146 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



against the plant, but after you close up the hole there is left 

 a vacancy at the root of the plant, so that the roots lie in an 

 open space and, consequently, do not do so well. 



Mr. C. L. Smith: I am surprised to hear Mr. Sampson say 

 that. For more than fifteen years we have emphasized the 

 fact that the dirt should be firmed about the plant the full 

 length of the root. If the dibble is shoved down the second 

 time to the same depth as it was the first time, the hole should 

 be filled full and the plant firmly set its full length. I like Mr. 

 Shepherd's suggestion about the spade. It makes a wide hole, 

 and if your plant has many roots it will give you a chance to 

 spread them out. In regard to the point Mr. Sampson brings 

 out about a hole being left at the bottom, the spade should be 

 set back after putting in the plant aad shoved as low the sec- 

 ond time as it was the first; it will make the plant firm the 

 whole length of the root, and the whole length of the plant 

 will be filled up against solid. 



Mr. C. W. Sampson: That is the only way we can get a good 

 healthy growth. 



Mr. M. Pearce: I think there is a g-ood deal in setting out straw- 

 berry plants. In the first place, you must recollect what kind they 

 are in putting thetn out; if they are strong growers, they must be 

 put further apart. For a number of years, I have used the spade al- 

 together in setting out plants. My g-round is prepared level, 

 smooth and nice. There is a line drawn across, and I put out my 

 plants not less than two feet apart in the row and sometimes three; 

 I think three is about right with Crescent and Warfield. I use a 

 spade, and a man follows right on with the plants, and I cover with 

 the spade again. My plants are made up into bunches of fifty each, 

 and then one man takes a spade and makes a hole, and another man 

 puts the plant in, and the spade is set back of the plant and the dirt 

 pressed over, and we go on in that way very rapidly. There is no 

 way of planting so quickly as with the spade. When we come to 

 cultivate, we go in with our hoes and draw the dirt out away from 

 the plants, and this leaves the plants two inches below the surface, 

 and you would think they would be buried; but after the dirt is 

 pulled away the plant is two inches lower than the middle of the 

 row. My plants are always kept a little lower than the middle of the 

 row. They stand the drouth better. Just as soon as they commence 

 running about, those runners are put in between and they are rooted; 

 every one is rooted about six inches apart. I think that is near 

 enough. They all make good roots, and in three weeks I can not 

 tell the new plants from the old ones. I go over those plants, and 

 after I have them arranged in that matted row everything that 

 comes out after that I cut off; and I think if you g-o to work and root 

 your plants, and see that they are well rooted the fore part of the 

 season, you will have no difficulty in getting strawberries. 



