STRAWBKRRY CULTURE. 59 



garden, specimens of which girted seven inches, and thirteen berries 

 filled a quart basket more than level full. A number of baskets 

 were sold by him at fifty cents per quart, when other varieties were 

 only worth twelve cents ; and usually this variet}^ when properly 

 grown, will sell for nearly double the price received for common sorts. 

 It is too much work to grow them in the field in this wa}'-. When 

 grown for market by the acre, there must be a chance to employ the 

 horse cultivator and the plants must be set farther apart. Conse- 

 quentl}^ there will be a smaller yield per acre. In field culture we 

 usually manure at the rate of ten cords per acre of good barnyards 

 or stable manure, spread evenly as possible and harrowed in before 

 setting the plants, going over the ground three times at least. One 

 or two loads of wood ashes, leached or unleached, would be very 

 beneficial, but it is not always easy to procure them. The plants are 

 set three and one-half feet apart by one foot or fifteen inches in the 

 row, as the plants are to remain on the ground two years or more. 

 The rows should be straight as possible. A line is stretched length- 

 wise the piece to be set, and a shallow furrow made with a horse and) 

 small plow. The horse is driven as close to the line as possible. 

 Three or four furrows are struck out and then the line is placed, 

 directl}' over and in the furrow, being high enough to be out of the- 

 way in setting the plants, and all are set by the line, so that the rows- 

 are straight and uniform. The plants are set a little below the level] 

 so that they catch the water from rain storms or showers and hold it. 

 In hoeing, the plants should not be hilled up. The surface of the 

 ground should be kept as level as possible. The crown of the plant 

 keeps forming on the top of the ground. The runners form on top • 

 and if care is not taken the plants will be above the space between 

 the rows and more liable to winter kill. This is a great trouble to 

 beginners, and the cause of many failures. The ground heaves badly 

 where the surface is uneven, plants are thrown up, the earth is 

 washed away from the roots, and thej' are ruined. Runners are 

 allowed to grow in field culture, and take root until the ground is 

 covered between the plants and the rows are one foot wide. This is- 

 called the matted row system. It will take nearly all the season for 

 them to fill up. When the rows are perfect, the runners should 

 then be cut and no more allowed to grow until a crop is taken off". 

 The cultivator will c«t or break off" most of the surplus runners, and 

 a proper use of the hoe will keep the plants uniform. A circular 

 piece of steel fastened to the side of a cultivator is an excellent thing. 



5 



