Strawberry 



forms an essential feature in every good kitchen garden, and the 

 general routine of work has to be arranged with due regard to this 

 crop, so that we need make no apology for alluding to it here. 



The Strawberry is the most certain of all our hardy fruits, and 

 js much valued both for eating fresh as a summer luxury and as a 

 preserve for winter use. Although it deserves the best of cultivation, 

 its demands are few, for under the poorest system of management it 

 is often extremely prolific, and not unseldom the most profitable crop 

 in the garden. We have choice of seeds, divisions, and runners in 

 making a plantation of Strawberries. The universal way is the best 

 way, and it consists in planting rooted runners of named sorts in an 

 open sunny spot in well-prepared ground any time during spring or 

 autumn, when fresh and good runners are obtainable ; but late 

 planting is undesirable, for when the plants have not time to establish 

 themselves before winter sets in many are lost. If, therefore, the 

 planting cannot be accomplished at the latest by the beginning of 

 October, it is better to defer the task until the spring. Plants put in 

 at the latter time should have the flower-stems removed, and will then 

 yield a heavy crop in the succeeding season. 



The best soil for the plant is a rich, moist, sandy loam, but a heavy 

 soil will answer perfectly if it is well prepared. The ground should 

 be trenched and liberally enriched with rotten manure placed between 

 the top and bottom spit, where the plants will reach it when they are 

 most in need. In a new soil that is rather stiff it will be advisable, 

 when the trenching has been completed, to put down the line and 

 cut shallow trenches, which should be filled with any rather fine kindly 

 stuff that may be at hand, such as old hot-bed soil, leaf-mould, or a 

 mixture of material turned out of pots, with some good decayed manure. 

 In this the young plants will root freely and quickly without becoming 

 gross, for we want a certain degree of vigour ; but an excessive leaf 

 growth may result in losses during winter, and a small crop of fruit in 

 the following year. Well-cultivated soils need no such special prepara- 

 tion, but in any case a good digging and a liberal manuring are abso- 

 lutely necessary. And here it may be well to state that after the plants 

 have obtained a firm hold on the soil it matters not how hard the 

 ground becomes. The practice of some growers in running a plough 

 lightly between the rows either for a mulch, or to give the plants the 

 full benefit of rain, does not in the least degree upset this conclusion, 

 for this only creates a loose and friable surface, and the operation is 

 so managed that the soil near the roots remains undisturbed. It 

 may be accepted as a secret of successful Strawberry culture that the 



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