172 ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



SPACING STRAWBERRIES IN ORDER TO GET THE BEST POSSI- 

 BLE RESULTS WITH THE LEAST AMOUNT OF LABOR. 

 From Gleanings in Bee Culture, Jnly 75, 1895. 



I have once or twice mentioned the difficulty of getting 

 strawberries for field culture evenly spaced over the ground 

 without having it cost more for labor than we could afford to 

 pay. Let us go over the matter briefly. 



Our strawberry-book directs that the rows be 4 feet apart, 

 and the plants 2 feet apart in the row. This is the plan Terry 

 has decided on, and he gets his fine even stands by letting the 

 runners go out and set pretty much their own way ; then in the 

 fall he goes over the plot and takes out the superfluous small 

 plants so none are left nearer than about 6 inches apart. I be- 

 lieve he assists in getting a complete matted row by spacing 

 the runners while they are beginning to root that is, he assists 

 nature by placing the runners so as to cover the ground evenly. 

 When it conies time to put on the mulch, the matted row is 

 from 18 inches to 2 feet wide ; and none of the plants, as I have 

 before mentioned, are nearer than 6 inches apart. Well, a great 

 part of our planting is done, as you know, in the early fall, aft- 

 er some crop is taken from the ground ; and while our fall-set 

 plants put out runners to a considerable extent, they do not, of 

 course, produce so full a stand as where they are planted in the 

 spring ; therefore it becomes exceedingly desirable to have the 

 new plants evenly spaced. In fact, we get finer and larger ber- 

 ries, because our plants have more room But it is exceedingly 

 desirable, as I have said, to have what plants there are, pretty 

 thoroughly distributed over the ground that is, over this strip 

 of ground, say 18 inches wide and the length of the field. 

 Now, I have for years been trying to find a man or boy who 

 would do this spacing, and do it well. I hope none of our 

 friends will feel hurt when I say that I have been again and 

 again disappointed. I have said to myself ," Now, I am sure 

 this man or boy will understand, with sufficient explanation, 

 just what is wanted, and that he will fall in love with the job, 

 just as I love it." In fact, I do not know of any prettier work 

 in the world than to take a nice piece of ground, with strong 

 thrifty plants putting out runners rapidly, and train them so as 

 to have a nice even beautiful strawberry-bed. You think the 

 matter is very simple, do you? Well, let me explain some of 

 the points that the workman must keep constantly in mind : 



First, he must swing the runners around to the right or left, 

 so that the new plants shall not all be on one side of the old 



