340 



IRRIGATION OF STRAWBERRY PLANTS. 



during the first season with, the horse-hoe, and 

 ploughed in the next summer, after producing the 

 crop and growing enough runners to reset the plat. 

 By this method every alternate season is left blank, 

 while the plants are becoming established. Some 

 plans unite the advantages of constant renewal with 

 a yearly crop. After the fruit has become mature, 

 the plant commences to make runners ; on each of 

 these, three or four plants may be formed. When 

 the first has been produced upon the runners, if its 

 roots are covered with a little- loose earth, and all 

 further extension of the runners prevented, the 

 plant will very speedily become strong, and, if 

 transplanted about the first of August, a crop may 

 be obtained the first year, and one season's unprofi- 

 table cultivation saved. If they are planted in hills, 



the cultivation can be done 

 almost entirely with a horse, 

 and the plants can be renewed 

 each year, as shown in the 

 diagram, and the old plants 

 destroyed. 



The strawberry plant is very 

 fond of moisture, and irriga- 

 tion at the time of the growth 

 of the fruit produces an astonishing increase in its 

 size. Many methods have been attempted to secure 

 this benefit with the least labor. Mr. Loudon gives 

 an account of the practice of a gardener in the 



