THE SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 373 



especially when fresh, whicli is destructive to foliage; but clean straw, or 

 swamp or marsh hay that is free from weeds, answers the purpose very well. 

 But it must not be put on very thick. The idea is, just enough to make a 

 thin screen, and yet not enough to hold the moisture long. Shade without 

 damp is the idea. Such light protection is good for the strawberry plant. 



MANURING STRAWBERRIES. 



A writer in the American Garden, after detailing the inconveniences which 

 result from the use of almost all kinds of stable manure among strawberries, 

 especially naming the germination of weed seeds contained in it as very 

 unpleasant, says: To avoid the annoyance incident to weeds and grass, my 

 own practice has been, during many years passed, to fertilize the ground when 

 strawberry vines are growing, by the application of oil meal and wood ashes 

 spread about the plants and worked into the soil. The growing vines will find 

 all the essential elements of fertility in these substances, both for making 

 strong and vigorous plants and for developing large and beautiful berries. 

 These substances can be applied at any season of the year ; and one may dis- 

 tribute a generous sprinkling about every plant without fear of producing 

 weeds or grass, or injuring the growth of the crop by too much manure. Still 

 the better time to apply such fertilizers is late in the autumn, so that all the 

 elements of fertility in the coarse materials may be rendered available before 

 the next growing season. 



SOOT. 



The American Garden considers soot one of the very best concentrated fer- 

 tilizers we have for plants, espei;ially those grown in pots, upon which it has a 

 marvelous and almost immediate efifect, driving, at the same time all worms 

 from them. 



At present it may be difficult to obtain soot in large quantities, but if there 

 were any considerable demand for it the professional chimney sweeps would 

 soon gather and offer it for sale as an article of merchandise. Large quantities 

 are not required, however, and the annual sweepings of the house chimneys and 

 stove-pipes furnish enough for a good-sized window full of plants. 



For outdoor use its effect is heightened by mixing it with salt in proportion 

 of one part of soot in bulk to ten parts of salt. Or it may be mixed with any 

 fine compost. The plants should be copiously watered after each application, 

 to wash the soot into the ground and prevent its being blown away by winds. 



For pot plants it is best used with water, a handful of soot, stirred well with 

 three gallons of water, in a common watering-can. In watering plants with 

 soot water it is advisable to use small quantities at the time, and more 

 frequently, rather than to charge the soil with more carbon than the plant can 

 readily assimilate. 



NATURE'S WAY OF MANURING. 



W. L. Curtiss in the New York Tribune says, that with all that man can do 

 he cannot make a soil equal to that received at the hand of nature. What is 



