STRAWBERRY CULTURE FOR DECEMBER. 



pounds of acid phosphate, a heavy crop 

 of fine berries will almost surely be made. 

 The fertilizer should be applied before 

 the manure. It is also good to use with- 

 out the manure. 



How TO Plant. 



Plow the land well and deeply, har- 

 rowing if cloddy. Sandy loam will 

 rarely need harrowing. Run off rows 

 three feet apart. Two and a half feet 

 will do if land is scarce, though it makes 

 plowing somewhat more tedious. Sow 

 in the furrow cotton-seed meal at rate of 

 300 to 500 pounds an acre. Mix it 

 with soil by running cultivator or plow 

 down the furrows. List in this with a 

 light furrow from each side. Work list 

 down very low with hoes or a horse 

 drag. Set plants fifteen inches apart, 

 or eighteen inches if it is a stout-growing 

 variety and the soil is very rich. Plant 

 deep enough to cover roots well. Plants 



can safely be set a little deeper in winter 

 than in spring. 



Other fertilizer can be used. I 

 recommend cotton-seed meal as being 

 less likely to damage newly-set plants 

 should it come in contact with their 

 roots. But there is but little danger of 

 this in the cool, moist fall and winter 

 weather. 



Kainit and acid phosphate can be 

 applied at any time afterwards around or 

 between the plants, and in quantities 

 above recommended. 



I often use a ton of cotton-seed meal 

 to the acre, applying it broadcast and 

 harrowing it in well before listing and 

 planting. Still a barn-yard manure can 

 be used to great advantage if likewise 

 broadcast and plowed in. Where plen- 

 tifully used no other kind of fertilizer 

 need be then applied. 



O. W. Blacknall. 



Kittrell, N. C. 



PEONIES. 



IRST, they are man-catchers. 

 Our good brethren delight in 

 their big, bold out-lines and 

 rich, warm colors. I believe 

 in remembering the men, — they are half 

 the world, you know. Plant liberally 

 enough of the peonies so that you can 

 afford to share with your friends. Have 

 a white, a pink and a deep red one if 

 you have not room for more. Your 

 husband's friends, the doctor and lawyer, 

 the minister and the editor, will appre- 

 ciate one of these grand posies, especi- 

 ally if arranged with a bit of the old- 

 fashioned ribbon-grass that nature seems 

 to have intended to go with the snow- 

 ball and peony. Then give that big, 



awkward neighbor boy one now and 

 then, or that rough-jacketed workman ; 

 it will do them good, and you also. 



The second thing I have learned 

 about them is that if one wishes variety 

 without duplication, he ought to pur- 

 chase his peonies all of one dealer. 



Some people say to starve peonies. 

 Our finest specimens are in the full sun, 

 with half shade a small portion of the 

 day, and the beds are mellow and deep ; 

 besides, we give a dressing of rotted 

 manure each year, and have from the 

 first. We have always found that luxu- 

 riant foliage precedes abundant flowers, 

 hence no starving for us. — Vicks' Maga- 

 zine. 



456 



