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Page 44
My next step during the second season is to mulch the plants, in
order to keep the fruit clean. Without this mulch the fruit is
usually unfit for the table. A dashing shower splashes the berries
with mud and grit, and the fruit must be washed before it is
eaten; and strawberries with their sun-bestowed beauty and flavor
washed away are as ridiculous as is mere noise from musical
instruments. To be content with such fruit is like valuing
pictures by the number of square inches of canvas! In perfecting a
strawberry, Nature gives some of her finest touches, and it is not
well to obliterate them with either mud or water. Any light clean
material will keep the fruit clean. I have found spring rakings of
the lawn--mingled dead grass and leaves--one of the best. Leaves
from a grove would answer, were it not for their blowing about in
an untidy way. Of course there is nothing better than straw for
the strawberry; but this often costs as much as hay. Any clean
litter that will lie close to the ground and can be pushed up
under the plants will answer. Nor should it be merely under the
plants. A man once mulched my rows in such a way that the fruit
hung over the litter on the soil beyond. A little common-sense
will meet the requirement of keeping the berries well away from
the loose soil, while at the same time preserving a neat aspect to
the bed. Pine-needles and salt-hay are used where these materials
are abundant.
Make it a rule to mulch as soon as possible after the plants begin
to blossom, and also after a good soaking rain. In this case the
litter keeps the ground moist. If the soil immediately about the
plants is covered when dry, the mulch may keep it dry--to the
great detriment of the forming berries. It is usually best to put
on the mulch as soon as the early cultivation is over in April,
and then the bed may be left till the fruit is picked. Of course
it may be necessary to pull out some rank-growing weeds from time
to time. If the hired man is left to do the mulching very late in
the season, he will probably cover much of the green fruit and
blossoms as well as the ground.
After the berries have been picked, the remaining treatment of the
year is very simple. Rake out the mulch, cultivate the soil, and
keep the plants free of weeds and runners as during the previous
year. Before hard freezing weather, protect again as before, and
give the plants similar treatment the following spring and summer.
Under this system the same plants may be kept in bearing three,
four, and five years, according to the variety. Some kinds
maintain their vigor longer than others. After the first year the
disposition to run declines, and with the third year, in most
instances, deterioration in the plant itself begins. I would
therefore advise that under this system a new bed be made, as
described, every third year; for, it should be remembered, the new
bed is unproductive the first year. This should never be forgotten
if one would maintain a continuous supply of berries, otherwise he
will be like those born on the 29th of February, and have only
occasional birthdays.
If the old bed is just where you wish, and has been prepared in
the thorough manner described, it can be renewed in the following
manner: When the old plants begin to decline in vigor--say the
third or fourth spring--a line of well-decayed compost and manure
from the cow-stable a foot wide may be spread thickly down between
the rows, dug under deeply, and young plants set out just over the
fertilizer. The old plants can be treated as has already been
described, and as soon as they are through bearing, dug under.
This would leave the young plants in full possession of the
ground, and the cultivation and management for three or more years
would go on as already directed. This course involves no loss of
time or change of ground for a long periods. If, however, a new
bed can be made somewhere else, the plants will thrive better upon
it. Unless there are serious objections, a change of ground is
always advantageous; for no matter how lavishly the plot is
enriched, the strawberry appears to exhaust certain required
constituents in the soil. Continued vigor is better maintained by
wood-ashes perhaps than by any other fertilizer, after the soil is
once deepened and enriched, and it may be regarded as one of the
very best tonics for the strawberry plant. Bone-meal is almost
equally good. Guano and kindred fertilizers are too stimulating,
and have not the staying qualities required.
As has been intimated before, the strawberry bed may often be so
located on the Home Acre as to permit of irrigation. This does not
mean sprinkling and splattering with water, but the continuous
maintenance of abundant moisture during the critical period from
the time the fruit begins to form until it ripens. Partial
watering during a drought is very injurious; so also would be too
frequent watering. If the ground could be soaked twice a week in
the evening, and then left to the hardening and maturing influence
of the sun and wind, the finest results would be secured. I am
satisfied that in most localities the size of the berries and the
number of quarts produced might be doubled by judicious
irrigation.
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