STRAWBERRIES. 195 



tried it, is to dispense with the mulch after the crop is in, 

 and instead to sow a row of cow-peas, some short, bushy 

 variety, between the rows, and chop them down when the 

 peas are nearly ripe, leaving the roots undisturbed ; the 

 foliage thus cut is to be left on the ground to shade and 

 enrich it, while the cow-pea roots will at once go to work 

 to make good their loss, and by the time setting and culti- 

 vation come around again, a second lot of foliage is ready 

 to be cut and used as a mulch for the fruiting plants ; by 

 this simple, inexpensive method the ground is greatly en- 

 riched, the rows and straggling runners shaded during the 

 summer, and a large supply of mulching grown on the 

 spot without the labor or expense of hauling it. 



It is not necessary, as once supposed, to make a new 

 bed each year; a strawberry field, if well fertilized and 

 cultivated, may, with profit, occupy the same ground for 

 three or four years, and sometimes more. 



The best time to set out the plants in our State is from 

 the middle of September to the middle of November, but 

 October is preferred as the month par excellence. Good, 

 strong plants will begin to bear in January, and keep on, 

 more or less, until May or June ; the main Florida crop is 

 gathered during February, March, and April; the ship- 

 ping season frequently lasting over seventy days. 



Remember that the strawberry is a gross feeder, it is a 

 great drinker, a confirmed toper, but it is just as great an 

 epicure. 



A celebrated grower of small fruits thus tells how to 

 fertilize this plant : 



' ' Use all you think you can afford, then shut your eyes 

 and put on as much more, and it will pay every time." 



As to the best fertilizers to use : this depends so much 

 upon the character of the soil in different localities that 

 the wisest plan is to make local inquiries, and find out who 



