STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



ten days they may be taken up after a thor- 

 oug^h watering, with the soil adhering-, and 

 set where they are to bear. They are equal 

 to potted plants. 



Potted plants have been exceedingly pop- 

 ular, and are sold in very large numbers. 

 Very much may be said in their favor, and 

 this we hear. There are some serious object- 

 ions to them, and these are seldom spoken 

 of. The chief advantage is that they may be 

 transplanted, even by inexperienced persons, 

 and receive little or no check. The pot is 

 sunk in the soil near the runner that is to be 

 potted, filled with earth and the young run- 

 ner placed in it and held in place with a small 

 stone. In two weeks it may be cut from the 

 parent plant and removed to a frame where 

 it is to be watered and possibly shaded for a 

 few days. Potted plants are costly, especially 

 if shipped far by express. If they remain in 

 the pots too long they become pot-bound and, 

 worst of all, the larvae of the crown-borer 

 and other enemies may be carried to the new 

 bed in the pots. 



If one wants potted plants without the 

 expense of transportation, he can buy layers 

 and pot them himself. Many of the potted 

 plants sold are quite unsatisfactory. I 

 usually report all that come to me. A good 

 potted plant is a prize, but not all are good. 



The conditions of success in transplanting 

 are that the plant be kept from drying while 

 out of the ground, that the roots be put in 

 close contact with the soil, that the crown 

 be level with the surface, and that shade and 

 moisture be supplied until the plant has re- 

 covered from the effects of removal. This 

 is where potted plants have the advantage ; 

 they are not taken out of the soil in which 

 they rooted. 



Almost as soon as the plants are trans- 

 planted cultivation should commence. The 

 object is not to kill weeds — although it does 

 this incidentally — but to keep a loose surface 

 so that the water coming up from the subsoil 

 by capillary attraction may be prevented from 



reaching the surface and escaping, but may 

 be held underneath the loose soil where it is 

 utilized by the plants. When we consider 

 that all the food taken up by the roots of 

 plants must be dissolved in water, and that 

 for every pound of dry matter deposited in a 

 plant, 300 lbs. of water must be evaporated 

 from its leaves, we get some idea of the im- 

 portance of conserving the soil moisture. 

 Within certain limitations, our crops are in 

 proportion to the supply of water. 



ENEMIES. 



In cultivating the strawberry we are likely 

 to have to do with some insect enemies. The 

 white grub is conceded to be one of the worst. 

 It is liable to be found in sod, and the safe 

 way is to avoid sod land, and plant where 

 cultivated crops have been grown for two 

 years at least. When the crown borer or 

 strawberry root worm gets into a bed, it 

 should be plowed up as soon as the crop is 

 secured, and a new bed should be coming on 

 at some distance from the infested one. 

 Enemies of the strawberry seem to be on the 

 increase, and the plan of taking but a single 

 crop and then plowing up the bed has much 

 to recommend it. 



Fungous diseases sometimes claim our 

 attention. The most common is the rust. 

 Ev'ery variety is subject to it, but some more 

 than others. Some claim to be able to keep 

 it in check by using the Bordeaux mixture. 

 If plants are kept growing vigorously they 

 are seldom injured to any great extent by the 

 rust. It is however, unsafe to plant a new 

 bed where a rusty one has been plowed under 

 within a year. 



WINTER PROTECTION. 



After carrying the bed through safely till 

 the end of the growing season, there is one 

 more precaution to take lest the plants be 

 injured by alternate freezing and thawing. 

 The injury comes in this way: soil expands 

 more or less by freezing in proportion to the 

 amount of water it contains. This expansion 



