The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-06-11
Horticulture.
CULTURE-EARLY SUM.
MER WORK,
Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer


One of the Grecian Sages when
asked what was the first thing man
should do, replied, "Get knowledge. {"
What was the second? ''Get knowl-
edge - What was the third? FGet
knowledge !!' If e. berry grower
asked me what was the first thing to
do in summer, I should reply, "Kill
grass" What was second, "Kill
grass" What was third, fourth
and fifth, "Kin grass.
In the long ago had an old dar-
key friend who called crab grass
Gin'u Green.
"Gin'ul Brown ner Gin'ul Gray,
ner Gin'ul White ner eben Gin'ul
Washington an nowhars to Gin'ul
Green" he would say. "He wuss n
Keng George eben. Case we whup
Keng George in seben year. But I
been fghtin' Gin'ul Green put nigh
seventy -seben year, en- he wuss'n
when I hit de fus' lick"
And the old man was right.
"Gin'ul Green" is as inescapable as
death or taxes or bad weather. He
is foe that all who till the soil, in
this region at least, must annually
meet and vanquish or be vanquished.
And when our battles are ended and
"Gin'ul Green" waves in triumph
over our graves those who come after
us will be battling with him still.
Therefore it behooves us to study
such tactics and such strategy as
will avail against such foe. Gen
eral FORESTS immortal maxim to
"Git thar fust and with the most
men" is as sound in warming on
grass as on men. The time to kill
grass is before there is any grass to
kill. Is to "git thar fust" and in
full force. One hoe then is worth
host later on. 1t is an easy and
quick job to break the crust and
give the soil a shallow stirring after
each packing rain. In garden beds
this can be done with hoe entirely.
In field culture we use a small tooth
horse cultivator for the middles,
plOwing to within six inches Of the
row of plants on each side. The un-
plowed stip is then stirred with hoes.
This should be kept up as late in the
fall as grass or weeds continue to
come.
Shall strawberry plants be grown
in stools or matted? That is, shall
the runners be cut or allowed to
grow and mat over the beds. There
has been almost as much contro-
versy over this as overplanting
seed by the moon. Like most dis
pUted questions both sides are right
under certain conditions. All de-
pends on the varieties you plant.
Some varieties naturally tend to
"stOOl," that is for the parent plant
to grow in the form of stool or
large bunch, this parent plant
throughout the season or several
seasons remaining large and stOcky.
In some kinds the parent plant loses
vigor as the summer progresses, the
earlier young plants soon surprising
it in vigor. These varieties if re-
strained by clipping from producing
runners are given to "hOrning" as I
have heard it termed. The crown
of the plant gradually assumes some
what the shape Of a horn or club be-
comes hard and woody and the next
spring produces really fewer berries
than one of it's young plants would
have done if allowed to take root.
A variety strongly given to this
somewhat peculiar habit is the 'Off-
man and old Newman. Where t. ese
are planted one spring for berries
the next they are best grown in thin
matted rows. At the far South
where they are planted in fall for
fruit the following spring neither of
these qualities need be considered.
Comparatively few varieties are
given to ''horning" The vast ma
jority take very kindly to the stool
system. The Clyde, Lady Thomp-
son, Parker Earle, Crescent, Candy,
Seaford and countless others do we'll
in stools.
The stool system is by far the
simplest one. All that is necessary
is to keep the runners clipped as fast
as they come. Clip them promptly,
for every one cut betimes means a
bunch of berries the next fruitlng
time. The runners kept off, Guilt