198 ABC OF STRAWBERRYJCULTURE. 



tile. With this arrangement the water may be introduced, say, 

 at each end ; and you will in time moisten the soil equally the 

 whole length of the bed. Now, while the bottom of the bed 

 is on a dead level to facilitate even watering, the sashes should 

 have an incline when placed on top of the bed, so as to carry 

 off the rain water ; therefore the north side of the bed should 

 be an inch or two higher than the south side. 



HOW TO GROW EXTRA-FINE STRAWBERRIES. 

 From Gleanings in Bee Culture, Sept. 75, 7,597. 



The beds I have described will probably be used for grow- 

 ing plants to set out in the fields rather than for producing 

 fruit, although by far the finest fruit can be secured by this same 

 plan of sub-irrigation When your beds are all full of plants, 

 as they will all very quickly be providing you follow up the 

 work without any neglect, you will probably need to set them 

 out in the open ground. This plot of ground, be it large or 

 small, should be thoroughly underdrained. The objection to 

 sub -irrigation in the open air, I have already given. When you 

 have potted plants to spare, put them out in ground well work- 

 ed up and fertilized, in rows 4 feet apart. I would put the 

 plants about a foot apart in the row. Run through them with 

 your hand cultivators or horse cultivators, keeping the ground 

 constantly soft and mellow, and free from weeds. 



In order to facilitate cultivating, every time you go to work 

 potting plants, stretch a string on each side of the row. Now, 

 have this string as near the mother-plants that are putting out 

 runners as you can, and have just the young plants potted in- 

 side of the string, and yet arrange to have no two nearer than 

 five inches from its neighbor. We do this in order that we may 

 keep running the cultivator clear up to the line made by the 

 string. The space between the plants must be kept mellow, 

 and free from weeds, by some of the various hand weeders. 

 Below is a cut of an excellent one for this purpose. 



A HAND WEEDER FOR WORKING AMONG STRAWBERRIES. 



