144 ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



two or three days, or sometimes right away after, we go over the 

 ground with the Acme. This can be run close up to the leaves 

 of the strawberry-plants without doing them injury. It simply 

 pushes aside every leaf without cutting them off, and it leaves 

 the ground very fine and level. 



SELLING PLANTS; DIRECTIONS FOR SHIPPING THEM EITHER 



BY MAII, OR EXPRESS. 



As I have before hinted, we do quite a business in sending 

 strawberry-plants by mail and express. We often send them 

 out in March, and continue until June, or until the plants are 

 bearing fruit. When the season is favorable we commence 

 again in the middle of July and send them out until the ground 

 is frozen say November and sometimes into December. The 

 plants are taken up with a trowel, and all the dirt shaken off. 

 The roots are then washed and tied up in bundles. To keep 

 them from wilting, we use sphagnum moss. This moss is found 

 in the huckleberry-swamps of Ohio and many other States. It 

 has the peculiar property of never heating, even when quite 

 wet. In fact, its native place is a damp swamp, sometimes cov- 

 ered with water for quite a period. Your moss, however, must 

 not be too wet when put around the roots of the plants. The 

 best rule I can give for getting it just right is to take a double 

 handful of it, dip it in water if not already wet enough, then 

 squeeze out every drop of water you can get out with your 

 hands. Now put it around the roots, and tie them as tight as 

 you have a mind to, leaving the tops exposed. Before tying 

 them up, pull off all dead leaves and runners ; and if the top 

 is very large and the root rather small, pull off the largest out- 

 side leaves. Girls or women will do this very rapidly and nice- 

 ly. Now, in case there should be a severe drouth at the time, 

 and the plants are going to be out some days, the whole should 

 be wrapped in oiled paper or enamel cloth to prevent evapora- 

 tion. Outside put some manilla paper on which the address is 

 written ; but let the leaves be partly exposed. In taking up 

 your plants at a dry time, unless your soil is very loose and 



