336 CORN AND BEANS, ETC. 



ing one hundred and twenty-five dollars and 

 sixty cents. In '72 the results were not very 

 different. A great many pretty experiments 

 can be tried in pruning and training the tomato, 

 which the amateur's genius or leisure will sug- 

 gest. The majority of us are satisfied to set 

 out the plants and hoe them. 



We next come to the treatment of the straw- 

 berry-beds previous to their fruiting, and can 

 assure the reader that the crop can be greatly 

 enhanced by proper culture, during April and 

 especially May. In the first place, if it was not 

 done in fall, a good top-dressing of manure in 

 the early spring stimulates the plants very much. 

 If the manure is fine, it can be scattered im- 

 mediately over the plants, as well as around 

 them. If they were covered with coarse 

 manure in the fall, then this can be forked in 

 between the rows in April. Good cultivation, 

 frequent stirrings of the soil until they begin to 



