A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 143 



heads before winter. With this high-pressure treatment, ma- 

 nuring, and tilth, there are quite a few crops that can be taken 

 off the ground in forty or fifty days. The energetic, go-ahead 

 gardener should have them off promptly the very day the crops 

 have arrived at their best, and more seeds or plants should take 

 their place within one hour. I know from experience that it is 

 a very hard matter to push things like this ; but I tell you, 

 friends, it pays. 



On another piece of ground, when I saw the crop had al- 

 most reached maturity I allowed the weeds and purslain to grow 

 for a while. It did not take the weeds more than a week or 

 ten days to cover the ground with a wonderful growth while 

 the crop was ripening ; and just as soon as. the crop was remov- 

 ed, weeds, tops, and all refuse matter were plowed under. In 

 doing this, you want to be careful that no seeds of purslain or 

 of any thing else have become matured enough to grow ; for if 

 you do you will seed the ground with weeds. Keep your eye 

 carefully on the weeds, and a good many times you can have a 

 heavy growth to turn under, almost as well as not. Be careful, 

 also, that this heavy growth does not take away any thing from 

 the maturing crop. A great many times it is better to wait a 

 little until the crop is mature enough to be gathered, rather 

 than to undertake to clean out the patch from weeds, etc , just 

 before maturity. In fact, the nicest way in the world to make 

 sure with purslain is to turn it under out of sight. Keep the 

 cultivator going, however, so that no chance sprig stuck up 

 through the dirt shall get on top of the ground and grow again. 

 At this season of the year (Aug. 21), if any piece of ground, 

 enriched as we have ours, is left idle for a week or ten days, 

 he weeds will make their appearance. I would rather have 

 the cultivator go over the ground, say once in five or six days, 

 if we can manage to have it. And this reminds me t!-:at we are 

 in the habit of using the Acme cultivator in the same way that 

 friend Terry uses his harrow arrangement shown on page 66. 

 We go through with the Planet Jr., just as he does. Then in 



