The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-05-29
About Strawberries.

varieties, as we'll as in the size and
quality, of this fruit. Previous to the
period named, few attempts were made
to improve the native wild sorts, and
our nurserymen and fruit growers were
seemingly content to import varieties
that had a reputation on the other side
of the Atlantic, only to find they were
of little value for cultivation on this,
where the climate is very different
from that of Europe. Hovey's seed
ling and the Wilson's Albany were the
two pioneer varieties of the native
strawberry, and fully established the
fact that pure native sorts of large
size, good flavor, and greatproductive-
ness were readily obtainable. From
the time that these two were dissent
mated, strawberry culture has advanced
with wonderful rapidity, and now acres
are devoted to this fruit, where former
ly square rods were deemed sufficient
for either home use or market.
Of course, the increase in population
has had something to do in creating
larger demand, but far less than the
introduction of superior varieties, as Is
shown in the price this fruit commands
in all of our markets, which is far be-
low what 1t fetched when the quality
was inferior and previous to the dis
semination of the new and improved
sorts. A few years ago strawberry
growers had an idea that if they could
obtain very large and high favored va
rieties; such fruit would command
c6rrespondingly high price in market;
but in this they have been somewhat
disappointed, for increasing the size
and prOductiveness increases the vol
ume of the total product per acre. Be-
side, hundreds of persons will plant and
cultivate large and snowy fruit, where
only dozens would raise berries of
small size and unattractive in appear
ance. The annual announcement of
new and large varieties is an induce
ment for setting out more plants, and
as a result the production is in. excess
of demand, and low prices follow. 1t
is true that very large selected berries
still command remunerative prices, al
though much less than formerly, and
while it may cost more to raise them
than it does to raise the small and in
ferior fruit, it is, upon the whole, more
profitable; and there are few cultivatOrs
who can afferd to raise any other kind.
Spring is the proper season to set out
strawberry plants, and it may be done
at any time after the frost is out Of the
ground until hot, dry weather sets in.
The best soil for strawberries is mod
erately stiff loan; ranging from this up
to light sandy soil. A wet, heavy
clay is one of the worst, as the plants
are liable to be lifted out by the frosts
of winter, and such soils become very
hard and dry during the droughts of
summer. But whatever the character
of the soil, it should always be made
deep and rich for strawberries, es-
pecially for the larger sorts, which will
invariably fail upon soil where the
small half-wild varieties would succeed
moderately well. Land which has been
under cultivation with some crop like
potatoes or corn is far preferable to re-
Gently plowed sod ground for straw
berry bed; for the larva of the common
May beetle, usually called the white
grub" is far more likely to be abund-
ant in the latter than in the former;
and wherever this pest abounds it is
difficult to get a good stand of plants,
as they are very fond of strawberry
roots-in fact, prefer them to almost
any other kind of food. As these grubs
live three years before changing to
beetles, old meadows and pastures
which are infested with them are not
safe for strawberry plantations until
they have been under the pillow for at
least two seasons.
To obtain a large yield of large
berries, what is termed the crow sys-
tenn of culture is preferable to the
bedding plan. In the former, the
plants should be set in rows three to
four feet apart, with the plants twelve
to fifteen inches apart in the row.
When they are set in the spring, q
horse and light cultivator may be EN-.
ployed to Keep down the weeds and
stir the soil throughout the entire sum-
mer. with an occasional handwriting
or hoeing among the plants; and while
these operations are being performed,
the young runners, or q portion OF
them, may be laid along the row where
thew will take root and fill up the
vacant spaces, forming by the fall a
close, compact bed. Late in the sea-
son, when the ground begins to freeze,
the entire bed or plantation should be
covered an inch deep with some kind
of mulch: Strawberry growers near
the sea coast use what is called salt hay
cut from the brackish marshes, which
abound in such localities. Inland,
where salt hay cannot be obtaAed, bog