The disposition to plant in summer or autumn is steadily increasing, and the following reasons are good and substantial ones for the practice. In our gardens and fields there are many crops that mature in July, August, and September. The cultivation of these crops has probably left the ground mellow, and in good condition for strawberries. Instead of leaving this land idle, or a place for weeds to grow and seed, it can be deeply forked or plowed, and enriched, as has been explained. Even in July, potted plants may be bought, and unless the ground is full of the larvae of the June beetle, or the plants are treated with utter neglect, not one in a hundred will fail. Say the plants cost us two and a half cents each by the time they are planted, instead of one half to one cent as in the spring, is there not a prospect of an equal or larger profit? A potted plant set out in summer or early autumn, and allowed to make no runners, will yield at least a pint of fruit; and usually these first berries are very large and fine, bringing the best prices. Suppose, however, we are able to obtain but ten cents a quart, you still have a margin of two and one-half cents on each plant. Adding two cents to the cost of each plant to cover the expense of cultivation, winter protection, spring mulching, picking, etc., there still remains a profit of half a cent on each plant. Supposing we have an acre containing 14,520 plants, our estimate gives a profit of $72.60 for the first year. If we clear but a quarter of a cent on each plant, we have a profit of $36.30. The prospects are, however, that if we plant early in the summer, on rich ground, and give good cultivation, our plants will yield more than a pint each, and the fruit sell for more than ten cents a quart.
This estimate applies to the common market varieties raised with only ordinary skill and success. Suppose, in contrast, one plants the large, showy, high-flavored varieties, and is able to obtain from fifteen to thirty cents per quart. The expenses in this case are no greater, while the profits are very largely increased.
[Illustration: A Potted Plant]
Good potted plants can be bought for about $2.50 per 100, or $20 per 2,000. I do not think that they can be properly grown and sold at much lower rates and afford a living profit. Freight and express charges are a heavy item of expense, since the earth encasing the roots renders the packages very heavy, and but comparatively few plants can be shipped in one box. But, allowing for all expenses, I think it is evident that people can obtain a fair profit from potted plants within eight or ten months from the time of planting. Moreover, autumn-set plants start with double vigor in early spring, and make a fine growth before the hot, dry weather checks them; and the crop from them the second year will be the very best that they are capable of producing. Two paying crops are thus obtained within two years, and the cost of cultivation the first year is slight, for the plants are set after the great impulse of annual weed growth is past. With spring-set plants you get but one crop in two years. The first year yields nothing unless plants are sold, and yet the cultivation must be unceasing through May, June and July, when Nature seems to give no little thought to the problem of how many weeds can be grown to the square inch. If one wishes early plants, he certainly should practice autumn planting, for a plant set even in November will begin to make runners nearly a month earlier than one set in spring.
Thus far we have looked at the subject from a business standpoint.
Those who wish plants for the home supply certainly should not hesitate to furnish their gardens as early in the summer as possible. To wait two years of our short lives for strawberries because the plants are a little cheaper in the spring is a phase of economy that suggests the moon. Such self-denial in a good cause would be heroic.
If people will use a little forethought, they can practice summer and autumn planting with double success, independently of the plant grower. We have shown that there is no mystery in raising potted plants. Moreover, in the hottest summers there are showery, cloudy days when ordinary layer plants can be set with perfect safety. If the field or garden bed is near where the layer plants are growing, the latter can be taken up with earth clinging to their roots, and thus have all the advantages of potted plants. Even under the Southern sun, hundreds of acres are, in this manner, set annually in the vicinity of Charleston.
As the autumn grows cool and moist, layer plants can be obtained from a distance and set out profitably in large quantities. The chief danger in late planting results from the tendency of the plants to be thrown out of the ground by the action of the frost, and a few varieties do not seem sufficiently hardy to endure severe cold. I obviate this difficulty by simply hoeing upon the plants two inches of earth, just before the ground freezes in November or December. This winter covering of soil enables me to plant with entire success at any time in the fall—even late in November—instead of spring, when there is a rush of work.
The earth is raked off the plants in March or April, as soon as severe freezing weather is over; otherwise they would decay. Do not first put manure on the plants and then cover with earth—cover with earth only.
Thus it will be seen that each period has its advantages, which will vary with different seasons. If drought and heat come in early May, spring-set plants may suffer badly. Again, periods in summer and autumn may be so hot and dry that even potted plants can only be kept alive by repeated waterings. My practice is to divide my plantings about equally between summer, fall, and spring. I thus take no chances of failure.