FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 87 



a standard fertilizer, but advanced growers have come to consider it as 

 too rich in nitrogen, which produces foliage at the expense of fruit;. hence 

 should be applied sparingly in the fall or winter so the rains may carry 

 it down and thoroughly incorporate it with the soil. All coarse straw 

 and refuse should be raked off and not plowed under. An abundance 

 of root pasturage should be provided for and consequently every par- 

 ticle of the soil should be pulverized and brought in contact with the 

 oxygen to render the plant food available, and a reservoir created under 

 each plant to hold water to tide it over the drouths of summer. To 

 accomplish this, we go over the surface of the ground with a spading har- 

 row, then use the Acme harrow and cut it up and aerate it. Then go 

 over it with a heavy roller to firm and mash any remaining lumps; plow 

 as deeply as possible without bringing to the surface too much subsoil at 

 once. 



Then follow with the subsoil plow and break up the lower dense 

 stratum as deeply and make it as fine as possible, so its particles will 

 admit and hold many times as much water as in its natural dense condi- 

 tion, which shall be returned to the surface by capillary action for the 

 nourishment of the plants. We now roll the ground and then go over it 

 with a spading and Acme harrow until the whole upper stratum is as fine 

 as sifted ashes. It is then finished with the roller and an inch of surface 

 loosened up with the weeding machine to prevent evaporation. In this 

 condition the ground should be allowed to remain two or three days, that 

 the water may come up by capillary action and collect under this loose 

 earth to nourish the plants. 



GROW IN HILLS. 



My ideal in strawberry growing is to confine strictly in hills. The 

 advantages are that inasmuch as all plants are isolated, each has an 

 abundance of root pasturage, light, and air so that the highest develop- 

 ment of fruit is secured. The imperative requirements for hill culture 

 are that the ground be very rich and free from white grubs and destruc- 

 tive insects. The runners cut off are fully compensated for by having the 

 original plant stool up and assume immense proportions. The planta- 

 tion can be kept in bearing from four to six years because nearly all the 

 berries will be large and are picked as soon as ripe, thus relieving the 

 plant, and having comparatively few ripening at one time, a strain which 

 its abundant rootage can easily sustain. As all the fruit is in plain 

 sight, it can be picked much easier than hunting through the dense foliage 

 of the matted row. Then we are able to use the weeding machines 

 nearly all summer and keep a fine dust mulch over the entire surface, 

 having a perfect conservation of moisture with very little or no hand 

 weeding. The runners can quickly be cut with a sharp hoe, or much 

 faster with the aid of the runner cutter. This involves much less work 

 than many suppose, if you got at it right. 



The half matted row is the next best thing. All runners are kept off 

 until July. The weed seed having all germinated and having been killed 

 by the weeding machine and a fine dust easily maintained, the large, 

 vigorous plants secured will now throw out strong runners, which under 

 the influence of fall rains quickly strike root, and if we go along the edge 



