ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 173 



plant, at the same time keeping in mind that each new plant 

 shall be at least 6 inches from its neighbor. 



Secondly, as we keep the cultivator constantly running be- 

 tween the rows, the first thing to do is to make a narrow row 

 that is, avoid stretching a runner out at right angles so it will 

 run out where the cultivator will be sure to dig it up. Of course, 

 the man who runs the cultivator can swing around a plant thus 

 stuck straight out, or he can jump his cultivator over it ; but I 

 emphatically object to putting him to this trouble. His busi- 

 ness is to stir over every inch of ground possible, with the cul- 

 tivator ; and the man who sets the plants must bear this in 

 mind and keep his row narrow that is, he must gradually 

 widen the bed out to 18 inches or 2 feet. Of course, some very 

 thrifty plants will make the row a little wider at some points 

 than it is at others ; but it can be gradually widened as the 

 growth of any part of the bed demands. 



Thirdly, the one who spaces the runners should keep con- 

 stantly in mind that he is to fill up vacancies. If one of the 

 original plants should die, by stretching runners straight out 

 toward the spot it occupied, from each side, the vacancy can 

 very soon be filled up ; and during a favorable time, say just 

 after a rain, some of the oldest and best-rooted plants can be 

 taken up with a trowel, and moved to a part of the row where 

 more plants are greatly needed. Now, this is not a difficult 

 matter, neither does it require a great amount of labor, to have 

 a nice stand of plants at no place being greatly crowded, and 

 at no place having very many vacancies. I said I had tried a 

 great many men and boys. I have not tried a smart woman 

 yet ; but if I don't have better success, I believe I shall try one. 

 The trouble is this : Almost everybody I set at it gets along too 

 fast. He says the strawberries are all done. I go out and look 

 at a row ; but before I have gone a rod I will find plants taking 

 root not two inches from each other. I will find altogether too 

 many plants at one side of the old plant, and too few, or none 

 at all, on the other side. Then there will be runners sending 

 out their white roots that have not been put in the ground at 

 all ; a good many plants right out in the path of the cultivator, 

 when there was plenty of room to place them either at the right 

 or the left at least, very much more out of the way than where 

 I find them. I suspect the trouble is this : The one who does 

 the work is not particularly interested in the strawberry busi- 

 ness, and his mind is on something else. Dear friends, it is 

 next to impossible to do any sort of work well and thoroughly 



