The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1886-04-02
STRAWBERRIES.
Whist . Dollar, n Days work, and q Rod
OF Land Will Do In Producing
.NI Strawberries

atAAAfS ehO Paot low JOetLb OCSh ouPlJiiCo
with strawberries during two or three
months of each season at very low rates
In fact strawberries have been the
cheapest fruit on the market. Possibly
the recent low prices have had the effect
of discouraging growers from planting
new fields, and quite likely the price of
\ are generally scarce and high in villages
not on the line of any of the great rail
ways. Comparatively few people living
in villages and having good vegetable
and flower gardens raise strawberries
for the supply of their families. A still
smaller number of farmers raise straw
B berries. The reason for not raising
this most delicious of all the fruits that
can be produced in this latitude are
various. Some think that they can not
afford the money to buy the plants.
Others think that they have not the
time to set them out and cultivate them.
Still others have an idea that great skill
is required to raise Strawberries, or that
they are luxuries that only wealthy
people in cities can afford to eat.
The object of this article is to show
how any family can be supplied with
strawberries of excellent quality at very
small cost of money, time, or land. The
method described may not be the best
one, but it is one that has been followed
by the writer of the article for many
years with the most satisfactory results.
The amount of land required is one
square rod; the number of plants needed
to set it is one hundred. These plants
can ordinarily be obtained for 81. This
is the only money outlay. The land
should be moderately rich field or gar
den SOIL 1t should be spaded by one
who knows how to handle the spade
skillfully. 1t is good plan to lay out
n walk from two to three feet wide en-
tirely around the plat. The plants are
< to be set in rows eighteen inches apart
each way. A man accustomed to the
use of spade can prepare the soil and
make the walks in one hour. About
half an hours time will be required for
setting the plants. The plants should
be those that sprang from runners last
year. The lower and dead leaves
should be cut from them by the use of
shears. If any of the roots are very
long it is best to shorten them with
sharp knife or shears. Holes for the
roots can be made with q garden trowel
or hoe.
If the plants are set out the last of
April or the first of May they will COM
mence to grow Immediately. The cult
walton is very simple. 1t consists in
keeping the ground entirely free from
grass and weeds by the use of sharp
hoe. All the ground in the bed can be
worked with the hoe and the walks
cleaned out in half an hours time each
week. As fower-stalks appear they
should be cut off before blossoms open.
The object the first year should be to
raise plants and not Strawberries. If
the young plants produce flowers and
berries they will make but Il small
growth. If the iower-stalks are re-
moved the plants will grow to large
size and VIII occupy nearly half the
ground. In July and August runners
will appear. and as they do they should
be cut or pinched off while they are
tender and before they exhaust the
strength of the plants. In order to
obtain strong plants for setting n bed
next year the runners of the outside
rows may be allowed to take root on
the strip of ground next to the walk.
After the young plants have become
established the runners connecting them
with the parent plants should be cut off.
5 BY adopting this course they become
self-supporting.
In case there is drought late in The
summer the plants can be kept in
growing condition by covering the
ground between the rows with a mulch
of green grass or other material that
will prevent evaporation and keep the
soil cool. On the approach of freezing
weather the plants should be covered
with straw, held in place by long sticks.
Early the next spring this covering
should be removed and the soil between
the plants loosened by the use of fork
or hoe. At this time new bed can be
formed and set with the plants raised on
the edges of the old bed. The bed first
set will be in the best condition for pro
ducing large crop of fine berries.
Three hundred plants will furnish straw
berries for large family, though they
eat them three times day. If the sea-
son is favorable they will also furnish at
least n bushel of ber.'ies that can be
canned OF preserved. The crop will not
be an expensive one. The entire cost
of its production is represented by 81
worth of plants, one days work, and the
use of one rod of ground. The pleasure
the Strawberries will afford can not be
estimated by money. They will insure
good living at time of the year when
Injuries are difficult to obtain on farms.
b If land is scarce, as it may be in the
case of village garden, the plants in
bed can be spaded under after they
have produced one crop. They will
continue, however, TO produce fair crops
of tolerably good berries for two or
three years. But the largest and finest
berries are produced on plants that have
( been set but one year and cultivated in
the manner above described No berries
obtained in city market equal those
grown in garden and picked within
IN hour of the time they are brought to
the table. Strawberries that are to be
carried long distance in railwor car
must necessarily be picked before they
are fully ripe. They are lacking in the
color, taste, and smell of strawberries