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PLANTING AND CULTIVATION. 
Spring is the best time to plant, but planting is often extended or 
delayed until the last of June, and in some more southern sections it is 
done in the autumn. In this bulletin the subject is treated from the 
standpoint of spring planting. It is perhaps because of the fact that 
most of the work of preparation can be done in the pleasant fall weather, 
and because of the beneficial effect of the frost, snow, and winter rains 
upon the freshly plowed land, that spring planting is preferred; but 
there are also some advantages which attend the planting itself that 
are of importance. In the spring the roots bear transplanting with less 
injury than later in the year, and the early spring rains insure against 
the necessity of watering the plants, which would have to be done at 
the midsummer season. In the fall planting, it depends too much upon 
the following winter whether the roots would not be winterkilled. 
As early in the spring as the condition of the ground will permit 
work to be done—when it is dry enough to bear plowing and the soil 
will break up fine—rows should be marked off 4 to 6 feet apart and 
opened up with a large plow, going a sufficient number of times to 
make a furrow from 8 to 12 inches deep. Loose soil that the plow 
does not throw up should be taken up with a shovel or wide-bladed 
hoe. It is in these furrows that the crowns are to be set, the distance 
to be left between plants varying, according to the opinion of the 
grower, from 18 inches to 5 feet. 
The question of distance between rows, and between plants in the 
row, is one about which there are many diverse opinions, each grower 
defending his adopted space, either upon his idea of the needs of the 
plant or the purpose he has in view. For example, three men from 
different sections, each of whom is a successful and intelligent grower, 
writing to the author on this subject, differ widely on this point. The 
first has a sandy loam, naturally well drained; he says, ‘‘ rows should 
be 6 feet apart, plants 4 feet distant down the row and 12 inches deep.” 
The second, with a loamy clay soil, suggests as the best arrangement 
‘““4 feet between the rows, 18 inches in the row between plants, and 
from 4 to 6 inches deep.” The third, with a light sandy soil, ‘* prefers 
rows 5 feet apart, plants 2? feet from each other in the row, and 
crowns 6 inches below the level of the soil.” Of three German author- 
ities, Gdschke recommends 52 inches between rows and 40 inches 
between the plants in the row, and a few inches deep; Binz describes 
the proper distance to be 47 inches by 89 inches and the rows 8 inches 
deep; Brinckmeier will not agree at all to the advantage of the single- 
row bed, maintaining that the double-row bed is equally advantageous 
for the growth of the plants, and much better for the grower, as the 
yield is larger. 
Lebeeuf, a French authority, says: 

When planted in an open plat, the shoots should be 3} feet from each other, but 
if two are grown side by side (double rows) they should be 23 feet apart. For our 
own beds we have adopted a uniform distance of 4 feet between the lines, the plants 
