STRAWBERRIES. 25 



so quick in fruit production as the foregoing, but 

 which has to be resorted to extensively. Late and 

 small runners are planted five or six inches apart 

 in rows nine inches asunder in the autumn, and 

 remain there till they can be finally planted in 

 March for bearing. They will not produce any 

 substantial crop the same year; indeed, if the 

 plants are weak, it is a gain to pick off the few 

 flower trusses, and the plants will be the stronger 

 for the next season's crop, which ought to be a full 

 one. But though these plants occupy the ground 

 for a season without producing fruit, or only a light 

 crop, the space need not be wholly wasted. It is 

 economical to allow a distance of two-and-a-half 

 feet between rows of Strawberries, even if the plants 

 are arranged closer in them, or eighteen inches from 

 each other, as then recourse can be had to inter- 

 cropping. For occupying the space between the 

 rows the first season, onions are particularly suit- 

 able, because the tops do not spread, while the bulbs 

 are highly serviceable. Two or three rows may be 

 grown in each strip, either by sowing seed in March 

 or, preferably, transplanting from beds sown in 

 August. 



Methods of Planting. Since there are three 

 wrong ways to one that is right, and as the latter 

 wnuld be the least likely to be adopted by the in- 



