658 JEFFERSON COUNTY, WISCONSIN. 



torn of the root. Then I press toward the top of the plant, 

 pressing the dirt close to the whole length of the roots. Now 

 I withdraw the dibble, fill the hole, and the plant is set. If 

 there are two or three persons to help transplant, it is economy 

 to have a boy to drop the plants, provided the roots are not 

 allowed to get dry. 



CULTIVATION. 



I do not allow the plants to fruit the first year, if they are 

 set in the Spring. I use a cultivator that will work deep and 

 not ridge the rows, cultivating and hoeing often. I never 

 allow the weeds to get a start, or the ground to get hard dur- 

 ing the whole Summer, but work cultivator close to the row, 

 regardless of the runners, until the new plants begin to root, 

 when I narrow up the cultivator during the remainder of the 

 season, so that the row of plants will be about twenty inches 

 wide at the end of the growing season. 



Plants seldom get too thick the first year ; if they do, I 

 .thin tliem early in the Fall. In garden' culture, where no cul- 

 tivater is used, I hoe deep, not, however, close to the roots. I 

 make use of a spading-fovk to good advantage just before I set 

 new plants. About the time the ground freezes up I cover the 

 whole surface of the bed with straw, leaves, or marsh hay, 

 just thick enough to hide the plants. In the Spring, as soon 

 as it is warm enough to start vegetation, I stir the mulching 

 and move enough off from the row, putting it between the 

 rows, to allow the plants to grow up through, and have a good 

 healthy color. If it is necessary to cultivate the bed in the 

 Spring, I remove the mulching from one row, cultivate it, then 

 move the mulching from the next into it, cultivate, and so on 

 through the bed. I do this just before the blossoming time. 

 1 pull large weeds, if there are any, until fruit is ripe. 



If I desire to keep the bed another year, I find it very 

 important to prepare it immediately after the crop is harvested, 

 in the following manner : I remove the mulching, if it is not 

 fine enough to work into the soil, cut the rows down so that 

 they will be about ten inches wide, by using a horse and small, 

 sharp steel plow, throwing the furrow from the row. This 



