COMMERCIAL STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 323 



In cultivating this plantation we use no coulter for cutting oft' 

 the runners, the object being to get as many to grow as practicable. 



The plants in either case must be kept clean. We do much 

 work with the hoe. 



In the plant plantation we have always put the rows four feet 

 apart and the plants in the row from twelve to twenty inches. This 

 ■depends upon the variety. Some will cover the whole ground at 

 the last named or a greater distance, while others, like the Parker 

 Earle, make very few and short runners. 



We have always planted the fruit plantation the same distance 

 between rows, but using a little more space between the plants, as 

 it is very desirable if good fruit is wanted not to allow the plants 

 to set too close from the runners. Hereafter, however, we shall re- 

 duce the distance between the rows in our fruit plantations to three 

 feet. The rows will not be allowed to -mat quite as wide, conse- 

 quently a little less fruit to the row, but more than enough rows to 

 make up this deficiency. This will conserve labor, giving a greater 

 proportion to the cultivator and that much less to the hoes. 



A cultivator is used for the fruit beds with a thin, sharp coulter 

 on one side, which cuts off all too rampant runners without disturb- 

 ing stolons that have caught on the same runners. 



This work all being properly done, the next thing is to cover 

 in the fall. We have had occasion to change our mind and practice 

 in this recently. We have not covered till ground was frozen hard 

 enough to bear up a team and wagon, but where the fall is long 

 and interspersed with freezing nights and warm days the foliage is 

 killed and the plants consequently weakened before this time comes. 

 There is no danger of the plants being smothered out any time after 

 they have become dormant if straw is used as a cover. If I were 

 intending to use straw stable manure, which is always advisable, I 

 would either wait a little longer or would first cover rather lightly 

 with straw and apply the other at any time later, even to mid-winter. 



I practice covering with straw very heavily. This prevents its 

 blowing off. My plantation is entirely unprotected, situated in a 

 broad valley down which the wind sweeps unobstructed and at 

 times with untiring energy. Still I have no cover blown off. A 

 few spears of straw thrown on the ground will blow away, but it 

 takes a strong wind to blow off the top of a straw stack. The 

 straws interlace perpendicularly and hold it fast. If your cover by 

 any means does blow off you must lose no time in replacing it. 



We remove the mulch over the rows as much as is necessary 

 in the spring, after we notice some plants trying to get through, 

 always being careful not to remove more than is necessary. 



