202 THE FLORAL WORLD AXD GARDEN GUIDE. 



a fork, and leave the soil there ; and I find it answers very well. It 

 will be as well to add, that I work in a good dressing of manure as 

 the digging proceeds, mixing it regularly with the soil, and not 

 shovelling it into the bottom of the trench, in the way some people- 

 adopt. In the spring, I plant tliis ground with early potatoes, and 

 they come oiF in the summer, leaving the ground in splendid con- 

 dition for the reception of the strawberry plants, the hoeing required 

 for the crops having brought the soil which was turned up from the 

 bottom into fine working order. Directly the potatoes are taken 

 up, a little manure is spread over the surface and forked in, and then 

 everything is ready for the planting. 



I am aware that the time is past for talking about doing things 

 last winter, and if no ground was trenched last winter and cropped 

 with potatoes that is suitable, the only thing is to select the ground 

 at once, and trench or dig deeply, and work in a good dressing of 

 manure. Whilst this is being done, layer a sufficient number of 

 runners, and a few over, for every one will not be fit for turning out. 

 Layer them in three-inch pots, use good soil, fasten the runners in 

 the pots with small pegs, select the strongest, and, where there are 

 two plants on one runner, nip off" the furthest, for it would only 

 weaken the other. Keep them well watered, and as soon as they 

 are nicely established, remove them from the old plants, and stand 

 the young plants in a partial shade for a few days or a week, and 

 then plant out. The laying of a few hundred runners takes up 

 such a little time and so small an amount of labour, that I really 

 cannot imagine why growers will go on in the old way of letting the 

 runners root in the soil, and then have to grub them up with a 

 trowel, when there is so much diff'erence in the growth of the plants 

 after they are planted, and the extra labour in watering necessary 

 to keep them alive. Various opinions prevail respecting the proper 

 distances at which the plants should be apart. Speaking in a gene- 

 ral way, at two feet from row to row, and eighteen inches in the 

 rows, the plants will do well, and produce good crops. Nothing 

 whatever is gained by overcrowding, and I find it advantageous to 

 leave a three-foot space between every second or third row, instead 

 of two feet ; it gives the plants more room, and aff"ords greater 

 facilities for gathering the crop without treading the plants about, 

 or knocking the layered runners over. After the plants are turned 

 out, the soil should be made firm round them, and kept well watered 

 until they get established, if dry weather sets in. 



I do not agree with mowing the foliage oif annually, but I am 

 convinced that if a portion of the old foliage is cut away with the 

 knife in August, the plants are benefited by it, for it gives the 

 young foliage plenty of room for development, and admits more 

 light to the crowns, and consequently assists the formation of flower- 

 beds the following season. All runners not required for layerings 

 should be removed immediately they make their appearance. It 

 takes a very short time to go over a good-sized plantation, if done 

 before the plants begin to root, when it is a matter of some little 

 difficulty. Leaving the bed to grow wild until autumn, and then 

 giving it a grand clear up, not only takes up more time, but it is 



