The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1907-02-22
Strawberry Culture
ap,per Read by ". 5. haxton at
Saturdays Meeting Of the
FruitSrowers.

1t is of interest to note IN VIII It
I'D. territory tn. strawberry is
s,ovn. 1t grows from Florida to
a,axka in our country and 1t rlpens
.,.,v month in the year i'll some
-, of the U. S. Blu. i'll no place
lbs il re ,ch the state of perfection
hat i does in this the kennewick
Wiley There is probably no fruit
crown tina, is so highly priced as
4. strawberry. Now that we III
.he Kennewick Valley are known
as the great strawberry producing
people, we should not fail to main
tain this good name, and l believe
todo this, we must improve on
some Of the present methods. We
h.ye the climate, the soil and the
eater. Now ii is up to us to do
oar part. Frst we must properly
wepare the soil; while our soil IS
vxry rich in mineralit is lacking in
vegetable matter. Hence it be
comes necessary that we supply
that part Of the plant food Moth
ing will do this better than good
i0r will DO this better than good
sable and barn,ard manure.
Some obj ction can be raised to
this because OF the i'll reduction If
weeds, but here..tne old adage bold,
good: "There is no excellence with.
ont great labor. A cheaper way,
but one which will reqnire little
tine, is to grow and plow under a
cfopor two Of clover. peas or other
uops Of the kind. Another, while
aisnore expensive, is the use of a
commercial fertilizer; but it is verv
necessary that the fertilizer used
have good per cent OF tankage or
like matter in it.
Nowth you have your ground
IN e good state of fertilization, the
next step is cultivation. : The
ground should be plowed to good
depth and you can not harrow it
loo much.
Now comes the es 'ential point in
strawberry culture: the sele .tion of
theplant. l am quite sure that the
plant .'aken from the strawberry
ned is not proper plant 10 SIT.
When FIRST discovered the sttaw-
berry was small, imperfect and
quie inferior to that grown today.
The strawberry first received maak-
ca attention in 1894. and from that
time to the present, in the hands
Of careful and thoughtful plant
breeders has made rapid progress.
lhis could never have been accom-
pushed by constantly using plants
nom an exhausted bearing field.
such practice viii! certainly cause
oul berries to degenerate. /, Young,
s'rong and vigorous plants should
oe selected aud transplanted to a
oea to themselves. Then all fruit
0oos should be kept picked off,
auu oil runners at frs, until the
Ae" P ant is strong and vigorous.
'aen Tue runners may be permi ted
"gfow. Fruit from such plants
4"als show decided improve
ment
Inc most scientific plant breeders
" To-Day tell us that the breed ,ne
"p'ants is not unlike the breeding
" STOCK. The sane s;ockman
"oula never think of mixing his
u'eeolng and marketing stock in
"e same pens, and it is of vital in,-
''ance that the b eeeing and
a'''og strawberry plants be in
o'ne'ent quarters. 1t is not nee
.ssA'y at al to send to some scien-
e breeder to get these plants.
nS extensively as we grow straw
'''es' ons can afford to grow bis
"n pants, then be is absolutely
''4'n as to what he is getting.
- 's' thought enc may think
:, ' "e cannot afford to do this or
" 'akes too much time. but il
10 prove that we are grow
-not only the eariiest-but the
'' Strawberries then we must ex.
'o give this matter ou: time