Success With Small Fruits

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These six varieties, or others like them, will supply the first great
need of all large markets--quantity. With the exception of the last,
which is not productive in the North, and requires good treatment even
in the South, they yield largely under rough field culture. The fruit
can be sold very cheaply and yet give a fair profit. Only a limited
number of fancy berries can be sold at fancy prices, but thousands of
bushels can be disposed of at eight and ten cents per quart.

Still, I would advise any one who is supplying the market, thoroughly
to prepare and enrich an acre or more of moist but well drained land,
and plant some of the large, showy berries, like the Sharpless,
Monarch, and Seth Boyden. If he has heavy, rich soil, let him also try
the Jucunda, President Lincoln, and, especially, the Triomphe de Gand.
These varieties always have a ready sale, even when the market is
glutted with common fruit, and they often command very high prices.
When the soil suits them, they frequently yield crops that are not so
far below the Wilson in quantity. Fifty bushels of large, handsome
berries may bring as much, or more, than one hundred bushels of small
fruit, while the labor and expense of shipping and picking are reduced
one-half.

I suppose that Mr. E. W. Durand, of Irvington, N. J., obtains more
money from one acre of his highly cultivated strawberries than do many
growers from ten acres. Mr. H. Jerolaman, of Hilton, N. J., has given
me some accurate statistics that well illustrate my meaning. "My
yield," he writes, in 1877, "from one acre, planted chiefly with the
Seth Boyden, was 327 bushels 15 1/2 quarts, which were sold for
$1,386.21. A strict account was kept. Since that time I have been
experimenting with Mr. Durand's large berries, and have not done so
well. In 1878, I obtained $1,181 from one acre, one-half planted with
the Seth Boyden and the other with the Great American. The year of
1879 was my poorest. Nearly all my plants were Great American and
Beauty, and the yield was 121 bushels, selling for $728. The average
cost per acre, for growing, picking, marketing, and manure, is $350. I
am not satisfied but that I shall have to return to the old Seth
Boyden in order to keep taking the first State premiums, as I have
done for the past three years."

This record of experience shows what can be done with the choice
varieties if an appreciative market is within reach, and one will give
the high culture they demand. Last summer a neighbor of mine obtained
eighteen cents per quart for his Monarch strawberries, when Wilsons
brought but ten cents. At the same time, these superb rarities often
do not pay at all under poor field culture and in matted rows. We may
also note, in passing, how slowly fine old standard kinds, like the
Boyden, are superseded by new varieties.

I should not be at all surprised if the Charles Downing became one of
the most popular market strawberries of the future. It is already
taking the lead in many localities It is moderately firm--sufficiently
so, with a little extra care, to reach most markets in good condition.
It is more easily raised than the Wilson, and on thin, dry land is
more productive. A bed will last, if kept clean, four or five years
instead of two, and yield better the fifth year than the first.
Although the fruit is but of medium size, it is so fine in flavor that
it has only to be known to create a steady demand. The Kentucky
Seedling is another berry of the same class, and has the same general
characteristics--with this exception, that it is a very late berry,
In flavor, it is melting and delicious. It does well on almost any
soil, even a light and sandy one, and is usually very productive.

The best white strawberry I have ever seen is Lennig's White. When
exposed to the sun, it has a decided pink flush on one side. It is
beautiful and delicious, and so aromatic that a single berry will
perfume a large apartment. The fruit is exceedingly delicate, but the
plant is a shy bearer.

In the White and Bed Alpines, especially the ever-bearing varieties,
and in the Hautbois class, we have very distinct strawberries that are
well worthy of a place in the garden. From a commercial point of view,
they have no value. This may settle the question with some, but not a
few of us like to plant many things that are never to go to market.

In conclusion, if I were asked what is the most beautiful and
delicious strawberry in existence, I should name the President Wilder.
Perfect in flavor, form and beauty, it seems to unite in one exquisite
compound the best qualities of the two great strawberry species of the
world, the _F. Virginiana_ and the _F. Chilensis_. The only fault that
I have ever discovered is that, in many localities, it is not
productive. No more do diamonds lie around like cobblestones. It
is, however, fairly productive under good culture and on most soils,
and yet it is possible that not one in a hundred of the habitues of
Delmonico's has ever tasted it.

