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Page 45
The system given above applies not only to sandy loam, but also to
all varieties of clay, even the most stubborn. In the latter
instance it would be well to employ stable-manure in the initial
enriching, for this would tend to lighten and warm the soil. Care
must also be exercised in not working clay when it is too wet or
too dry. Mulch also plays an important part on heavy clay, for it
prevents the soil from baking and cracking. One of the best
methods of preventing this is to top-dress the ground with stable-
manure, and hoe it in from time to time when fighting the weeds.
This keeps the surface open and mellow--a vital necessity for
vigorous growth. Few plants will thrive when the surface is hard
and baked. Nevertheless, if I had to choose between heavy clay and
light sand for strawberries, I should much prefer the clay. On the
last-named soil an abundant winter protection is absolutely
necessary, or else the plants will freeze entirely out of the
ground.
The native strain of cultivated strawberries has so much vigor and
power of adaptation that plenty of excellent varieties can be
grown on the lightest soil. In this instance, however, we would
suggest important modifications in preparation and culture. The
soil, as has been already shown, must be treated like a
spendthrift. Deep plowing or spading should be avoided, as the
subsoil is too loose and leachy already. The initial enriching of
the bed should be generous, but not lavish. You cannot deposit
fertilizers for long-continued use. I should prefer to harrow or
rake in the manure, leaving it near the surface. The rains will
carry it down fast enough. One of the very best methods is to open
furrows, three feet apart, with a light corn-plow, half fill them
with decayed compost, again run the plow through to mix the
fertilizer with the soil, then level the ground, and set out the
plants immediately over the manure. They thus get the benefit of
it before it can leach away. The accomplished horticulturist Mr.
P. T. Quinn, of Newark, N. J., has achieved remarkable success by
this plan.
It is a well-known fact that on light land strawberry plants are
not so long-lived and do not develop, or "stool out," as it is
termed, as on heavier land. In order to secure the largest and
best possible crop, therefore, I should not advise a single line
of plants, but rather a narrow bed of plants, say eighteen inches
wide, leaving eighteen inches for a walk. I would not allow this
bed to be matted with an indefinite number of little plants
crowding each other into feeble life, but would leave only those
runners which had taken root early, and destroy the rest. A plant
which forms in June and the first weeks in July has time to mature
good-sized fruit-buds before winter, especially if given space in
which to develop. This, however, would be impossible if the
runners were allowed to sod the ground thickly. In principle I
would carry out the first system, and give each plant space in
which to grow upon its own root as large as it naturally would in
a light soil, and I would have a sufficient number of plants to
supply the deficiency in growth. On good, loamy soil, the foliage
of single lines of plants, three feet apart, will grow so large as
to touch across the spaces; but this could scarcely be expected on
light soil unless irrigation were combined with great fertility.
Nevertheless, a bed with plants standing not too thickly upon it
will give an abundance of superb fruit.
Strawberries grown in beds may not require so much spring mulching
to keep the fruit clean, but should carefully receive all that is
needed. Winter protection also is not so indispensable as on
heavier soils, but it always well repays. A thick bed of plants
should never be protected by any kind of litter which would leave
seeds of various kinds, for under this system of culture weeds
must be taken out by hand; and this is always slow, back-aching
work.
When plants are grown in beds it does not pay to continue them
after fruiting the third year. For instance, they are set out in
spring, and during the first season they are permitted to make a
limited number of runners, and prepare to fruit the following
year. After the berries are picked the third year, dig the plants
under, and occupy the ground with something else. On light soils,
and where the plants are grown in beds instead of narrow rows, new
beds should be set out every alternate year.
In order to have an abundant supply of young plants it is only
necessary to let one end of a row or a small portion of a bed run
at will. Then new plants can be set out as desired.
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