Winter Meeting. 273 



will need no harrowing or leveling then, but as soon as possible in the 

 spring, harrow and pulverize thoroughly. 



Finish with a drag or roller, making the surface perfectly level iatid 

 well packed. This packing or working the ground down fine will rriake 

 the setting a much easier task, and will prevent the crowns of the plants 

 from being exposed an inch or so above ground, should a heavy rain 

 fall just after planting. After putting the ground to be planted in fine 

 condition, proceed to mark it off with a light marker that will make a 

 plain but shallow mark. Some use light sled markers for this pur- 

 pose, while others prefer wooden wheels on an axle, which they push 

 along, while still others plant by line, with spaces marked on it the dis- 

 tance the plants are to be set in the row. We prefer the sled or wheel 

 ma;rker, and prefer the rows marked both ways. We usually designate 

 the rows, as the picking row (or the wide row) and the temporary 

 row (or the narrow row). The picking row should be about four feet 

 wide, though some make it three feet, others three and a half. We 

 have tried the various distances, and have concluded that the four-foot 

 row is about right, as this distance will enable us to grow a good, v;ide 

 row; and allow space enough in the middle for the pickers without 

 tramping the vines and the outside berries. The temporary row, or, 

 as some would call it, the cross row, may be from two and a half to 

 three and a half feet wide. In dry soils, where it is difficult to grow 

 plants, two and a half feet is about right, but in average soils three feet 

 is the proper width. In a season like the one just closed, this row could 

 have been four feet, and yet a good row grown. 



We will suppose now the ground is prepared as above described, 

 and ready for the plants. Most of our growers have learned that it 

 pays to" grow their own plants in a special bed. If this is not done, it 

 will be necessary to buy them, in which case you should be very care- 

 ful to deal with only the most reliable plant dealers, as it is a great loss 

 and disappointment to plant and cultivate, and when fruiting time 

 comes, to find you have varieties that you did not buy, and which are 

 very unsatisfactory. If you grow your own plants, they should be 

 taken up a 'week or so before you are ready to plant, cleaned nicely by 

 removing all runners and surplus leaves, leaving only one or two 

 partly developed leaves on each plant. The plants should be tied in 

 bunches of convenient size, say fifty in a bunch, and placed in a cool, 

 damp cellar, roots down. If plants are shipped to you before you are 

 ready to set them, open the package, and place in cellar, as you would 

 home-grown plants. In setting, use a steel dibble. If the ground is 

 fine and well packed, the dibble may be short, with a wide blade, but if 



