88 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



of mulching, the cost of fitting the land, or the manure and 

 fertilizers. One plot was composed of nine beds of four rows 

 each, rows one foot apart, plants one foot apart in the rows and 

 beds two feet apart. This system is commonly known as the 

 Kivet system. This made 4500 feet of land and took 3600 

 plants. The cost of planting, cultivating and keeping all run- 

 ners cut off was $25.10 or at the rate of $243 per acre for labor 

 of planting and growing. I charged nothing for the plants, 

 simply the cost of digging, trimming and planting, which I found 

 was about 15 cents per hundred. If I had purchased the plants 

 at $3 per thousand it would have cost $105 per acre, as it takes 

 35,000 to plant an acre this way. 



The other plot consisted of 1300 plants placed in rows three 

 feet apart and two feet in the row, thus making a little less 

 than one-fifth of an acre, or about twice the amount in the 

 other plot. On one-half of this bed were matted rows and on 

 the other half I placed the runners, letting five set to each 

 old plant and cutting off the rest. The cost of this bed was 

 $22.10 or $125 per acre, just about one-half of the other. Of 

 course the cost of growing the matted row half was less than 

 the set runners, but I did not keep separate accounts. 



As to the yields, the yield was nearly the same in proportion 

 on the two plots, that is, about 500 quarts on the Kivet bed and 

 1000 quarts on the other bed of twice the size. The matted 

 rows gave me the most berries and the set runners gave me a 

 little the best berries. This trial was not quite fair as I ran 

 out of plants for the Kivet bed of the varieties I planted in the 

 other and had to use some varieties that I do not consider as 

 good for that method of growing, but after two years' trial I 

 gave up the close planting as not profitable for me. 1 now 

 practice the narrow matted row for the field and the placed 

 runners for the garden. 



For planting, I prefer a good strong mason's trowel to any 

 other implement I have tried. When you dig your plants, pick 

 off all the leaves except one or two. As you pick over your 

 plants and take them up in your hands, twenty-five to the bunch 

 — dip the tops into a pail of Bordeaux mixture and place them 

 in a basket with some moss on straw, for the roots. 



Question: Do you cut off the ends of those bunches? 



