STRAWBERRIES. 169 



plants are insured against their worst enemy, 

 drought How often I have seen beds in early 

 June languishing for moisture, the fruit trusses 

 lying on the ground, fainting under their burden, 

 and the berries ripening prematurely into little 

 more than diminutive collections of seeds ! When 

 ground has been deepened as I have said, the 

 drought must be almost unparalleled to arrest the 

 development of the fruit. Even in the most fa- 

 vorable seasons, hard, shallow soils give but a brief 

 period of strawberries ; the fruit ripens all at once, 

 and although the first berries may be of good size, 

 the later ones dwindle until they are scarcely larger 

 than peas. Be sure to have a deep, mellow soil 

 beneath the plants. 



Such a bed can be made in either spring or 

 fall, indeed, at any time when the soil is free 

 from frost, and neither too wet nor dry. I do not 

 believe in preparing and fertilizing ground during 

 a period of drought. 



We will suppose the work has been done in the 

 spring, as early as the earth was dry enough to 

 crumble freely, and that the surface of the bed is 

 smooth, mellow, and ready for the plants. Stretch 

 a garden line down the length of the plot two feet 

 from the outer edge, and set the plants along the 

 line one foot apart from each other. Let the roots 

 be spread out, not buried in a mat, the earth 



