Joint Convbntiok. 313 



may come up in the hills, but these can be pulled by hand. All 

 the weeds must be removed in this way, and hence the straw 

 should be put on thick enough to keep the weed seeds from ger- 

 minating, and you will have less work in cultivating than in any 

 other way. It is some little trouble to put the runners under 

 the straw, but once there, they will readily strike root and push 

 their leaves up through a heavy coat of straw and spread out on 

 top. They make a very strong and rapid growth, and the plan 

 seems to present all the essentials to a healthy and vigorous 

 growth. In the fall and winter he added a light covering of 

 straw; did not know as it was necessary, but after taking so 

 much pains to get a good bed he did not like to run any risk of 

 winter killing. He had tried only the Wilson in this way. 

 Would plant this variety about three feet apart. It would then 

 soon occupy all the ground. Other varieties should be set 

 further apart. By a little care the runners could be turned so as 

 have the plants in rows, but he thought it was better to have 

 them spread over the whole ground. Other varieties might not 

 do as well as the Wilson, but it was a great success with them. 



lie accidentally discovered the benefits of this plan ten or 

 twelve years ago, by emptying some straw beds, when the straw 

 Lad been broken up fine, on the ground where he was going to 

 have a strawberry bed. Oncoming to set the plants, he raked 

 the straw up into windrows, but it was so line that it worked back 

 around the plants, and for two years he sold the berries from 

 that end of the bed for ten cents a quart, extra. It made the 

 berries larger and handsomer, and the plants stood the heat much 

 better, and were less likely to sun scald. 



When set out in this manner, and tlie plants are taken from 

 beds near at hand, so as to prevent loss of vigor from exposure, 

 a very fair crop of berries can be raised the first year. When 

 set in the usual way, cropping the first year injured the plants, 

 but not when set in this manner. The second season the strong- 

 est sets will push their roots down through the straw and take 

 root, while the weaker ones will lie on top of the straw and soon 

 die. This is what you want, as it gives strong plants and pre- 

 vents the beds from being too thick set. He had been led to 