CHAPTER XIV

SETTING OUT PLANTS

We may secure good plants of the best varieties, but if we do not set
them out properly the chances are against our success, unless the
weather is very favorable. So much depends on a right start in life,
even in a strawberry bed. There are no abstruse difficulties in
properly imbedding a plant. One would think that if a workman gave
five minutes' thought and observation to the subject, he would know
exactly how to do it. If one used his head as well as his hands, it
would be perfectly obvious that a plant held (as in Figure _e_) with
its roots spread out so that the fresh, moist earth could come in
contact with each fibre, would stand a far better chance than one set
out by any of the other methods illustrated. And yet, in spite of all
I can do or say, I have never been able to prevent very many of my
plants from being set (as in Figure _a_) too deeply, so that the crown
and tender leaves were covered and smothered with earth; or (as in
Figure _b_) not deeply enough, thus leaving the roots exposed. Many
others bury the roots in a long, tangled bunch, as in Figure _c_. If
one would observe how a plant starts on its new career, he would see
that the roots we put in the ground are little more than a base of
operations. All along their length, and at their ends, little white
rootlets start, if the conditions are favorable, almost immediately.
If the roots are huddled together, so that only a few outside ones are
in contact with the life-giving soil, the conditions are of course
most unfavorable. Again, many planters are guilty of the folly
illustrated in Figure _d_. They hastily scoop out a shallow hole, in
which the roots, which should be down in the cool depths of the soil,
curve like a half-circle toward or to the very surface.

In the most favorable weather of early spring a plant is almost
certain to grow, no matter how greatly abused; but even then it does
far better if treated properly, while at other seasons nature cannot
be stupidly ignored. It is almost as easy to set out a plant correctly
as otherwise.

[Illustration: WRONG METHODS OP PLANTING]

Let the excavation be made deep enough to put the roots, spread out
like a fan, down their whole length into the soil. Hold the plant with
the left hand, as in Figure _e_. First, half fill the hole with fine
rich earth with the right hand, and press it firmly against the
roots; next, fill it evenly, and then, with the thumb and finger of
both hands, put your whole weight on the soil on each side of the
plant--as close to it as possible--and press until the crown or point
from which the leaves start is just even with the surface.

If you can pull the plant up again by its leaves, it is not firm
enough in the ground. If a man uses brain and eye, he can learn to
work very rapidly. By one dexterous movement he scoops the excavation
with a trowel. By a second movement, he makes the earth firm against
the lower half of the roots. By a third movement, he fills the
excavation and settles the plant into its final position. One workman
will often plant twice as many as another, and not work any harder.
Negro women at Norfolk, Virginia, paid at fifty cents per day, will
often set two or three thousand. Many Northern laborers, who ask more
than twice that sum, will not set half as many plants. I have been
told of one man, however, who could set 1,000 per hour. I should
examine his work carefully, however, in the fear that it was not well
done.

[Illustration: THE PROPER METHOD]

If the ground is so flat that water lies upon it in wet seasons, then
throw it up into beds with a plow, thus giving the plants a broad,
level surface on which to grow; for I think the best success will
generally be obtained with level culture, or as near an approach to it
as possible.

Always make it a point to plant in moist, freshly stirred earth. Never
let the roots come in contact with dry, lumpy soil. Never plant when
the ground is wet and sticky, unless it be at the beginning of a
rainstorm which bids fair to continue for some time. If sun or wind
strikes land which has been recently stirred while it is too wet, the
hardness of mortar results.

In spring it is best to shorten in the roots one-third. This promotes
a rapid growth of new rootlets, and therefore of the plants. In the
summer and fall the young plants are not so well furnished with roots,
and usually it is best to leave them uncut.

[Illustration: ROOT PRUNING]

It often happens that during long transportation the roots become
sour, black, and even a little mouldy. In this case, wash them in
clean water from which the chill has been taken. Trim carefully,
taking off the blackened, shrivelled ends. Sprinkle a couple of
tablespoonfuls of fine bone meal immediately about the plant after
setting, and then water it. If the weather is warm, soak the ground
and keep it moist until there is rain. Never let a plant falter or go
back from lack of moisture.

