RISE OF COMMERCIAL CULTURE 45 



quently put into the same rows, and some cultivation 

 given. In the fall the corn was harvested and any large 

 weeds cut down. The next season a fair crop of very fine 

 fruit was gathered and the runners were allowed to spread 

 over the ground. In some cases a single cultivation was 

 given in the spring. As the weeds made their appearance, 

 they were cut down with a sc>i:he and left upon the ground, 

 and by the end of the summer the runners would have 

 covered the surface completely, so the field was well 

 stocked with plants. 



"The next crop was a heavy one, except where the 

 plants had become too thickly set. After this the in- 

 crease of runners would soon make the patch too thick 

 and some measures were necessary to reduce their num- 

 bers. A heavy harrow, dragged across the field when the 

 ground was soft, was the means commonly used for thin- 

 ning the crop, and this treatment was generally followed 

 by another heavy yield of fruit. After this the crops were 

 found to be lighter ; the plants, being thus crowded to- 

 gether, could not be so productive, and by this time the 

 natural growth of bluegrass and white clover was found 

 to make rapid inroads upon the strawberries, and the 

 fruit diminished in value, so that it was considered more 

 profitable to break up the ground and apply it to other 

 crops. Some would allow the strawberries to remain 

 struggling for supremacy a few years longer, and would 

 continue to gather light crops of fruit from among the 

 grass, until it was no longer doubtful which was the legit- 

 imate occupant of the soil." 



Market garden culture at Pittsburgh. — By way of contrast 

 with this crude field culture, which was useful, no doubt 

 under these conditions, compare the intensive culture prac- 

 ticed by others at that time, as reported by the same com- 



