60 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



for cutting runners, being sharp on the edge and fastened with a bolt 

 so it can revolve. An old circular saw with the teeth broken off 

 would answer the purpose. Kunners will take root much faster if 

 covered with a Uttle dirt or a small stone to hold them down. This 

 can be done when hoeing the plants, and when they are hoed again 

 these i)lants will be strongly rooted and sending out runners them- 

 selves. Plants should be hoed and the ground cultivated ever}' ten 

 days during the months of June and July, after which the}' need not 

 be hoed as often. After the month of August, scarcely any 

 weeds will grow if this has been done. After the ground freezes so 

 that it will bear a team the plants should be covered with brush or 

 meadow hay. Straw can be used but it usually contains a great 

 many foul seeds, which make their appearance the foUowmg spring, 

 in the form of Roman wormwood, barn-grass, clover and sorrel, 

 making so much extra work that you will wish they had not been 

 covered at all. Our plants are usually' covered with meadow ha}', 

 which is as good as anything except spruce boughs. I have used corn 

 stalks, tomato vines and oat straw, when I had nothing else. If 

 ground is sheltered in any way, so that the snow drifts in and remains 

 on the most of the winter, the plants will have covering enough. In 

 some seasons when we have had a large amount of snow they have 

 been winter killed badlv when covered. A neisihbor of mine covered 

 his ground, a half acre or more of fine plants, very carefully one 

 season with spruce boughs. We had a large amount of snow, which 

 remained on the ground until late in the spring, and two-thirds of 

 his plants were winter killed. He thought he had mismanaged in 

 covering them, and re-setting the ground he had by fall a nice bed 

 of strong, new, healthy plants. This time he thought he would 

 make no mistake, and left them uncovered. We had but little snow that 

 season, an open winter, and he lost them all. This last fall he cov- 

 ered his plants again. It is always safer to cover them, but care 

 should be taken to cover lightly, the object being to prevent freezing 

 and thawing during spring months, which does more damage than 

 severe zero weather. Brush is, without doubt, the best covering, as 

 it does not not lie close to the ground, the limbs holding the snow and 

 ice up from the plants. 



PICKING AND MARKETING. 



Now then, supposing that we have an acre of plants in good con- 

 dition, having come through the winter and one year old W^e are 

 expecting a crop of berries and make preparations to market them. 