How often should one water? Often enough to keep the ground _moist
all the time_, night and day. There is nothing mechanical in taking
care of a young plant any more than in the care of a baby. Simply give
it what it needs until it is able to take care of itself. The plant
may require a little watching and attention for a few days in warm
weather. If an opportune storm comes, the question of growth is
settled favorably at once; but if a "dry spell" ensues, be vigilant.
At nine o'clock A.M., even well-watered plants may begin to wilt,
showing that they require shade, which may be supplied by inverted
flower-pots, old berry-baskets, shingles or boards. A handful of
weeds, grass, or even of dry earth, thrown on the crown of the plant
in the morning, and removed by five P.M., is preferable to nothing.
Anything is better than stolidly sticking a plant in the ground and
leaving it alone just long enough to die. Many, on the other hand,
kill their plants with kindness. They dose the young things with
guano, unfermented manure, and burn them up. Coolness, moisture, and
shade are the conditions for a new start in life.

As has been explained already, pot-grown plants, with a ball of earth
clinging to their roots, can be set out during the hot months with
great ease, and with little danger of loss. At the same time, let me
distinctly say that such plants require fair treatment. The ground
should be "firmed" around them just as strongly, and they should be so
well watched as to guard against the slightest wilting from heat and
drought.

In ordinary field culture, let the rows be three feet apart, and let
the plants stand one foot from each other in a row. At this distance,
14,520 are required for an acre. When land is scarce, the rows can be
two and a half feet from each other. In garden culture, where the plow
and cultivator will not be used, there should be two feet between the
rows, and the plants should be one foot apart as before. With this
rule in mind, any one can readily tell how many plants he will need
for a given area.

CHAPTER XV

CULTIVATION

The field for experiment in cultivation with different fertilizers,
soils, climates, and varieties is indeed a wide one, and yet for
practical purposes the question is simple enough.

There are three well-known systems of cultivation, each of which has
its advantages and disadvantages. The first is termed the "matted bed
system." Under this plan the ground between the rows is cultivated and
kept clean during the spring and early summer. As soon, however, as
the new runners begin to push out vigorously, cultivation ceases, or
else, with the more thorough, the cultivator is narrowed down till it
stirs scarcely more than a foot of surface, care being taken to go up
one row and down another, so as always to draw the runners one way.
This prevents them from being tangled up and broken off. By winter,
the entire ground is covered with plants, which are protected as will
be explained further on. In the spring the coarsest of the covering is
raked off, and between the rows is dug a space about a foot or
eighteen inches wide, which serves as a path for the pickers. This
path is often cheaply and quickly made by throwing two light furrows
together with a corn plow. Under this system, the first crop is
usually the best, and in strong lands adapted to grasses the beds
often become so foul that it does not pay to leave them to bear a
second year. If so, they are plowed under as soon as the fruit has
been gathered. More often two crops are taken, and then the land is
put in some other crop for a year or two before being planted with
strawberries again. This rude, inexpensive system is perhaps more
followed than any other. It is best adapted to light soils and cheap
lands. Where an abundance of cool fertilizers has been used, or the
ground has been generously prepared with green crops, plowed under,
the yield is often large and profitable. But as often it is quite the
reverse, especially if the season proves dry and hot. Usually, plants
sodded together cannot mature fine fruit, especially after they have
exhausted half their vitality in running. In clayey loams, the surface
in the matted rows becomes as hard as a brick. Light showers make
little impression on it, and the fruit often dries upon the vines.
Remembering that the strawberry's chief need is moisture, it will be
seen that it can scarcely be maintained in a hard-matted sod. Under
this system the fruit is small at best, and it all matures together.
If adopted in the garden, the family has but a few days of berries
instead of a few weeks. The marketman may find his whole crop ripening
at a time of over-supply, and his small berries may scarcely pay for
picking. To many of this class the cheapness of the system will so
commend itself that they will continue to practice it until some
enterprising neighbor teaches them better, by his larger cash returns.
In the garden, however, it is the most expensive method. When the
plants are sodded together, the hoe and fork cannot be used. The whole
space must be weeded by hand, and there are some pests whose roots
interlace horizontally above and below the ground, and which cannot be
eradicated from the matted rows. Too often, therefore, even in the
neatest garden, the strawberry bed is the place where vegetable evil
triumphs.

