THE STRAWBERRY. 259 



When Strawberry plants are set out in the fall, unless 

 under favorable circumstances, many will fail to grow, 

 for the reason that each young plant or runner is sus- 

 tained in part by the old plant, and when detached, feels 

 the shock more than a rooted cutting or seedling plant 

 does, that has been growing for weeks on its own ac- 

 count. For that reason we have always advised all that 

 were intending to plant fresh Strawberry beds, to prepare 

 their plants a few weeks ahead by layering them in pots. 

 Two to four hundred plants are all that an ordinary 

 family will need, and two or three hours' work would be 

 all the time required to layer the plants in the pots. 

 One hundred plants so prepared will give more fruit the 

 first season than a thousand planted in the usual way, 

 and the i^lant forms a clump quicker, and much less time 

 is expended in keeping them clean. The use of layered 

 plants is recommended specially for summer and fall 

 planting. The plants may be oljtained, by tliis plan of 

 layering, as early as July, and the sooner they are set out 

 the greater will be the crop of fruit the next season, al- 

 though if, for any reason, the layered plants cannot be 

 obtained to plant before September, they will even then 

 produce a fair crop of fruit. Our own planting is 

 usually done by the first week in August, and we rarely 

 obtain less than a pint from each plant. 



In spring the use of potted plants would have no spe- 

 cial advantage, as, if planted in April or May, they would 

 have all the summer to grow, but, of course, little fruit 

 can be expected the season of planting. For this reason, 

 it will be seen that, to secure a crop quickly, the time to 

 plant is in July, August, or September, and from plants 

 that have been layered in pots. There is no arbitrary 

 rule for the distance apart at which Strawberry plants 

 should be set; but if the ground has been prepared as ad- 

 vised, the finest fruit will be had by giving them plenty 

 of room. For our own use we usuallv set four hundred 



