2 4. Strawberry Culture 



moss in a temperature high enough to cause growth, from being 

 planted too deep, or from not having the soil pressed firmly 

 against the roots. 



While a strawberry plant holds on to its roots and leaves 

 through the winter, they are not so essential in planting, in early 

 spring, as many suppose. If all the leaves and nearly all the 

 roots be removed it appears to make no difference. If the plant 

 is to be dried while out of the ground, the fewer leaves there are 

 to pump the moisture out of the crown the better. In planting 

 in early spring it is an advantage to shorten the roots. They 

 spread out better, and new roots are more likely to come out of 

 the crown above the old ones. Here is our method which is the 

 best we know of: The plants are taken up with spading forks, 

 put into wet sacks and carried to the cellar, where all dead leaves 

 and runners are removed. The roots are shortened to three 

 inches and the plants are put into shallow boxes and covered 

 with wet sacks. They are then carried to the field and perhaps 

 two hundred taken out at a time and put right end up, in a pail 

 containing a few inches of water. Two men, or a man and boy, 

 work together, one carrying the pail and the other a bright, 

 sharp spade. The ground being marked out, the spade is set 

 squarely across the mark and thrust down at an angle of forty- 

 five degrees and then pushed forward until there is sufficient 

 room at the back of it for the boy to place the plant in position, 

 where it is held until the spade is withdrawn and the earth falls 

 back on the roots. Bach plant is taken out of the water as it is 

 planted, and the soil adheres to the wet roots. As the man with 

 the spade steps forward to make another hole, he sets his foot 

 over the roots of the last plant, pressing the earth firmly against 

 them. A man and boy can plant five thousand in a day. When 



