1S97 



GLRANINGvS IN BEE CULTURE. 



r.4.') 



u few yards. Almost the only condition is 

 pk-nty of daylight. Dnring inid-sninnuT, 

 very line strawberries may he j^rown entirely 

 in the shade; hut diirint^ the rest of the year 

 it is much better to have the sunlij^ht. 



I'ew people are aware of what wonderful 

 things can l)e done with .strawberries where 

 they are provided unstintedly with water and 

 plenty of fertility. Vou need not urge that it 

 will not pay; for if you get interested in the 

 matter, 1 think the enjoyment will almost pay 

 you, to say nothing of the luscious fruit; and 

 then the pleasure of being able to astonish 

 your friends liy showing them strawberries as 

 large as small-.sized hen's-eggs, and almost as 

 perfect in shape, which you may do with some 

 of our finest new varieties ! 



To commence with, we must have sub-irri- 

 gation ; and when you succeed in managing 

 sub-irrigation for strawberry -plants you have 

 the matter fully in hand so you 

 are ready to apply it to almost any 

 other crop. You may commence 

 on a very small scale at first — in 

 fact, I rather prefer you should do 

 so. When you make a success of 

 this small scale you can easily en- 

 large it as much as you choose. 

 Perhaps the present month of 

 September is as good a time to 

 start as any, for we can now lay 

 the foundation for great bushy 

 plants to furnish us quantities of 

 immense berries next spring. l"or 

 sub-irrigation you must have 

 some sort of bed or box that will 

 hold water ; and you can start the 

 business very well with a large- 

 sized common wash-tub, if you 

 do not like to go to the expense 

 of making a water-tight box. A 

 tub would be rather deeper than 

 is necessary, but it will illustrate 

 the plan. Provide some good fine- 

 Iv sifted garden soil — enough to 

 fill the tub a third full. Then get 

 some old well-rotted manure, old 

 enough so you can work it 

 through a coarse sieve. Such a 

 one as is used for screening coal 

 ashes will answer very well. Have 

 equal parts of garden soil and 

 sifted manure. A little clean sand 

 and some swamp muck will help 

 make a nice compost if you have 

 materials handy. Set a common 

 drain-tile on end at one side of 

 the tub, and fill in with the compost. Now you 

 want a strawberry-plant. The plant should 

 >je a young one ; but if you can not find a 

 young one, almost any strawberry -plant will 

 do. But / would start with a potted plant 

 (see cut) of one of the very best of the 

 new varieties, because it is just as easy to 

 propagate high-priced plants as low-priced 

 ones. Set the plant in the middle of the tub. 

 L,et your tub stand where it can get both rain 

 and sun ; but should there be a very heavy 

 rain so as to endanger filling the tub with 

 water so it rises above the soil, the tub must 

 be covered — that is, when the soil is wet 



enough. If it does not rain, pour water into 

 the tile until it rises and stands say two or 

 three inches below the surface of the .soil. 

 This water underneath will always keep your 

 soil damp enough. But do not water your 

 bed every day. Air through the .soil at inter- 

 vals is as important as water at intervals. 



If the weather should happen to be dry and 

 warm, evaporation will take away the water 

 until it sinks in the tile almost to the bottom 

 of the tub. When it gets down .saj' within an 

 inch of the bottom, then fill it up to within an 

 inch or two of the top ; then let it gradually 

 sink down again. If you have rain every two 

 or three days you will not need to water your 

 little bed at all. But keep watch of it, and do 

 not let the plants get drowned by too inneh 

 water, nor dried out by lack of water. When 

 the plant gets to growing vigorously it will 

 put out runners. Spread these out like the 



.\ POTTED STRAWBERRY-PLANT JUST BEFORE IT BECOMES 

 POT-BOUND. 



spokes of a wheel, and let them take root. 

 But a better way is to plunge a little pot, say 

 two inche^ in diameter, down to the surface 

 of the soil, and make the plant take root in 

 the center of the pot. This enables you to 

 move your young plants without having them 

 stop growing. Above is a cut of a potted 

 plant when the roots have filled the pot so that 

 it needs to be taken out and given more room. 

 What is meant by "pot-bound" is letting 

 the plant remain until the roots have so filled 

 the pot that they become cramped and stunt- 

 ed. If you start plants in pots you must be 

 sure to take them out before they become pot- 



