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.
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.
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