Strawberries. 311 



necessary to the successful management of a plantation, the rows at planting 

 time should be much farther apart than is necessary with the hill system. A 

 common practice is to set the plants in single rows four feet apart, with the 

 plants twelve inches apart in the row. The runners which develop from these 

 plants are then allowed to take possession of the area for six to nine inches on 

 either side of theo riginal plants, thus making a matted row twelve to eighteen 

 either side of the original plants, thus making a matted row twelve to eighteen 

 for cultivation and gathering the fruit. This space can be reduced from thirty 

 inches to as little as eighteen inches where land is valuable and it is necessary 

 to secure maximum returns ; on thin soil, however, the greater distance is most 

 satisfactory. There is one advantage in the narrow cultivated space. After the 

 second crop has been harvested the runners can be allowed to take possession 

 of the cultivated middle, and when the young plants become thoroughly estal)- 

 lished the original rows can be broken up with a narrow turning plow or a 

 sharp cultivator. In this way a patch can be very satisfactorily and cheaply 

 renewed, and by a liberal use of suitable fertilizers the rotation can be kept up on 

 the same soil for several years. Some planters 'prefer to set the plants for the 

 matted row in a double row at planting time. The practice is to establish two 

 rows twelve inches apart, six inches on each side of the center of the matted 

 belt, setting the plants two feet apart in each row and alternating the plants 

 in the row, so that the plants actually stand a little over a foot apart, as shown 

 in the accompanying diagram : 



CULTIVATION. 



Clean and shallow culture are the watchwords of successful cultivators. 

 Growers Iiave come to realize that cultivation means more than the destruction 

 of weeds. Ridding the soil of weeds, thus removing the competition between 

 these interlopers and the plants it is desired to foster, is an important part of 

 the work, but not all. Cultivation has a beneficial influence upon the soil by 

 lossening it and making it more easily penetrated by moisture in the form of 

 rain or dew. By keeping a blanket of loose soil three Indies thick over the area 

 not actually occupied by plants, the evaporation of soil moisture is reduced : 

 more moisture is. therefore, retained for the use of the plants in the rows. 

 By conserving moisture, cultivation tends to counterbalance the evil effect of 

 drought. A better stand of plants can be maintained during a dry period on 

 well-tilled ground than upon ground that is poorly cultivated. The mechanical 

 effect of grinding the soil upon itself during cultivation reduces it to smaller 

 particles, thus exposing more surface to the action of soil moisture, and, as a 

 result, increasing the available plant food of the soil. The old saying that 

 "tillage is manure." If interpreted in terms of crop yield, is true, though, since 

 tillage' adds no plant food to the soil, the statement is not literally true. The 

 benefit from preserving a soil mulch, with its consequent economy in the use* 

 of soil moisture, is sufficiently important to justify thorough tillage. 



MULCHING. 



Covering the surface of the soil with dead or decaying vegetable matter is 

 the meaning of the term mulching as here used. 



OBJECTS OF MULCHING. 



Mulching in strawberry culture serves different purposes, depending upon 

 the locality in which the plants are grown. A mulch acts as a protection from 

 cold, prevents freezing and thawing and the consequent lifting of the plants 

 ("heaving out") ; it retards growth in cold regions by shading the crowns and 



