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usual methods of cultivation for more than two or three years, 

 and many take one full crop only and then turn under the plants, 

 growing some other crop on the land for a year or two before 

 planting again to berries. The practice of frequently renewing 

 the plot, as young plants give the finest fruit, will be found 

 most profitable and satisfactory. 



It is not intended here to encourage poor cultivation under 

 any circumstances, but only to combat the wild and extravagant 

 statements of a few writers who do much to discourage the gen- 

 eral cultivation of small fruits. A circular recently received, 

 with a highly-colored picture of a strawberry bearing the name of 

 the writer, contains the statement that the soil, after being dug 

 or plowed, should be il spread over with at least three inches 

 of thoroughly rotted stable manure." This would require about 

 eighty-five cords to the acre, varying in cost from five to eight 

 dollars a cord, according to locality. Here we have an outlay 

 of from four hundred and twenty-five to six hundred and eighty 

 dollars per acre for manure alone. If this pet berry, christened 

 in the name of the modest disseminator, requires such extraor- 

 dinary treatment, it will be well for purchasers to leave it alto- 

 gether in first hands. 



Some varieties require good strong soil and high cultivation, 

 and if the best treatment cannot be given them the} 7 had better 

 be left severely alone. As a rule, it will be safe to give all 

 kinds the best care possible. Do not spread over and half cul- 

 tivate too large an area, but plant less and cultivate better, re- 

 membering that it is the inferior fruit that gluts the market, and 

 that there is never a surplus of the best. A good sandy loam 

 will be found suited to a greater number of varieties than any 

 other. Whatever the soil selected may be, it will pay to have 

 it thoroughly prepared mechanically before the plants are set. 

 This would consist in deep plowing, cross plowing, cultivat- 

 ing, and harrowing. A sub-soiler run in the furrow of the com- 

 mon plow, loosening and lifting, but not bringing to the sur- 

 face the lower strata, will tend to ensure the crop against a pro- 

 tracted drouth, such as often happens at the season of ripening. 

 There is little danger of working land too deep. 



If these operations are preceded by the application of a suffi- 

 cient quantity of stable manure, it will have become well mixed 

 with the soil by the time the planting out is completed. 



