IS! 



(;i.i-:anix(;s in iu-;i-: cri;rrRi-;. 



571 



wiuks. Ton years a<j;(i or more lli.'y drilled 

 for .yjas, and found a stream large enouii:h to 

 lii^^ht the home of one of the owners, very fair- 

 ly. Some time last winter the pipes bej^an to 

 send out oil instead of s^as; and now a <^reat 

 derrick and immense pinn])ing-enij;ine are be- 

 intj put in place in order to j^atlier the oil. 



We reached home about eight o'clock in the 

 e\ening. Our people were gathered out on 

 tlie lawn; an^Lwhen I began, with great ani- 

 mation, to tell about our wonderful trip and 

 its e;ijoymenis, somebody asked about my sore 

 throat and malarial chills. At first I did not 

 exactly understand; and when I said, "Why, 

 let me see! :cas I sick when I started away 

 this morning?" they burst into aloud laugh; 

 for, to tell the truth, I reached home in such 

 exuberant spirits I actually had forgotten my 

 experience of the fore part of the day; and I 

 am afraid, dear reader, I had forgotten, till 

 that moment, to give God the praise. 



GROWING STRAWBERRY-PLANTS. 



I have before explained many times why it 

 is that a well-rooted young plant in July is 

 worth ever so much more than one later. It 

 is a good deal like the old adage — 



A .swarm of bees in May 

 Is worth a load of hay; 

 A swann of bees in June 

 Is worth a silver spoon; 

 A swami in July 

 Is not worth a fly. 



But the way honey has been coming this 

 summer, and that, too, during the last part of 

 July, makes me inclined to think that a swarm 

 of bees in July might this season be worth 

 considerable alter all. Well, a strawberry- 

 plant put out in July may make two good 

 plants in August; four by September; eight by 

 October, and sixteen by November. If j-ou 

 have the plants in beds, and put on sashes, you 

 may make thirty-two by Christmas. Again, 

 if you keep oflF all runners, and just make the 

 plant grow big and stocky, you may get a 

 whole quart of berries from a plant that has 

 not been located even one year. For the rea- 

 sons just given, wft pics/i plant-rearing during 

 this month. In fact, we have been shipping 

 plants at a lively rate every day for several 

 days back. Now, how shall we manage to get 

 good stocky plants with the least expense and 

 trouble ? There is no better way to start them 

 than the one laid down in the strawberry-book. 

 Set out your plants in the .spring in good rich 

 ground well fined up, in rows four feet apart, 

 the plants being two feet apart in a row. By 

 July, if you have done your part with the ctil- 

 tivator and weeder and hoes, the plants will 

 be setting consideral)ly. Some .say, keep the 

 runners off till the plant gets strong; but this 

 would deprive you of your early plants. 



If, then, we are going to make the most of 

 these early plants, how shall we manage to 



kee]) on cultivating, stirring the soil, and keep- 

 ing out weeds? A problem besets us right 

 here that I have discussed many times in the.se 

 pages. The trouble is to find a man or boy 

 who will put the runners in place so as to have 

 them crowd each other as little as possible, 

 and at the same time not get out into the row 

 in the way of the cultivator. I haveex])lained 

 the thing over and over to men and boys whom 

 I considered bright and intelligent. I have 

 even made drawings on a board of what I 

 wanted, and told them to take the board along 

 down in the field; but I have been obliged to 

 give it up in despair. When I go to look over 

 the work I find runners rooted sticking right 

 straight out into the row where the cultivator 

 could not get tlirotigh without digging them 

 up. Then I would find three runners on one 

 side of a plant, crowding each other, and not 

 a runner at all on the other side. The plants 

 would be altogether too close for thrifty growth 

 in one spot, and great glaring vacancies where 

 they might and should have been put. Some 

 runners will grow a foot or more before mak- 

 ing a bud for the plant; others will grow three 

 or four inches. Now, the long ones should be 

 made to fill the vacant spots that need filling, 

 and let the short ones take the next best place. 

 I suppose nobody else loves strawberry-plants 

 as I do, and that is one reason why nobody 

 else gives the matter suflScient thought and at- 

 tention to make it a success. 



Well, now, I have hit upon a little de\ace 

 that has enabled me to give my plants space in 

 very good shape, and at comparatively small 

 expense. When they V^egan to put down run- 

 ners on the Brandy wine and Wm. Belt rows, I 

 called two of my good boys, Carl and George. 

 We first stretched a string just as near the row 

 of plants as we could have it and still give 

 room inside the string to set all the runners. 

 Then the boys were given two trowels to 

 break up the crust between the plants where 

 the cultivator could not go, and make it all 

 mellow. Then they put the runners down, 

 placing a little dirt with the trowel over and 

 around the bud, making each plant go inside 

 the string. They thotight I might give them 

 a little more room by putting the string ftir- 

 ther away; but I told them we would put it 

 further off next time. They got them all in 

 nicely, leaving a space of five or six inches 

 between every two plants. Then they took a 

 hand-hoe and cultivated the ground up soft 

 and fine clear up to the string. The string 

 was then moved to the other side of the row, 

 or, rather, two strings were used, one on each 

 row of berries, leaving a path from 15 to 18 

 inches wide between the two strings. Here 

 the boys stood (or sat down) while putting- 

 the plants in place. 



After the row was finished, of cotirse so 

 mtich walking on the path would make it hard 

 from the stamping. The boys therefore al- 

 ways went through with their wheel-hoe, and 

 fined it up again. After the boys had finished 

 their work, a nice shower of rain came up, 

 and every plant they had put down was soon 

 rooted, riglit where they put it. It was indeed 

 a pleasant sight to behold, especialh- as the 

 edge of the bed where the string was stretched 



