ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 205 



OUR H\.I,F-ACRE STRAWBSRRY-PVTCH WITH PLANTS TWO 

 FEST APART EACH WAY. 



Last fall I told you about this. We are just now (May 15) 

 having fun running the wheel-hoe through it after every sum- 

 mer shower, cultivating it in all three directions, as shown in 

 the diagram. The ground is getting so soft and fine that the 

 boys do not dislike the job of cultivating it at all ; and, in fact, 

 it is but little work to keep it clean, and the ground soft and 

 fine. The plants are growing amazingly. Tne original idea 

 was, you m*y remember, to take off every runner as fast as it 

 showed itself. Bat a difficulty presents itself right here. As 

 this was to be a trial patch of the different varieties for hill cul- 

 ture, it contains some very high-priced plants ; and to pull off 

 the runners and throw them away would be rather extravagant; 

 therefore we have decided to let runners grow on at least a part 

 of these valuable plants, and get them to take root in little pots 

 of jadoo. After the roots have started you can clip off the run- 

 ner and move the plants into a shaded bed. I do not believe 

 this will rob the parent plant of very much vitality. It will be 

 keeping off the runners, with this difference : we allow them 

 to commence taking root before we "wean " them, or before 

 we take them away from the mother-plant entirely. But I tell 

 you it is fun to have a strawberry-patch so you can run the cul- 

 tivator all around every plant, and do it fast. 



MULCHING AND MANURING STRAWBERRIES AT ONE AND THE 



SAME TIME 

 From Gleanings in Bee Culture, July /, 1895. 



We have about an acre of strawberries that are growing 

 their third crop. We ordinarily let them bear only two years ; 

 but we kept working and manuring this patch in order to get 

 plants, and this season we proposed to plow it under just as 

 soon as the last berries were picked. Only part of it was mulch- 

 ed during the winter. We do but little mulching, because we 

 want to work the ground in the spring so as to get nice plants 

 for shipping. But just before picking-time we found we should 

 have to mulch with something. Muddy and gritty strawberries 

 are behind the times. Every strawberry-grower ought to be 

 ashamed of offering dirty berries. On the fairground, near our 



