150 SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



keep it moist all the time till the crop matures. Insufficient 

 watering will injure and perhaps destroy the best of beds. 

 But this subject and that of irrigation will be treated in a 

 later chapter. 



When prize berries are sought, enormous fruit can be ob- 

 tained by the use of liquid manure, but it should be applied 

 with skill and judgment, or else its very strength may dwarf 

 the plants. In this case, also, all the little green berries, 

 save the three or four lowest ones, may be picked from the 

 fruit truss, and the force of the plant will be expended in 

 maturing a few mammoth specimens. Never seek to stimu- 

 late with plaster or lime, directly. Other plants' meat is the 

 strawberry's poison in respect to the immediate action of 

 these two agents. Horse manure composted with muck, 

 vegetable mold, wood-ashes, bone meal, and, best of all, 

 the product of the cow-stable, if thoroughly decayed and 

 incorporated with the soil, will probably give the largest 

 strawberries that can be grown, if steady moisture, but not 

 wetness, is maintained. 



Many advise the mowing off of the old foliage after the 

 fruit has been gathered. I doubt the wisdom of this prac- 

 tice. The crowns of the plants and the surface of the bed 

 are laid open to the midsummer sun. The foliage is needed 

 to sustain or develop the roots. In the case of a few petted 

 and valuable plants, it might be well to take off some of the 

 old dying leaves, but it seems reasonable to think that the 

 wholesale destruction of healthful fohage must be a severe 

 blow to the vitality of the plants. Still, the beds should 

 not be left to weeds and drought. Neglect would be un- 

 gracious, indeed, just after receiving such delicious gifts. 

 I would advise that the coarsest of the mulch be raked off 

 and stored for winter covering, and then the remainder 

 forked very lightly or cultivated into the soil, as a fertilizer 



