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be increased, by cutting off the runners two 

 or three times, during the second and third 

 summers after they were planted out.* As 

 soon as the blossoms have set their fruit, it is 

 an excellent plan to carefully weed the plants 

 and then cover the whole ground, under and 

 around the vines, with a good quantity of old 

 straw. This is beneficial to the growth of 

 the plants, as a mulching, and protects the 

 ripening fruit from the dirt. The vines thus 

 treated need no further hoeing or weeding, un- 

 til they have done fruiting. 



An English writer recommends a fine sub- 

 stitute for this common practice. Have cheap 

 tiles made, say twelve inches long and six 

 inches wide, with a semi-circular notch in one 

 side of each, so that when two are laid to- 

 gether there will be formed a roupd hole 

 between them of about four inches diameter. 



Place these, instead of the straw, around 

 every bearing plant, so as to cover the whole 

 ground. The weeds cannot grow under 

 them, and they will keep the berries clean and 

 hasten their maturity. 



The cost of these tiles would be but trifling 



* This is, in fact, a kind of *hortening-vn, similar to that prac- 

 ticed upon the peach, grape, &c. 



