92 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



that land in getting rid of those weeds after the plants are set 

 will more than offset any gain that you can get. Whereas if 

 the soil is perfectly prepared, no biennial weeds in it, no great 

 amount of weed seed left, then you can take care of the soil 

 with one-half the trouble and with a great deal less trying cir- 

 cumstances than you will where the soil is not well prepared. 

 I like to plant strawberries as often as I can in land that has 

 never had strawberries before, pasture soil or land that has 

 been in grass for a number of years, broken up at least a year 

 before I am ready to set plants. This is a very good plan for 

 all the varieties of strawberries, — breaking up land in the spring, 

 or two falls previous to the setting. The sod should be ploughed 

 deeply and the land thoroughly harrowed the first year, and the 

 first year's crop should be some crop that will stand a great deal 

 of heavy cultivation, like corn, or potatoes, or beans. If the 

 land is not in shape to plant any crops, use some such crop as 

 buckwheat or clover or some of those crops that can be ploughed 

 into the land and give it humus and put it into fine mechanical 

 condition. This preparation applies not only to the strawberry 

 but to all the small fruits. I know of no worse kind of soil 

 preparation than to leave piper grass roots to plant currants 

 and gooseberries in. I came across a place last summer where 

 a man had set quite a large orchard and the land had not been 

 thoroughly prepared. It was full of piper grass roots, and in 

 among the orchard trees he had set gooseberries and currants, 

 and the piper grass as we call it — it is witch grass in other 

 places — was coming up so thick among the roots that it would 

 be almost impossible at the end of the season to take care of 

 those bushes. If any one has had any experience in killing that 

 grass he knows how almost impossible it is to get rid of it even 

 with clean cultivation. So the preparation for any of the small 

 fruits should be as thorough as possible. 



I always believe in setting strawberry plants in the 'spring for 

 commercial purposes. In the garden I think the setting in the 

 fall is very good, because oftentimes when your vegetable gar- 

 den begins to go by about the first of September you can set 

 strawberry plants and get some return from them the next sea- 

 son. A friend of mine who lived in Porto Rico told me that 

 he could set strawberry plants in Porto Rico and have fruit in 

 three months, I told him I could do it here in six weeks. He 



