V.J THE AMERICAN GARDENER. ti03 



ing the taste of the fruit. To cat cherries, pre 

 screed in spirits, is only an apology, and a very 

 poor and mean one, for dram-drinking ; a practice 

 which every man ought to avoid, and the very 

 thought of giving way to which ought to make the 

 check of a woman redden with shame. 



323. STRAWBERRY. This plant is a native 

 of the fields and woods here, as it is in Europe. 

 There are many sorts, and all are improved by cul- 

 tivation. The Scarlet, the Alpine, the Turkey, the 

 Haut-bois, or high-stalked, and many others, some 

 of which are white, and some of so deep a red as 

 to approach towards a black. To say which sort is 

 best is very difficult. A variety of sorts is best. 

 They are propagated from young plants that grow 

 out of the old ones. In the summer the plant sends 

 forth runners. Where these touch the ground, at 

 a certain distance from the plant, come roots, and 

 from these roots, a plant springs up. This plant is 

 put out early in the fall. It takes root before win- 

 ter ; and the next year it will bear a little ; and send 

 out runners of its own. To make a Stra \vberry- 

 beor, plant three rows a foot apart, and at 8 inches 

 apart in the rows. Keep the ground clean, and the 

 new plants, coming from runners, will fill up the 

 whoie of the ground, and will extend the bed on 

 the sides. Cut off the runners at six inches dis- 

 tance from the sides, and then you have a bed three 

 feel -wide, covering all the ground; and this is the 

 best way ; for the fruit then lodges on the stems 

 anil leaves, and is not beaten into the dirt by heavy 

 rains, which it is if the plants stand in clumps with 

 clear ground between them. If you have more 

 beds than one, there should be a clear space of two 

 feet wide between them, and this space should be 

 well manured arid deeply digged every fall, and kept 