There are modifications of this system that are seen to better
advantage on paper than in the field or garden. The one most often
described in print--I have never seen it working successfully--may be
termed the "renewal system." Instead of plowing the matted beds under,
after the first or second crop, the paths between the beds are
enriched and spaded or plowed. The old plants are allowed to fill
these former paths with new plants; which process being completed, the
old matted beds are turned under, and the new plants that have taken
the places of the paths bear the fruit of the coming year. But suppose
the old beds have within them sorrel, white clover, wire-grass, and a
dozen other perennial enemies, what practical man does not know that
these pests will fill the vacant spaces faster than can the strawberry
plants? There is no chance for cultivation by hoe or horse power. Only
frequent and laborious weedings by hand can prevent the evil, and this
but partially, for, as has been said, the roots of many weeds are out
of reach unless there is room for the fork, hoe, or cultivator to go
beneath them.

In direct contrast with the above is the "hill system." This, in
brief, may be suggested by saying that the strawberry plants are set
out three feet--more or less--apart, and treated like hills of corn,
with the exception that the ground is kept level, or should be. They
are often so arranged that the cultivator can pass between them each
way, thus obviating nearly all necessity for hand work. When carried
out to such an extent, I consider this plan more objectionable than
the former, especially at the North. In the first place, when the
plants are so distant from each other, much of the ground is left
unoccupied and unproductive. In the second place, the fruit grower is
at the mercy of the strawberry's worst enemy, the _Lachnosterna_,
or white grub. Few fields in our region are wholly free from them and
a few of the voracious pests would leave the ground bare, for they
devour the roots all summer long. In the third place, where so much of
the ground is unoccupied, the labor of mulching, so that the soil can
be kept moist and the fruit clean, is very great.

In small garden-plots, when the plants can be set only two feet apart
each way, the results of this system are often most admirable. The
entire spaces between them can be kept mellow and loose, and therefore
moist. There is room to dig out and eradicate the roots of the worst
weeds. By frequently raking the ground over, the annual weeds do not
get a chance to start. In the rich soil the plants make great, bushy
crowns that nearly touch each other, and as they begin to blossom, the
whole space between them can be mulched with straw, grass, etc. The
runners can easily be cut away when the plants are thus isolated.
Where there are not many white grubs in the soil, the hill system is
well adapted to meet garden culture, and the result, in a prolonged
season of large, beautiful fruit, will be most satisfactory. Moreover,
the berries, being exposed on all sides to the sun, will be of the
best flavor.

In the South, the hill system is the only one that can be adopted to
advantage. There the plants are set in the summer and autumn, and the
crop is taken from them the following spring. Therefore each plant
must be kept from running, and be stimulated to do its best within a
given space of time. In the South, however, the plants are set but one
foot apart in the rows, and thus little space is lost.

I am satisfied that the method best adapted to our Eastern and
Western conditions is what is termed the "narrow row system,"
believing that it will give the greatest amount of fine fruit with the
least degree of trouble and expense. The plants are set one foot from
each other in line, and not allowed to make runners. In good soil,
they will touch each other after one year's growth, and make a
continuous bushy row. The spaces between the rows may be two and a
half to three feet. Through these spaces the cultivator can be run as
often as you please, and the ground can be thus kept clean, mellow,
and moist. The soil can be worked--not deeply, of course--within an
inch or two of the plants, and thus but little space is left for hand-
weeding. I have found this latter task best accomplished by a simple
tool made of a fork-tine, with a section of the top left attached
thus: T. Old broken forks can thus be utilized. This tool can be
thrust deeply between the plants without disturbing many roots, and
the most stubborn weed can be pried out. Under this system, the ground
is occupied to the fullest extent that is profitable. The berries are
exposed to light and air on either side, and mulch can be applied with
the least degree of trouble. The feeding-ground for the roots can be
kept mellow by horse-power; if irrigation is adopted, the spaces
between the rows form the natural channels for the water. Chief of
all, it is the most successful way of fighting the white grub. These
enemies are not found scattered evenly through the soil, but abound in
patches. Here they can be dug out if not too numerous, and the plants
allowed to run and fill up the gaps. To all intents and purposes, the
narrow row system is hill culture with the evils of the latter
subtracted. Even where it is not carried out accurately, and many
plants take root in the rows, most of them will become large, strong,
and productive under the hasty culture which destroys the greater
number of the side-runners.

