STRAWBERRIES. 105 



land and not give me any return for the whole of one season, 

 but though these plants occupy the ground for a whole 

 season the intervening- space need not be entirely wasted. It 

 is both economical and essential for horse cultivation to allow 

 from two and a half to three feet between the rows, as re- 

 course can then be had to inter-cropping-. For occupying 

 this space between rows, onions are particularly useful ; the 

 tops do not spread, while the bulbs are hig-hly profitable. 

 Two or three drills may be grown between the rows without 

 injury to either crop. 



METHODS OF PLANTING. 



I believe there are more plants of all kinds lost from careless 

 and improper methods of planting- than from any known 

 cause. In order that I may make myself more clearly under- 

 stood as to what is to be desired 

 and what is to be avoided, I have 

 prepared the attached illustrations. 

 In the first fig-ure you will see the 

 plant has been buried tqo deeply, 

 the heart is covered, and conse- 

 quently cannot grow. 



In the second it is not planted 

 deep enoug-h, and the roots are too 

 straight in the ground. 



In the third the hole has not been dug deep enough, the 

 roots striking the hard surface, causing them to double up in 

 an unnatural position, with the inevitable consequence, the 

 death of the plant during the first spell of hot, dry weather. 



The fourth plate represents the proper method of plant- 

 ing strawberries ; the roots are spread out in natural posi- 

 tion ; they are able to gather as much nourishment from as 

 far around the plant as it is possible for the roots to reach. 

 They are all feeding in a different place. The heart of the 

 plant is not buried ; the fresh shoots coming through the 

 crown meet with no resistance, having to push themselves 

 through an inch or two of earth, and still the neck or collar 



