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plants will be ready for removal by August, and these, if carefully lifted and planted 

 with soil attached, duly watered, runners and weeds removed, will bear a crop of 

 fruit the following season. They are not equal to plants raised in pots or turves, 

 probably from the latter having the advantage of fresh soil and fibrous root formation. 

 A fourth plan is to place the runners in rows early in the autumn, dividing them into 

 sizes, the largest being placed in rows a foot apart and 6 inches from plant to plant ; 

 the middle size about 5 inches apart in rows 9 inches asunder, and the small in rows 

 6 inches asunder and 4 inches from plant to plant, leaving out every seventh row, so 

 that the plants are in beds. In these nursery beds they remain until March, when 

 they are transferred to their fruiting quarters. The strong plants only will produce 

 fruit the first year ; the weaker shauld have the flower trusses pinched off, so that the 

 plants will become strong and produce a full crop of fruit the following season. 



SOIL AND SITUATION. 



Soil. A strong loam is generally the most suitable, especially when of a limestone 

 nature, but any good friable medium liberally manured affords excellent crops of fruit. 

 Light and shallow brashy soils are the worst. They are either too loose or too hot and 

 dry. Such soils are improved by a dressing of clay marl, say 80 cartloads per acre, or 

 half a cartload per rod, applied in the winter, and dug in early in the spring. Gravelly 

 soils require clay, preferably dried and crushed ; chalk is also an excellent dressing for 

 light soils. The clay renders the gravel more retentive, chalk is moisture-holding ; 

 half a cartload per rod of either is a good dressing. Heavy loams, ditch scourings and 

 pond cleanings are admirable for light soils anything, in fact, that increases the depth, 

 and is of a humus-forming or moisture-holding nature. 



Very heavy soils are not good, but they may be made suitable by burning a 

 portion of the clay, incorporating it with the top soil and a portion of the stubborn pan. 

 Under-draining is necessary in wet land. Throwing up the ground roughly in the 

 winter, also adding charred refuse, old mortar rubbish, crushed brick-bats, anything 

 that assists the percolation of water improves heavy land. In dealing with strong 

 clayey loam, loosen the stubborn subsoil and leave it at the bottom, retaining all the 

 good ameliorated soil at the top, and lose no opportunity of bringing in parings and 

 scrapings of roads. Dustbin manure, freed of extraneous refuse, lightens heavy soils 

 wonderfully by furnishing the gritty matter they are deficient in. 



Situation. The strawberry is never found wild where water lodges, but always on 



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