[Illustration: NARROW ROW AND HILL SYSTEMS]

Where this system is fairly tried, the improvement in the quality,
size, and, therefore, measuring bulk of the crop, is astonishing. This
is especially true of some varieties, like the Duchess, which, even in
a matted bed, tends to stool out into great bushy plants. Doctor
Thurber, editor of the "American Agriculturist," unhesitatingly
pronounced it the most productive and best early variety in my
specimen-bed, containing fifty different kinds. If given a chance to
develop its stooling-out qualities, it is able to compete even with
the Crescent and Wilson in productiveness. At the same time its fruit
becomes large, and as regular in shape as if turned with a lathe. Many
who have never tried this system would be surprised to find what a
change for the better it makes in the old popular kinds, like the
Charles Downing, Kentucky, and Wilson. The Golden Defiance also, which
is so vigorous in the matted beds that weeds stand but little chance
before it, almost doubles in size and productiveness if restricted to
a narrow row.

The following remarks will have reference to this system, as I
consider it the best. We will start with plants that have just been
set out. If fruit is our aim, we should remember that the first and
strongest impulse of each plant will be to propagate itself; but to
the degree that it does so it lessens its own vitality and power to
produce berries the following season. Therefore every runner that a
plant makes means so much less and so much smaller fruit from that
plant. Remove the runners as they appear, and the life of the plant
goes to make vigorous foliage and a correspondingly large fruit bud.
The sap is stored up as a miller collects and keeps for future use,
the water of a stream. Moreover, a plant thus curbed abounds in
vitality and does not throw down its burden of prematurely ripe fruit
after a few hot days. It works evenly and continuously, as strength
only can, and leisurely perfects the last berry on the vines. You will
often find blossoms and ripe fruit on the same plant--something rarely
seen where the plants are crowded and the soil dry. I have had rows of
Tromphe de Gand in bearing for seven weeks.

With these facts before us, the culture of strawberries is simple
enough. A few days after planting, as soon as it is evident that they
will live, stir the surface just about them _not more than half an
inch deep_. Insist on this; for most workmen will half hoe them out
of the ground. A fine-tooth rake is one of the best tools for stirring
the surface merely. After the plants become well rooted, keep the
ground mellow and clean as you would between any other hoed crop,
using horse-power as far as possible, since it is the cheapest and
most effective. If the plants have been set out in spring, take oft
the fruit buds as soon as they appear. Unless the plants are very
strong and are set out very early, fruiting the same year means
feebleness and often death. If berries are wanted within a year, the
plants must be set in summer or autumn. Then they can be permitted to
bear all they will the following season. A child with a pair of shears
or a knife, not too dull, can easily keep a large garden-plot free
from runners, unless there are long periods of neglect. Half an hour's
work once a week, in the cool of the evening, will be sufficient. A
boy paid at the rate of twenty-five cents a day can keep acres clipped
if he tries.

If the ground were poor, or one were desirous of large fruit, it would
be well to give a liberal autumn top-dressing of fine compost or any
well-rotted fertilizer not containing crude lime. Bone-dust and wood-
ashes are excellent. Scatter this along the rows, and hoe it in the
last time they are cultivated in the fall. With the exception of guano
and other quick-acting stimulants, I believe in fall top-dressing. The
melting snows and March rains carry the fertilizing properties down to
the roots, which begin growing and feeding very early in the spring.
If compost or barnyard manure is used, it aids in protecting the
plants during the winter, warms and mellows the soil, and starts them
into a prompt, vigorous growth, thus enabling them to store up
sufficient vitality in the cool growing season to produce large fruit
in abundance. If top-dressings are applied in the spring, and a dry
period follows, they scarcely reach the roots in time to aid in
forming the fruit buds. The crop of the following year, however, will
be increased. Of course, it is far better to top-dress the rows in
spring than not at all. I only wish to suggest that usually the best
results are obtained by doing this work in the fall; and this would be
true especially of heavy soils.

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