THE FRUIT GARDEN 



209 



These same plants will also bear again the following fall, 

 making three crops in two years. After the spring crop is 

 harvested, the straw should be entirely removed from the 

 bed and the soil cultivated. The runners should be cut 

 the same as the first season. 



Propagation bed. After one has decided on the variety he 

 wishes to grow, he can raise his own plants without any 

 expense. A small corner 

 may be used for a propa- 

 gation bed. The plants 

 should be set out about 

 three feet apart and the 

 blossoms picked off during 

 the entire season. All the 

 runners should be allowed 

 to grow. In the late fall 

 the bed should be covered 

 with straw. In the early 

 spring the straw is re- 

 moved and the plants dug 



FIG. 69. Runner of strawberry plant. 



up and set out as already 



explained. A single plant 



may develop, from 20 to 50 runners. One great advantage 



of raising one's own plants, besides the saving of expense, 



is the fact that a larger per cent of the plants will live, and 



they get a better start than when shipped from a distance. 



HOME PROJECT 23 



Purpose. To raise fall strawberries. 



Directions. If you have room for a garden in your home yard, 

 try a small bed of fall strawberries. Send off during the winter 

 and get the catalogs of several reliable nurserymen, and pick out 

 the varieties that seem best adapted to your locality. It is well 

 to try at least two kinds. When the plants come, heel them 

 in at once, that is, open the bunches and set the plants in a trench 

 p 



