Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1913-05-02

NV there is a question of sex
go in the plants. This is also
- - true of many nurserymen,
and scores of growers are disappoint-
el every year because the plants they
buy do not bear fruit
The male plant in strawberries is
what is known as the staminate or BIZ
sexual, perfect towering plant. The
female plant is known as the pistillate,
and unless it is planted along with the
bi-sexual, or male plant, so that they
can be pollenized they will yield no
fruit
In the illustration 1t will be seen
that In the center of the bi-sexual
flowers the pistils are surrounded by
anthers. or bulb like protrusions,
which are filled with the fower-like
substance called pollen, which is car
ried to other pistils all over the patch.
and this fertilizes them and thus every
blossom becomes a berry. The Illus
tration shows that none of those an
theirs appear on the pistillate flowers.
We explain this matter fully sc that
every one may understand how neces-
sary it is that one always should set
bi-sexual plants, and that where the
pistillate varieties also are chosen
they should be so arranged that the
pollen of the bi-sexuals will reach the
bloom of the pistillate plants. In or
der that complete pollenation may be
secured, we advise the setting of pis-
tillate varieties between rows of bi-
sexuals of the same season. Or, one
may set the pistillate varieties be-
tween bi-sexuals of an earlier and
later season.
In arranging the plants, If you desire
to do so, you may set one row of pis-
tillates, or two rows, or as many as
three rows of pistillates, between the
two rows of bi-sexuals, as pollen will
be easily carried over several rows of
plants. AS pistillate varieties fire.
quently are the heaviest of yielders.
Let us consider at the outset the
matter of soil, and let it be under
stood that strawberries will grow sue
cessfully under as great a variety Of
conditions as will potatoes or turnips
or cabbage, or any other of the COM
monest sorts of vegetables or grains.
In a word, your soil is just the kind
of soil in which to grow strawberries
whether 1t be sand, sandy loan, clay
loan, clay, black prairie soil. or vol
canic ash
The Soil Feeding Trough.
Indeed, the soil may be likened to a
feeding trough. 1t doesn't make any
difference whether you feed the hogs
from an oak trough or pine trough
the result would be identical in either
case. The soil is only a medium
through which the plants receive their
food.
Therefore, the important thing for
the grower to do is to see that his
soil, whatever its nature, is properly
supplied with the elements necessary
to, the feeding and growth of the
plants. Once we get this thought
clearly in mind the whole matter oil
crop production is simplified, and each
grower may be confident that his sol
will do just as we'll as anybody else's
soil If it be in the proper condition fol-
the sustenance and development Of
plant life.
Barnyard manure is one of the
strawberry growers most valuable
assets. Therefore, he should give
great attention to conserving this fer
tility and seeing to it that it is prop
erly applied to the SOIL
After the manure is spread comes
the breaking up of the soil. In doing
this work be careful to see that ever
particle of hard soil is worked up anS
into as mellow a state as it is pos
sible to get it. The depth to which
. one should pillow depends upon the ma
3 ture and formation of the soil.
> Where the soil is deep one may q
as deeply as eight inches. but in shall
lower soils the depth should not ex
coed from four to six inches.
For our present purpose we shall
: consider the three soils most common
the world over, namely, those In whicl
: clay predominates, those having
= sandy nature, and the so-called blacl
soil. In the mere matter Of furnishing
plant food to these soils the method
we have referred to will do for all o
: them, but from the mechanical poin
Of view the treatment will be quit
different
2 How to Treat Sandy Soils.
= In the case of soils where the sand
quality predominates the surfac
should be rolled and thoroughly CON