The Strawberry Book. 13 



Unleached wood ashes is an admirable fertilizer. It 

 tends to produce runners, and hence is valuable in propa- 

 gating new varieties, or in securing what is technically 

 called a good spread, i. e., making single rows of plants, 

 set three or four feet apart in the spring, cover the whole 

 intermediate space by fall. Ashes, of course, should not 

 be used together with guano. 



No definite rule can be given as to the amount of ma- 

 nure an acre of strawberries requires. The best and most 

 successful cultivators I know? men who make a large 

 share of their income from their strawberries, in reply 

 to my question, " How much manure do you use?" have 

 invariably said, " All we can get." I have seen a field 

 of naturally strong soil, where the owner ploughed in all 

 the stable manure he could conveniently spread, then 

 spread and ploughed in a quantity equal to the first, and, 

 when his plants had become established, spaded a third 

 dressing in between the rows. The variety planted was 

 the Triomphe de Gand, and the result was an enormous 

 crop of immense berries, selling at the highest price, and, 

 I presume, an equally enormous crop of some market 

 vegetable the next season. For it should be noticed that 

 the system of cultivation adopted must in some measure 

 regulate the amount of manure applied. For instance, 

 where strawberries are planted in rows or hills, and are 

 to remain thus for two or three years, good results may 

 be looked for with perhaps half the amount of manure 

 required in the annual system where rows set out in 

 April or May are to fill the spaces with strong, vigorous 

 plants by the first of September. The finer the manure 

 the better ; and whatever is applied should be thoroughly 

 mixed and incorporated with the soil guano and ashes 

 excepted, which do very well if merely sprinkled on the 

 surface before a rain. 



With these two admirable fertilizers little and often 

 should be the rule. A fall top-dressing of light, strawy 



