PLANTING STRAWBERRIES. 51 



extra deep cultivation, bat it is not necessary to trench 

 the land by hand. It can always be done for strawberries 

 in the open fields by horse labour or steam cultivation. 

 Above all, let the land be thoroughly clean, and in good 

 condition, and it should have a heavy coat of manure 

 before planting, as much as forty to fifty tons per acre. 

 This should be applied, if possible, several weeks before- 

 hand, and thoroughly mixed with the soil. 



The time of planting is either August or March. The 

 latter is preferable, unless the planting can be done early 

 in the autumn to allow the plants to establish themselves 

 in the soil, otherwise they are liable to be lifted by 

 winter frosts. To escape this danger many growers pre- 

 fer to plant in March. The land should be levelled 

 and rolled before commencing to plant, and marked out 

 in lines thirty inches apart, and fifteen to twenty inches 

 in the row. In Kent, where large quantities are planted, 

 a marker is used, made in the form of a light wheel, 

 having pegs at the distance apart that the plants are to 

 stand in the row, and this being pushed along the row 

 marks the distances quickly and evenly. The runners for 

 planting are usually selected from strong two- year-old 

 plants, and they are dibbled in with a setting stick, care 

 being taken to press the plant firmly to the soil, and nob 

 to bury the crown. 



In a short time the young plants throw out strong 

 runners, which are usually cut off during the first summer, 

 and to do this they require going over three or four times 

 at least. The land must be kept clean both by horse and 

 hand hoeing, and in autumn a mould-board plough is used 

 to throw a furrow each way between the rows, casting it 

 towards the plants to protect them and assist drainage. 

 These furrows are levelled in the following spring by the 



