STRAWBERRIES. 109 



nurseryman whose climatic conditions are as nearly like our 

 own as possible. 



DISCUSSION. 



PROF. BAIRD. This is a subject everybody either has had experi- 

 ence in or wants to have. There should be plenty of questions. 



MR. WHET^AMS. I might say that I do not think there is a gentle- 

 man here who has had as much experience as Mr. Tomalin. He has 

 grown strawberries for several years and has always had a successful 

 crop. 



MR. TOMAT V IN. If I begin I am afraid I will be pulling Mr. Whel- 

 lams' paper all to pieces. 



I find the best way with plants is to take them up about the last 

 week in September. Take a bunch in your hand, trim them off with a 

 knife and put them into the ground as close as possible and let them 

 stand till Spring. You can then set them out and do not need to water 

 them. Put them in two or three inches apart. Cut roots off short. 

 Always cut them off about one-third. 



Strawberry roots grow near the surface. Put them all in same 

 depth. Make holes with dibber. I plant perhaps a hundred and not 

 get one a quarter of an inch lower than another. I have'nt time to 

 take pains with them and spread out the roots. The advantage of 

 transplanting them up in the fall is that a number of small white roots 

 are formed. These hold a little ball of earth and support the plant till 

 it is well established in its new position. 



MR. WnEUyAMS. Two years ago we were setting out a bed of 

 strawberries and some of my men went to work and set out six rows, 

 360 in a row. They planted them in the morning and made short work 

 of it and said that it did not take half the time my way did. I said I 

 would finish them. Three weeks later every plant in my two rows 

 was thriving, while more than a quarter of theirs had succumbed to 

 to the heat because of improper planting. 



Prepare ground first and see that it is moist enough. I have tried 

 the old sytem and it killed most plants. 



In the matter of the hill system. Land around here is infested 

 with weeds and I find that after the first season plants run and become 

 matted. With the hill system you are able to get in and pick weeds. 

 In the matted row system you cannot do that. The plants cover the 

 whole ground and if weeds come up you cannot get down on your 

 hands and knees and pick them out. Last year a traveller who passed 

 through here said he had been all over the province and mine were the 

 finest lot of strawberries he had seen. 



