38 



I prefer not to put them in bundles unless moss is mixed with 

 the roots before tying up. If packed in the box m layers alter- 

 nating with damp sphagnum, the roots at the centre or bottom, 

 and the leaves exposed to air and light, the plants may be sent 

 almost any distance without injury. Pack closelv, so that the 

 contents of the box cannot be displaced by rough handling. 



The box should be strongly made, and neither too large nor 

 too small, and it is better to have them made specially for the 

 purpose. All packages must be carefully directed, giving the 

 name and residence of both seller and purchaser, and the date 

 when shipped. This last direction will be found important. 

 Express messengers dare not retain a package long when the 

 date on the label is evidence of their neglect. 



CULTIVATION. 



When a plot has been properly set with plants, the next im- 

 portant thing will be to cultivate and care for them. Unless the 

 land is unusually clean, the cultivator should be run between 

 the rows the first season as often as once in ten days, followed 

 by the hand hoe and weeder. If the land is stocked with the 

 seeds of white clover, sorrel, couch-grass, and purslane, it will 

 require a persistent effort to keep the weeds in subjection. 

 Elsewhere will be found a description of some of the most use- 

 ful implements for this purpose. All disturbance of the roots 

 by cultivation should cease after the first of September. 



CUTTING RUNNERS. 



This work, like that of picking the fruit, will tax the muscles 

 of the back severely, but no more than that of weeding and 

 transplanting. Quite a number of implements have been in- 

 vented for cutting strawberry runners, but I have seen none of 

 any practical value. The runners are very strong, and any 

 machine, like a cultivator with knives or revolving disks at- 

 tached to the outside frame, are as likely to pull up the parent 

 plant as to cut its runners. There is this additional objection : 

 such knives or wheels run into the soil so deep as to cut too 

 many of the horizontal roots of the plant. A narrow hoe that 

 will pass between the plants, ground sharp, will do most of the 

 work, and require but little stooping. Large shears may be 



