MARKET GARDENING AROUND NEW YORK. 207 



six or seven years, upward of an acre of Strawberries in 

 this manner, alternating them with the vegetables grown 

 in our " trial grounds." As the process may be new to 

 some, I will briefly detail it. 



Just as soon as the fruit is gathered, the beds are well 

 forked up, and the runners begin to grow rapidly, 

 so that, in the vicinity of New York, we can always 

 obtain strong pot layers by the loth to the i5th of July. 

 These, if then planted out, never fail (if properly culti- 

 vated and the runners kept pinched off) to give a full 

 crop by June of next year; not only a full crop, but finer 

 fruit than is usually obtained by the other methods. 



Our manner of performing the operatic n of layering 

 the runners of Strawberries in pots is as follows: The 

 pots, which should not exceed two and a half inches in 

 diameter, are filled with the soil in which the Strawberries 

 are growing, and "plunged " or sunk to the level of the 

 surface; the Strawberry layer is then laid on the pot, being 

 held in its place with a small stone. The stone not only 

 serves to keep the plant in its place, so that its roots will 

 strike into the soil of the pot, but it also serves to mark 

 where the pot is; for, being sunk to the level of the sur- 

 face, rains wash the soil around the pots, so that they 

 could not well be seen unless marked by the stone. Any 

 good workman, after a little experience, will layer two 

 thousand per day. In ten or twelve days after the Straw- 

 berry layers have been put down, the pots will be filled 

 with roots. They are then cut from the parent plant, 

 taken up, and placed close together, and shaded and 

 watered for a few days before being planted out. If so 

 treated, not one plant in a thousand need fail. 



We grow only an acre or so each year, for the purpose 

 of testing varieties; but I am so convinced of the value 

 of the plan, that if I grew largely for market I would 



