STRAWBERRY. 61 



heavy soil. If a handful of very fine compost or manure 

 is mixed with the soil around them at the time of plant- 

 ing it will very materially assist in their future growth. 



It is always best to select a cloudy day for planting, if 

 possible, but when only a few are to be set out they may 

 be watered and shaded, and their growth insured without 

 any regard to the weather. The distance between the 

 plants will depend upon what kind of cultivation is to be 

 given them. The oldest method of field culture in this 

 country, and the one practiced upon thousands of acres 

 in the Eastern States at the present time, is to plant in 

 rows from two and a half to three feet apart, placing 

 the plants about a foot distant in the rows. 



The beds are hoed during the early part of summer, or 

 until the runners cover the ground, after which no atten- 

 tion is paid to them until next spring. Then paths about 

 a foot wide, and at a distance of four feet from each other, 

 are made, thus forming beds with narrow paths, in which 

 the pickers are expected to stand when gathering the fruit. 



Two or three crops are gathered from these beds before 

 any change is made or cultivation is given, except that of 

 hoeing or plowing out the paths each season before pick- 

 ing time. 



When the beds have become so much crowded with 

 weeds and plants that the fruit is likely to entirely fail, a 

 plow is run through the center of each bed, forming a 

 new path, the runners being allowed to take root and fill 

 up the old ones. Another crop or two is taken, and then 

 the paths are again changed. Sometimes the beds are 

 burned over in the fall after the weeds have died down 

 and become dry ; or a heavy harrow is drawn over them 

 soon after the crop is gathered, tearing up the weeds and 

 a greater part of the plants ; while at the same time it 

 breaks up the soil so that the few remaining plants will 

 grow with more vigor, and there will be room for the new 



