122 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



color. Its further advantages are that it prevents the exhaustion of the 

 fruiting power of the plants. It is the maturing of seed that devitalizes 

 the plant. There are as many seeds in a little berry as in a large one, and 

 in this case the rootage is so abundant, and the roots go down so deeply, 

 that the plant is abundantly able to withstand all the demands made upon 

 it; whereas, in the thick matted row, the roots are short, merely going 

 below the dry line. More than half the berries are too small to pick, but 

 are left on the plant in large numbers, all dead ripe at once, so as to com- 

 pletely destroy its fruiting vigor. But in hill culture all the berries are 

 large and picked as soon as ripe, so that, as a matter of fact, there are never 

 more than a few seeds ripening at once. 



More than twice the work of keeping the runners off is saved in pick- 

 ing, as there is no hunting through dense foliage to find them, as they are 

 all clustered together, and their size requires only a few berries for a 

 quart. 



It also solves the question of drouth. It permits maintaining the dust 

 mulch over the entire surface, save the little space actually occupied by 

 the plant. 



In applying the winter mulch we can put it on thickly enough to con- 

 serve moisture without danger of smothering the plants, as it can be put 

 up close around the roots; whereas, in the thick matted row we are able 

 to put it only between the rows, thus permitting rapid evaporation all 

 through the wide row. 



The great difficulty in hill culture, heretofore, has been in keeping the 

 runners off. That objection is now overcome in the invention of the auto- 

 matic runner cutter. It is used as a walking cane, merely placing it over 

 the plant and pressing down about four inches. Two arms or fingers 

 quickly pass around, gather up the runners, and draw them into two slots 

 where the knives cut them off. A good active boy will go over two or 

 three acres per day, and get more fun out of it than he would at a ball 

 play. 



Every time we cut a runner, the plant will form a new crown and fruit 

 bud, and roots go down deeper, and new roots start from the new crown, 

 and thus the plant is built up until it attains immense proportions. If 

 the weeder is used, the plants should be set 30x18 inches; and, if we rely 

 on the Planet jr. cultivator, set plants 30x30 inches and cultivate both 

 ways. 



The half-matted row is the next best thing. Set in rows 3^ feet apart 

 by 18 inches, for cultivating with weeder, or 3^ feet by 30 inches for 

 Planet jr., to admit of cross-cultivation. Cut runners as for hill culture, 

 until the last of July, when the plants have become well established, the 

 ground mellow and moist, and the drouth terminated, The plants have 

 made large crowns, the roots grow long and well branched, occupying all 

 the soil in the immediate vicinity of the plant, and will throw out large, 

 stocky runners. The ground being moist, they will root quickly, and by 

 fall will be much larger than those which have battled with the drouth 

 and been threshed round all summer by the wind. There will be no hand 

 weeding, because the weed seed has germinated and has been destroyed 

 by the cultivator. 



As soon as runners have come out into the row and made one plant, 

 we run along each side with Planet jr. runner cutter, and clip runners off. 

 This will cause the plant to root quickly and make new crowns. Care 

 must be taken to pull the runners off between plants, in middle of the 



