Special Methods of Culture 267 



outside. You can easily water too much. Set the 

 barrel on bricks to keep it off the ground. As the weather 

 begins to get cold, stop watering. Use a perfect bloom- 

 ing variety." When winter protection is needed, build 

 a square wooden frame around the barrel so that there 

 will be six inches of straw all around each side. Mr. 

 Ohmer averaged one-half bushel of berries to the barrel ; 

 forty quarts to the barrel have been reported. A device 

 for revolving the barrel so that it can be turned to sun- 

 light easily may be made by setting the hub of an old 

 buggy wheel into a log, and the other hub into the end 

 of the barrel. Strawberries in barrels ripen ten to four- 

 teen days earlier than those in the field. 



Barrel strawberry-culture fails more frequently than it 

 succeeds. The chief difficulties are that the soil settles 

 and pulls out the plants ; also that it dries out in winter. 

 It is very difficult to keep the soil in all parts of the barrel 

 moist. This method is more successful in England than 

 in North America. The strawberry barrel is merely a 

 novelty for the amateur ; it has no commercial value. 



