One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture AnsweredWickson, Edward J. (Edward James)
Science
One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered
Wickson, Edward J. (Edward James)
Agriculture -- California
In planting strawberries in matted rows, it is usual to allow a few
runners to take root and thus fill the row. It is the judgment of plant
growers that plants for sale should not be produced in this way, but
should be grown from plants specially kept for that purpose.
Strawberries in Succession.
Is there any reason, in strawberry culture, when the vines are removed
at the end of the fourth year, why the ground may not be thoroughly
plowed and again planted to strawberries?
It is theoretically possible to grow strawberries continuously on the
same land by proper fertilization and irrigation. Practically, the
objection is that certain diseases and injurious insects may multiply in
the land, and this is the chief reason why new plantations are put on
new land and the old land used for a time for beans or some root crop,
so that the soil may be cleaned and refreshed by rotation and by the
possibility of deeper tillage.
Limitations on Gooseberries.
Why is it that gooseberries are not grown more in California? Is there
any reason, climatic or other, why the gooseberry should not be as
successfully grown in California as elsewhere?
There are two reasons. First, the gooseberry does not like interior
valleys, although with proper protection from mildew or by growing
resistant varieties, good fruit can be had in coast or mountain valleys.
Second, practically no one cares for a ripe gooseberry in a country
where so many other fruits are grown, and the demand is for green
gooseberries for pies and sauce, and that is very easily oversupplied.
Dry Farming with Grapes.
I have heard that they are planting Muscat grapes on the dry farming
plan. Will it be successful?
Grapes have been grown in California on the dry farming plan ever since
Americans came 60 years ago. Grapes can be successfully grown by
thorough cultivation for moisture retention, providing the rainfall is
sufficient to carry the plant when it is conserved by the most thorough
and frequent cultivation. Unless this rainfall is adequate, no amount of
cultivation will make grape vines succeed, because even the best
cultivation produces no moisture, but only conserves a part of that
which falls from the clouds. Whether grapes will do depends, first, upon
what the rainfall is; second, upon whether the soil is retentive; third,
upon whether you cultivate in such a way as to enable the soil to
exercise its maximum retentiveness. These are matters which cannot be
determined theoretically - they require actual test.
Cutting Back Frosted Vine Canes.
Vines have been badly injured by the late frosts, especially the young
vines which were out the most. Is there anything to be done with the
injured shoots now on the vines so as to help the prospects of a crop?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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