118 ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



house in the dim moonlight. Friend Terry was off to Hudson, 

 with berries; but his son and a hired man welcomed us. 



" You said you would be here between nine and ten ; but 

 you are a little ahead of time, are you not?" said the young 

 man. 



I always like to be ahead of time. It is a grand idea, in busi- 

 ness, boys, to make your promises, even in traveling, so that 

 you are on hand a little sooner than you agreed to be. You try 

 it awhile, and see if you don't find I am right. We were warm- 

 ly welcomed by all the family, even if we did come three or 

 four days before we were expected. Friend T. soon returned, 

 then got a lantern, and we went to see those wonderful straw- 

 berries. The first glimpse I ever had of the Grand Rapids let- 

 tuce was by the light of a lantern. I shall never forget it. By 

 the way, there is something wonderfully fascinating to me in 

 going about among the plants after dark. How cool and beau- 

 tiful the ground looked in friend Terry's new plantation of 

 strawberries ! (See cut on p. 81.) The beautiful, thrifty little 

 plants, each one as much like its neighbor as two peas can be 

 alike, at exact distances (rows four feet apart, plants two feet 

 apart in the rows), with all the intervening ground in process 

 of being raked until nothing could live except the strawberries 

 why, I fairly ached to get hold of a fine-tooth steel rake, just 

 to stir the beautiful, fine, soft rich loam. If there were any 

 weeds, they had not come to the surface of the soil. In fact, 

 weeds never get so as to be visible on the Terry plantation. 

 Then we went with the lantern over to that half-acre in full 

 bearing. (See p. 81.) But no photograph can begin to do jus- 

 tice to the sight we beheld. The varieties of strawberries are 

 selected so as to have no rusty leaves. . Every leaf is thrifty, 

 perfect, and has that bright new look that indicates a rank lux- 

 uriant growth. The whole ground between the plants is car- 

 peted with cut straw, so not a berry can find any thing gritty 

 or that will soil it in the least. Strawberries growing and rip- 

 ening on the "straw"! and, oh what clusters of them! It 



