92 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



mother plant, one on each side. P. M. Augur of Middle- 

 field, Connecticut, used this method about 1880. The 

 double hedge-row, or twin hedge-row as it was then 

 called, was used by A. M. Purdy of Palm^Ta, New York, 

 about the same time. The spaced row did not come into 

 common use commercially until quite recently, although 

 it has been used by a few of the more painstaking growers 

 for many years. 



Early methods of renewing the bed. — Before the intro- 

 duction of the Wilson the problem of renewing hill plants, 

 or preparing them to fruit another season, was compara- 

 tively simple. Usually it was accomplished simply by 

 mowing and burning the leaves and adding fresh soil. 

 This was not done, however, immediately after the crop 

 was harvested, as at present, but in early spring, while 

 the plants were still dormant. Mowing and burning 

 came into favor early in the nineteenth century. In 

 1828, J. D. Legare, editor of the Southern Agriculturist 

 of Charleston, South Carolina, said : " The practice of 

 burning over old strawberry beds in the spring of the 

 year has long been and still is practiced in this state." 

 He favored letting all weeds grow in summer, "so that 

 the plants are not unnecessarily exposed to the influence 

 of the sun, w^hich is entirely too intense for them," and 

 then mowing and burning them in the spring. He 

 stated that in the Northern States, also, "Strawberry 

 beds are frequently biu-ned over in early spring, dry straw 

 being spread over them first, so that the fire will spread 

 rapidly without injuring the plants." 



Frequently hill plants were renewed in the way recom- 

 mended by Kenrick in his "New American Orchardist," 

 published in 1833: "In the vicinity of Boston the fol- 

 lowing method is often adopted. The vines are usually 



