400 Stale Ilurlicullural Society. 



under favorable conditions. It does involve considerable thought 

 and what some people call labor, but the returns are ample. Indeed 

 it is about the only thing in the way of farming that will enable a 

 man to pay the present high wages with a certainty of coming out 

 ahead, but this cannot be done on poor land. I have picked many 

 crops of berries that paid the entire expense of growing them, and 

 the purchase price of the land besides, and so, if I did not have the 

 best land I know of, I would not use the poor land I happen to have, but 

 I would buy another or rent, with the privilege of buying later on. I 

 would locate it as near the city manure piles as possible, but would go 

 further away to get extra good land, and then depend on rotating 

 crops and ploughing under leguminous plants to get nitrogen and 

 humus, and supplement this with ground bone, wood ashes, or what 

 is nearly as good, sulphate of potash. I would plan my work two 

 or three years ahead, and employ enough help to do every thing well 

 and at the right time to secure the best results. Every thing done 

 in this way yields a profit and a great deal of pleasure. I put a great 

 deal of time on fitting the land. I want the oxygen of the air to 

 come in contact with every soil grain to render the plant foods soluble 

 and immediately available for the use of the plants so they shall never 

 get hungry. I usually set the strawberry plants on a cone, or if 

 there be too much rubbish, I use a dibble, always exercising the 

 greatest care to have the top of the crown just above the surface, 

 and roots all separated and imbeded firmly in soft, mellow earth. My 

 favorite way is to grow them in the hedge row, that is a modified hill 

 culture. The rows are from thirty to thirty-five inches apart, and 

 then each is allowed to make enough plants so they will stand di- 

 rectly in line, and from six to ten inches apart, after which the run- 

 ners are all clipped ofif with the rolling runner cutter which does the 

 work very fast and effectually. The advantage of this is that the 

 plants are consolidated and arranged so that every leaf comes in di- 

 rect contact with the sun's rays, so that the assimilation of the 

 plant's food is perfect, and each plant has its own root pasturage be- 

 tween the rows, and is not making war on other plants to get food. 

 The plants being set in a straight row, only occupy a strip at first of 

 scarce two inches wide, and even here the cultivator teeth will break 

 the surface so as to destroy capillary passages, and the whole surface 

 is kept covered with the loose earth mulch, so the moisture cannot 

 get away. — Prairie Farmer. 



