Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-01-27
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
A Well Attended Meeting Held Last
Night-A Paper Read by r. r.
Jesse on the Culture of
Strawberries.

The Audrain County horticultural
Society held an interesting meeting at
President Guthrie's office last night.
There was q good attendance and all
listened with great interest to the ex-
cellent paper on "The Culture of
Strawberries. Following il the paper:
@"About ali that is to be said upon
strawberry culture may be summed
up in one little woodwork. There
is nothing that responds more quickly
or abundantly to mans labors; or
more emphatically results his neglect.
With labor in this country 1t Is the
only sure fruit crop; without it it Is
the only sur failure. You may place
q fruit tree and neglect it, yet, with
the aid of the woodpecker, sun and
seasons, 1t will live and bear some
fruit. But If you plant a strawberry
bed and neglect 1t you will not only
be without fruit, but soon without
plants. If plants are properly set out
they will live, IL properly cultivated
they will grow strong and vigorous
and il properly protected they will
survive the winters, and after escap-
ing late frosts and early drouths will
give a good yield of that most delic-
ious Of all fruit of which some one
has said: aGod could have made a
better berry, but he didn't" About
ali I know about strawberry culture
has been gained by my experience in
growing two small beds for family
use and 1 will treat of the subject from
the standpoint of a small grower for
home consumption. As to soil and Its
preparation. Any soil, well fertilized,
will do, but I prefer clay. One of my
beds is planted where / took all the
soil away to fill in my yard and the
other is In the richest soil 1 have, but
so far those planted in clay are the
most productive. Spade up the ground
the full depth of an 1s-inch ditching
spade, at the same time digging in a
good quantity of well-rotted manure
on top Of which put more w~ell-rotted
manure and some wood ashes, if con-
Yenient, rake in and thoroughly pull
yerize the soil. Then set plants in
rows ~ or 3 feet apart and about 1
foot q part In the rows, alternating
rows or plants with pistulate and
staminate varieties. Cultivate well
during the summe season. Keep all
side inner cut off and 1t la we'll to
keep them mulched during the hot,
dry summer season. Clippings from
the yard are splendid for this purpose.
Then when winter comes you will
have rows of well-rotted, vigorous
plants. l think matted rows about 1
foot wide are the most satisfactory
for culture and productiveness, but
you have got to keep constantly hoe
ing and cutting of the runners to keep
them so, for they will very quickly, if
let alone, grow out and take root in
the middles and thus take away
the strength from the plant that
Is to bear the berries. AS to pro-
lection, cover with any coarse ma
terial which does. not pack. Corn
stalks are good, but for q small bed
I have found rakings of bark and
chips from the wood yard the most
satisfactory. Don't use straw unless
1t is put OF very lightly, as 1t is liable
pack and kill the plants. The pur-
pose of protection is not to protect
from cold, as well rooted plants will
stand extreme cold weather unpro-
tected, but 1t is the wind and freezing
that kills the plants. When the ground
lie frozen and then thaws on top for an
inch or more and then freezes again,
freezing, which begins on top and
the wet soil to expand, raises
the plant up, and a great many
of the roots, which are held firmly by |
the frozen ground beneath, are broken
OF, and thus the plant is killed. So
the purpose of protection is to pre-
vent the wind rather than freezing; it
Is to prevent the ground from thawing
around the plant until it has thawed
else near them and then
but little injury car come from it again
freezing. Delay covering until win
ter sets in in earnest and remove as
soon 10 frost is out of the ground.
After the plants have fruited for two
seasons dig up the middles and allow
runners to grow and take root there
IN and then in the fall cut out what
was the old row of plants leaving the
young, vigorous plants where the
niddles were In this way you renew
he plants and also, to some extent,
the soil. After 8 or 6 years
let out a new bed in another locality.
The plants grow their best crop the
Iecond season, after which they pro-
luce less and less until entirely worth
ess. As to varieties, I have but little
say. Some varieties do well one
'eason and are not &C good another.
think it best to plant several varie-
PloeuA0UC ouu Hkalal1dbC-I
hen you r sure to hit with some.
Those who grow plants to sell tell us
hat they should be grown from
,lants not allowed to bear-only
.rown for the purpose of producing
'lants. However, I don't think this
, of near 80 much importance as
roper cultivation. Now, II any of
he members of this society desire to
liant a strawberry bed and will Guilt
ate it in tho manner as herein sug-
I am willing to enter into
obligation with him not to eat
ny strawberries unless I car find
hem In his strawberry bed" |.
The paper vas generally discussed
Messrs. B. Baldwin, W. 8. Hatha- +,
ray and W. N. Pearson. MI. Bald 4.
in advocated the use of straw as a ,
inter protection and Mr.. Hathaway =;
At the next semi-monthly meeting :
|, be held on Monday, February 14th, :