Strawberry Culture 25 



I buy plants at a high price from two to ten dollars a dozen 

 I set them out with more care. They are put in water and the 

 place for each one is made very fine with the spade, after which 

 the plant is set by hand with great care. The crown must be on 

 a level with the surface, and damp soil in close contact with 

 every root. 



Just here I want to speak of another point of importance- 

 I discovered about thirty years ago that a plant sends out runners 

 only from one side the side farthest away from the old plant 

 that produced it. A knowledge of this fact may be turned to 

 good account in planting, for there is an advantage in having all 

 the plants in a row run in the same direction. It is an advant- 

 age to cultivate in the direction the plants are running, so as 

 not to throw the young runners out of place. Moreover, the 

 row is more uniform. When two plants in a row run towards 

 each other, the young plants are too thick*. If they run from 

 each other, there is a vacancy. Bach plant sends out its runners 

 from the side opposite to the runner that produced it. Bven if 

 the old runner is cut or broken off, one can easily tell where it 

 was attached to the plant, and no runners will come out on that 

 side. 



Cultivation 



The main object of cultivation is to prevent the escape 6f 

 moisture from the soil. Incidentally it prevents the growth of 

 weeds. It has been ascertained by careful experiments that 

 twenty-five tons of water are evaporated from an acre of bare, 

 uncultivated land every bright day during the growing season. 

 This is a tremendous waste, and most of it can be prevented by 

 frequently stirring the surface to the depth of two or three inches. 



