160 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



and the season moist the cultivation during tlie spring may be comparatively deep, 

 but within a very few weeks the roots will have so extended themselves that they 

 will occupy the entire space between the rows, and if the deep cultivation is con- 

 tinued, the roots will be injured and the growth of the plants checlved. Ordinarily 

 if the ground is worked to the depth of 1% or 2 inches after the first month, the 

 best results will be secured, as it will be amply deep to destroy the weeds and 

 conserve moisture, and it will not injure the roots. While cultivators with some- 

 what wider shovels may be used during the spring, after the weather becomes dry 

 those with spike or, at least, very narrow teeth, should be used. Some have recom- 

 mended the use of weeders for cultivating strawberries, but while they get over the 

 ground quickly and leave it in an excellent condition, they loosen many of the 

 plants, even though they do not break them off, and it is not advisable to run them 

 over rows. However, when the land has been carefully marked and the plants 

 set in straight rows, weeders can often be used with good results, by first remov- 

 ing such of the teeth as would touch the plants, and when weeders are made with 

 removable wings they can be so narrowed down that they will work between the 

 rows, and then form an excellent substitute for cultivators. 



The ideal method of cultivating strawberries is to have the land at all times in 

 about the condition it would be if worked with a garden rake, and this can only 

 be secured when tools with narrow teeth are used. If the soil is inclined to bake, it 

 will often be advisable to break the crust that forms about the plants after a rain, 

 and during the season it should not be neglected whenever necessary to keep down 

 the weeds and prevent the formation of a crust. As a substitute for the hoe, a 

 light potato hook is recommended, as this can be used to work closely about the 

 plants without danger of injuring them, and will leave the surface in better condi- 

 tion than the hoe. 



During the first season the plants should not be allowed to bear fruit, and as 

 soon as the blossom stalks are large enough to permit of its being done readily, 

 they should be broken or cut out. Where the plants start to form layers in large 

 numbers, early in the season, it will be advisable to remove them. This may be 

 done with a hoe. or with some of the cutters made for the purpose. The rolling 

 cutters that are attached to a cultivator frame will remove some of the runners, but 

 do not do it thoroughly, and their use is seldom satisfactory. 



After the middle of July plants that are to be grown in matted rows are allowed 

 to layer, and ordinarily no attention is paid to assisting them, but if the season is 

 very dry, and few runners are formed they may be layered by hand. Some growers 

 also find it advisable to layer the plants by hand, and thus distribute them so that 

 the ground will be occupied to the best advantage. When the plants are two feet 

 apart, two runners are layered at eitlier side of each original plant, so that they 

 will form a square with the old plant in the center. The other runners are re- 

 moved and the plants are allowed to thicken up and give nearly as good results as 

 can be obtained from hill culture. 



The growers who plant so as to work the ground both ways, and still wish to 

 grow the plants in> matted rows, are only able to keep up this practice until about 

 the middle of July, and after that work the land in one direction only. In this 

 way the runners are distributed lengthwise of the rows, where they soon become 

 layered. It will generally be best to restrict the width of the row to eight or ten 

 inches. 



The care of plants to be grown in hills will be much the same except that 

 throughout the season all runners are cut off as soon as they appear, and as a re- 

 sult a number of crowns will be formed by each plant and the plants will so 

 thicken up that they will occupy a space a foot or more in diameter. 



MULCHING. 



Especially upon land where the plants are likely to be heaved by its freezing and 

 thawing during the winter, the use of a mulch will be advisable, and for the 

 hill plants it should seldom be dispensed with upon any soil. On light soils there 

 will be comparatively little injury to plants grown in matted rows, and the use 

 of a mulch as a winter protection will not be necessary, although if material can 

 be readily secured, its use even then will be advisable. It will generally be best to 

 defer the spreading of the mulch until the ground is frozen. The materials used may 

 be such as can be readily secured and that are free from the seeds of grass, weeds, 

 etc. If it can be obtained, a mulch of marsh hay will be desirable, but straw 

 answers very well. Where forest leaves can be easily secured they may be used 



