ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 133 



HOW TO GET I^OTS OF STRONG, VIGOROUS YOUNG PLANTS. 



We will suppose you have some rows of strawberries from 

 which you wish to get plants. If they are planted 4 feet apart, 

 and 2 feet from plant to plant, as friend Terry directs, you 

 are fortunate. If they are nearer by, it is not so well ; but you 

 can get along, even then. If the runners have already com- 

 menced to take root, loosen the plants with a trowel, and swing 

 them around so as to give you a chance to run the cultivator 

 between the rows. Now keep your horse going back and forth 

 until the soil is as fine as the dust in the road, or pretty nearly 

 that. Now get some old fine manure or compost the best you 

 can get hold of, and work it into the soil. If you can afford it, 

 put in a wheelbarrow load to every two rods ; then cultivate 

 some more until it is all mixed up. Rake the surface down flat 

 and level, then cover it with ashes an inch deep, if you have 

 the ashes. If not, put in hen manure pounded up fine ; manure 

 from pig pens ; peat from the swamps, or any thing else that is 

 good to make things grow. Now bring your runners back and 

 put them down in this rich soil, fixing each one in its place as 

 I have described. If you want to grow potted plants, put a pot 

 under each runner. Keep out the weeds and spread the run- 

 ners, spacing them judiciously as fast as they shoot out and you 

 will have plants to your heart's content. Fix as many rows in 

 this way as you wish plants. If you have only a small bed you 

 can do it in the garden with a rake, hoe, and spading fork. 



HOW TO CUT THE TIN. TIN TUBE) FOR TRANS- 



PI,ANTING. 



