138 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



1,500 were cultivated on the matted row system, thoroughly hoed and culti- 

 vated. In the middle of November, both beds were mulched ; half of them 

 were mulched with straw, one-quarter with coarse stable manure, and one- 

 quarter were not mulched at all. The results are as follows: Those kept in 

 hills and mulched with straw, were decidedly the largest and finest berries ; 

 those kept in rows and mulched with straw were also very fine. Those in beds 

 and mulched with manure did not yield more than half as many berries, and 

 of an inferior quality, as these mulched with, straw, and these not mulched at 

 all were hardly worth picking." 



CONCLUDING EE5IAEKS. 



In conclusion I may indulge the remark that it is as true in strawberry 

 culture as in any other department of human industry, that '•' whatever is 

 Avorth doing at all is worth doing well." Whichever may be found the most 

 profitable mode of managing a plantation of strawberries for the market; in 

 the family garden, and more especially in that of the amateur proper, where, 

 almost any day a few moments can be devoted to the strawberry plat, and 

 where the quality of the product is really of greater importance than the 

 amount of time consumed, an intelligent application of the hill system is 

 decidedly to be preferred. If the planting is done in spring, and the planta- 

 tion kept in good tilth during the season, the fall will witness a size and vigor 

 of plants, that will astonish one who has never witnessed the experiment. 

 But, to secure the best results, fail not to keep off all runners ; do not wait 

 till they are fully or even partially grown and have extended themselves 

 beyond the foliage. They usually spring forth from the same bud as a leaf, 

 and simultaneously therewith, at which time they have made little draft upon 

 the vigor of the plant, and are easily removed with the thumb and finger. 



MULCHING. 



Do not fail to apply a winter protection of mulch, lightly covering the 

 entire surface, plants included. This should be removed, at least from the 

 plants, before the season of growth ; and, unless on quite light, mellow soils, it 

 should be removed entirely, to admit the cultivation and mellowing of the soil, 

 and the warm rays of the sun upon the surface. When the season is somewhat 

 advanced, and especially if a drought is threatened, the mulch should be 

 re-applied between and around the hills, to check the growth of weeds and to 

 keep the berries from the earth. 



Perhaps there is no more common mistake in the management of a planta- 

 tion of strawberries, than that arising from a forgetfulness, after gathering the 

 crop for the season, that next year will bring the need of another crop, and 

 that the vigor necessary for its production must be, in a great degree, stored 

 up by the plant during the coming summer and autumn. To enable it to do 

 this, culture, manuring, cutting off runners and general care and watchfulness 

 must not be intermitted. As with liberty, so with strawberries, — their price 

 is " perpetual vigilance." 



