Training the Plant 91 



to bear as soon as they are rooted ; these may be grown 

 to advantage in matted rows. 



Method of culture. 



If growing strawberries under intensive culture for a 

 near market, spaced rows or hills may be more profitable 

 than matted rows ; when catering to the general market 

 and producing fruit in large quantity, the reverse may be 

 true. Hill and hedge-row training are preferred by 

 market-gardeners who enrich the soil very liberally and 

 cater to a special trade which demands fancy berries. 



The labor required properly to care for the plants under 

 the different methods of training also should be considered. 

 One man may be able to care for five acres trained in 

 narrow matted rows easier than one acre trained in hills. 

 Three acres is about as much as one man can take care 

 of properly in hills under intensive culture; this may 

 represent a larger investment of time and money than 

 twenty acres under average field culture. Each man has 

 to decide what degree of intensive or extensive culture 

 will be most practicable for him and then select a mode of 

 training that will produce the grade of fruit that his 

 market prefers. 



SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF THE SEVERAL METHODS 



Hill training. 



In the East, this method is commonly associated with 

 the most intensive home garden or market-garden culture. 

 On the high-priced market-garden land near Boston, hill 

 training has been practiced for over a century. The 

 plants are set in beds one foot apart each way, four rows 

 to a bed, with a path two feet wide between beds. This 



