STATE POMOLOGICAI- SOCIETY. 73 



or three weeks all through the season till weed growth is stopped 

 by freezing in the fall. On my own plantation the last hoeing is 

 usually done in October. 



Having been growing berries for market twenty- Ave years, and 

 testing the various systems of hills, narrow rows and matted rows, 

 as well as studying results obtained b}' these methods in all the 

 Northern States, I am satisfied that the narrow row system is, on 

 the whole, the most profitable. By this method, each of the spring- 

 set plants is allowed to root a few of their first runners along near 

 the line of the row, after which all the runners are cut off as fast 

 as they appear. The advantages of this plan are that more of the 

 work of cultivation can be done by horse power, as in hill culture, 

 and yet there are always young plants enough to form one continu- 

 ous row, even if a few do get destroyed in any way. There is 

 abundant room for sunlight and air to reach all the berries when 

 ripening, which assures larger, better colored and higher flavored 

 berries than can be grown in matted rows ; also firmer fruit, that 

 stands transportation and sells for higher prices. There is another 

 advantage in this plan, — it costs but little to clean out a bed of this 

 sort after fruiting, and so renew it for auotlier season's crop at 

 little expense, while in matted row culture it is seldom profitable to 

 continue a bed in fruiting more than one year. I will say to anj' of 

 you who contemplate growing strawberries in matted rows, do not 

 try to get but one crop. While you can get a second crop without 

 much work, it will be small inferior fruit, and a poor crop. If you 

 are bound to grow in matted rows set new beds every year and 

 plow up the old ones right after fruiting. When the ground is frozen 

 in the fall, cover the whole field lightly with a mulch of old hay, 

 sti'aw, corn stalks, or any coarse tnaterial that will protect the plants 

 against the alternate freezing and thawing of late winter and early 

 spring. This need not be removed but when growing time approaches 

 pass along the rows and partially uncover the crowns of the plants 

 that the new growth may push through it. Thus the mulch can 

 remain to keep the ground moist and the fruit clean during the 

 rij)ening season. This question of moisture at ripening time is a 

 most important one. Many a field of strawberries that has received 

 fairly good care through the whole year has failed to produce profit- 

 able results, simply for the want of suflScient moisture just at the 

 fruiting season. Therefore, where it is possible without too great 

 cost, irrigation should be provided if the highest results are to be 



