Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-10-03
Renewing Strawberry Beds.

Renewing Strawberry Beds.
While renewal Of strawberry beds is
possibly a good thing under some
circumstances, it is, nevertheless, my
opinion that if the first crop of straw
berries is large one the second or
next succeeding crop is practically GER
tain to be small. 1t is my further
opinion, says writer in the Rural
! New Yorker, that where land prices
are high and the soil we'll supplied
with plant food it is more profitable
! to pillow under strawberry patch and
grow some fall vegetables, such as
sweet corn or cabbage. | have
carefully tested the renewal idea at
various times for many years past,
and never, except in one instance, have
l succeeded in harvesting a large crop
Of berries. There were good reasons,
however, for this apparent exception,
as the following facts will show:
| The first crop from this patch was very
| light, owing to unfavorable weather
conditions during the latter part OF
|
the previous year. The early part OF
the season from the time the plants
were put in the ground to midsummer
was very favorable, so that the
plants made an unusually large
growth.
The late summer and fall were hot
and dry, so that bud development was
much restricted, and very few fruit
buds resulted Hence, the fruit har-
vested the first year was very light,
scarcely checking the growth of plants,
which was practically continuous
through the second year. The patch
was thoroughly worked Immediately
after the fruiting season and few new
plants were permitted to grow, as
plants were carefully layered the first
year, and having borne but little fruit
were in fine condition. The resulting
crop was phenomenal, perhaps the
| largest | have ever grown, and the
| berries were almost entirely fancy
Previous and subsequent results, how
ever have been disappointing, and |
would not recommend the renewal of
! SJIdWUSIIy .UGuS d uIS.
The cause of these disappointing re-
suits is easily understood, if one will
examine a plant Immediately after it
has borne a crop. The plant is mere
skeleton. 1t has been absorbed root
and stem, in the ripening of the fruit
The plant is in a state of complete ex-
haustion, from which, after a period of
suspended activity, it makes a slow
and imperfect recovery. 1t makes
! new root system and throws out run
ners from which new plants may be
established. In the light of these
facts, let us see what may be expected
of patch of thousands Of plants each
Of which has borne large yield of
berries. The condition of these
plants is precisely like that of the
plant described above. The fruit will
have been gathered by July 1, and the
plants will not have recovered from
their fruiting effort and be in fair
growing condition before August 1.
That is to say, the making of the Sec
ond strawberry crop can hardly be
considered fairly under way before
August 1. Growth of plant, the pro-
pagation of new plants and the deve1-
opment of fruit buds and the work of
an entire growing season is crowded
! into the late summer and fall months.
Under favorable conditions moderate
results are possible. But if, as often
happens, the seasonal conditions are
unfavorable, that is, if the weather
should be hot or dry, or both, or cold
weather should set in early, the second
| is likely to be very light.
Immediately after the fruiting sea-
son we run over the ground with the
mower. The coarse materials are
raked up and drawn off the field. The
soil is then worked by a special pat
tern of Cutaway tool This consists
of working gang of three 20-inch Cut
away disks and a guide gang of three
16-inch fiat disks. There is a space
of about 10 inches between the gangs.
This tool is drawn by two horses in
such way that the space between
gangs is directly over the row. This
tool pulverizes the soil thoroughly to
the depth of five inches. 1t does not
invert the soil, but cuts it up fine. The
work of the tool is repeated several
times, varying with the hardness of
the soil. When we'll done it is
slightly ridged and the surface soil
thoroughly fined.
This tool is followed closely by a
float, and garden tillage runs through
the growing season. Men with hoes
follow the Getaway, thoroughly work |
ing down the soil in the row and hoe
ing the plants. Hoeing is continued
through the season as needed. With
respect to fruiting one of two methods
is followed. Runner plants are es-
tablished as soon as possible, after
which all runners are, removed, or
fruit-bud growth is forced about the
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