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that holds moisture well is preferable to one that is too dry, 

 but on the other hand, hill land is preferable to bottom land 

 on account of its greater freedom from spring frosts. For 

 growing berries for distant shipping a strong, rather stiff clay 

 soil is greatly to be preferred to one that is sandy, because 

 berries grown on such clay soils are firmer and carry to mar- 

 ket in much better condition. This is a point of great practical 

 importance to the distant shipper. 



Land that is full of foul weed seed or that is set to Bur- 

 muda, coco or Johnson grass should not be selected for 

 strawberries on account of the greatly increased labor and 

 expense of cultivation. All but very rich land should be 

 liberally fertilized to secure the best results, though some fruit 

 may be expected without fertilizers even on quite thin soil. 

 Stable manure is not advised under most circumstances on 

 account of the danger of introducing grass and weed seeds. 

 The proper mechanical condition and ability to resist drouth 

 can best be secured by plowing under a crop of cow-peas well 

 in advance of planting. This green manuring should be sup- 

 plemented by applications of acid phosphate and potash under 

 the row. Too large a proportion of nitrogen is not desirable, 

 since it sometimes causes a rank growth of vines at the ex- 

 pense of fruit, and renders the plant more liable to suffer from 

 rust. A light top dressing of nitrate of soda applied in the 

 spring just before blooming is often useful in increasing the 

 size of the fruit. 



Preparatiox of Soil and Planting. 



The land for strawberries should be deeply plowed, and 

 the plow should be quickly followed by the harrow, not once, 

 but three or four times in a place so as to pulverize all lumps 

 before they harden into clods, and to cover the entire surface 

 with a coating of fine mellow soil to prevent undue evapora- 

 tion. This quick harrowing of the soil immediately after 

 breaking is of the utmost importance for all crops, especially 

 on stiff lands, and it is a point that many farmers overlook. 

 In only too many cases the rough furrows are allowed to lie 

 and bake into clods that it may require weeks of labor to pul- 



