PREPARING AND PINRICHING THE SOIL. 6g 



berries the land that was planted the previous year in corn, 

 and probably secure a remunerative return, with little more 

 trouble or cost than was expended on the com. Or, he may 

 select half the area that was in corn, plow it deeply in Octo- 

 ber, and if he detects traces of the white grub, cross-plow it 

 again just as the ground is beginning to freeze. Early in 

 the spring he can cover the surface with some fertilizer — 

 there is nothing better than a rotted compost of muck and 

 barn-yard manure — at the proportion of forty or fifty tons 

 to the acre. Plow and cross-plow again, and in each in- 

 stance let the first team be followed by a subsoil or lifting 

 plow, which stirs and loosens the substratum without bring- 

 ing it to the surface. The half of the field prepared in such 

 a thorough manner will probably yield three times the 

 amount of fruit that could be gathered from the whole area 

 under ordinary treatment ; and if the right varieties are 

 grown, and a good market is within reach, the money re- 

 ceived will be in a higher ratio. 



The principle of generous and thorough preparation may 

 be carried still further in the garden, and its soil, already 

 rich and mellow, may be covered to the depth of several 

 inches with well-rotted compost or any form of barn-yard 

 manure that is not too coarse and full of heat, and this may 

 be incorporated with the earth by trenching to the depth of 

 two feet. Of this be certain : the strawberry roots will go 

 as deeply as the soil is prepared and enriched for them, and 

 the results in abundant and enormous fruit will be commen- 

 surate. English gardeners advise trenching even to the 

 depth of three feet, where the ground permits it. 



Few soils can be found so deep and rich by nature that 

 they cannot be improved by art ; and the question for each 

 to decide is, how far the returns will compensate for extra 

 preparation. Very often land for strawberries receives but 



