A FEW RULES AND MAXIMS. 337 



grower and his land usually grow rich together, and in the 

 same proportion. 



24. Once more I repeat, — in handling and setting out 

 plants, neve7' let the roots shrivel and dry out. After plants 

 and cuttings are in the ground, never leave them just long 

 enough to dry out and die. Keep them moist, — not wet 

 and sodden, but ?noist all the time. In setting out plants, 

 especially strawberries, spread out the roots, and make the 

 ground very firm about them. In trenching stock, put the 

 roots down deeply, and cover well half-way up the stems. 

 The gardener who fails to carry out the principles under 

 this number has not learned the letter A of his business. 



\lx. William Parry gives the following rule for ascertaining 

 the number of plants required for one acre of land, which 

 contains 43,560 square feet: — 



" Multiply the distance in feet between the rows by the dis- 

 tance the plants are set apart in the row, and their product will 

 be the number of square feet for each plant or hill, which, di- 

 vided into the number of feet in an acre, will show how many 

 plants or hills the acre will contain, thus : — 



Blackberries . . . 8 feet by 3 = 24)43, 56o( 1,815 plants. 



Raspberries ... 7 " 3 = 2i)43,56o( 2,074 plants. 



Strawberries ... 5 " i = 5)43, 56o( 8,712 plants. 



Strawberries ... 3 "16 in. 4)43,56o( 10,890 plants." 



The same rule can be applied to all other plants or trees. 



I would suggest that fruit growers take much pains to se- 

 cure trustworthy pickers. Careless, slovenly gathering of the 

 fruit may rob it of half its value. It often is necessary for 

 those who live remote from villages to provide quarters for 

 their pickers. Usually, the better the quarters, the better 

 the class that can be obtained to do the work. 



22 



