Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1913-04-11

NANM berries do not know that
NNaNE there is a question of sex
W% in the plants. This is also
- true of many nurserymen,
and scores of growers are disappoint-
81 every year because the plants they
buy do not bear fruit.
The male plant in Strawberries is
what is known as the staminate or bi.
sexual, a perfect Towering plant. The
female plant is known as the pistillate,
and unless it is planted along with the
bl-sexual, or male plant, SO that they
can be pollenized they will yield no
fruit.
In the illustration it will be seen
that In the center Of the bi-sexual
lowers the pistils are surrounded by
anthers, or bulb like p~rotrusions,
which are filed with the fower-like
substance called pollen, which is car
rled to other pistils all over the patch,
and this fertilizes them n thus every
blossom becomes a berry. The illus
~tration shows hat none Of those an
theirs appear on the pMtillate flowers.
We explain this matter fully SO that
every n may understand how neces-
sary it is hat 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 BIZ
EaynQ1S IF tho sorno coocon Or nno
may set the pistillate varieties be-
tween b%i-sexuals Of an earlier and a
later season.
In arranging the plants, if you desire
to do SO, you may set n row of pis-
tillates, or two rows, or as many as
three rows of pistillates, between the
two rows of b~i-seXuals, as pollen Will
be easily carried owe 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 1t 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 it be sand, sandy loan, clay
loan, clay. black prairie soil, or vol
canic ash.
The Soil a 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 a pine trough
the result would be identical in either
case. The soil is only a medium
through which the plants receive their
food. n
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 of
crop production is simplified, and each
grower may be confident that his soil
will do just as well as anybody else's
soil if it be in the proper condition for
the s~ustenance int development of
plant life.
Barnyard manure is one Of the
otIdW Delly SIOWSI . AOSI uludDlt
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 is spread comes
the breaking up of the soil. In doing
this work be careful to see that every
particle of hard soil is worked up and
into as mellow a state as it is pos
sible to get it, The depth to which
n should pillow depends upon the ma
ture and formation of the soil.
Where the soil is deep one may go
as deeply as eight inches, out 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 which
clay predominates, those having a
sandy nature, and the so,called black
soil. In the mere matter of furnishing
plant food to these soils the methods
we have referred to will do for all of
them. but from the mechanical point
of view the treatment will be quite
different.
How to Treat Sandy Soils.
In the case of soils where the sandy
quality predominates the surface
should be rolled and thoroughly COM