure water must be given each plant after
setting in the soil. For field culture set
your plants in rows thirty inches apart
and plants eighteen inches in the row.
Pistillate varieties will require every sixth
row to be set with hermaphrodite varie-
ties for fertilization. Keep perfectly free
of weeds and well cultivated: keep the
runners cut, or at most train into the mat
ted row system. The last is least trouble,
and gives best results frequently, but the
paintings will hold in bearing longes
where the runners are kept cut clean. A
good mulch soon after setting will preserve
the plants from drought on dry soil At the
approach of winter it will benefit the plants
to cover them and the whole soil with a
iiSht VI SlId" OF evergreen
boughs; they winter better and are more
productive the following season. If COW
cred with straw it should be opened off the
plants as soon as they start in the spring, to
be left till after fruiting; evergreen boughs
removed entirely as soon as freezing
weather is past. When the beds begin to
fail new ones should be formed On new
soil and the old ones occupied with some
other crop for three or four years. New
plants are grown by allowing the runners
from plants to grow and strike root: and
the second from parent plant is best for
new plantations.
Varieties are numerous The following |
are good ones: Wilson's Albany, II; New
jersey Scarlet, II; French's Seeding, II /; |
Peabody, H. Triomphc de Gand, II;
Hovey, II; LUCINDA, H; Bartlett, II Du- |
rand's Seeding, Ii; Lady's Finger, II
Perry's Seeding, II; MacAvoy's Superior,
p; Russell's Prolific, P.-Cor. Hearth and |
Home.
The sulphuric acid used for cleansing