CHAPTER XIV. 



SETTING OUT PLANTS. 



^^ 7E may secure good plants of the best varieties, but if 

 we do not set them out properly the chances are 

 against our success, unless the weather is very favorable. 

 So much depends on a right start in life, even in a straw- 

 berry bed. There are no abstruse difficulties in properly 

 imbedding a plant. One would think that if a workman 

 gave live minutes' thought and observation to the subject, 

 he would know exactly how to do it. If one used his head 

 as well as his hands, it would be perfectly obvious that a 

 plant held (as in Figure e) with its roots spread out so that 

 the fresh, moist earth could come in contact with each fibre, 

 would stand a far better chance than one set out by any of 

 the other methods illustrated. And yet, in spite of all I can 

 do or say, I have never been able to prevent very many of 

 my plants from being set (as in Figure a) too deeply, so 

 that the crown and tender leaves were covered and smoth- 

 ered with earth ; or (as in Figure b) not deeply enough, 

 thus leaving the roots exposed. Many others bury the roots 

 in a long, tangled bunch, as in Figure c. If one would ob- 

 serve hov/ a plant starts on its new career, he would see that 

 the roots we put in the ground are little more than a base 

 of operations. All along their length, and at their ends, little 

 white rootlets start, if the conditions are favorable, almost 

 immediately. If the roots are huddled together, so that 

 only a few outside ones are in contact with the life-giving 



