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success at any time from August to March when the soil is in 

 a suitable condition of moisture. The greatest drawback to 

 fall planting is the drouth that so often prevails at that sea- 

 son. It is always more difficult to get plants to live then than 

 in the winter or spring. In Southern Alabama strawberries 

 planted in tbe late fall or early winter will, on rich soil, make 

 sufficient growth during the mild winter to produce a fair 

 crop in the spring, though not nearly so large a one as if 

 planted in August or September. In Middle and North Ala- 

 bama the plants will grow very little during winter, and 

 planting should be made as early as August to secure a crop 

 the following spring. It is always difficult to secure a supply 

 of strong, well rooted plants as early as August, and unless 

 the weather is unusually favorable it is difficult to get plants 

 to live at this season when taken up and handled in the usual 

 way. This difficulty can be avoided by striking the runners 

 in small pots plunged in the soil along the row. Such potted 

 plants with the ball of earth ad herein g to the roots can be 

 safely planted at any time when the soil is in proper tilth. 

 This method is often employed by market gardeners where 

 land is scarce and valuable, for it enables them to take some 

 early crop from the land before planting the strawberries. 

 The greatest objection to adopting this method on a large 

 scale is the expense of the pots. The labor of growing a field 

 in this way would be less than that of planting in the spring 

 and cultivating throughout our long summers. True the pots 

 can be used over again year after year, but the initial expense 

 would be heavy when many acres are grown. A modification 

 of this system that does away with the expense of the pots 

 consists in allowing the runners to strike in the open ground 

 and then taking them up with a ball of earth by means of 

 some of the various transplanters now on the market. This 

 system has not been much practiced in this state, but it seems 

 well adapted t;o the conditions in South Alabama, where the 

 labor and difficulty of properly cultivating spring-set plants 

 through the period of midsummer rains is very great, and 

 where the fall drouths often prevent planting in the ordinary 

 way until too late for the best results. In Middle and North 



