THE STRAWBERRY GARDEN. 171 



them without crowding or bending them out of their 

 natural shape. The size and depth of the hole will be 

 decided by the size and length of the roots. For tools use 

 your hands, or a trowel. The soil ought to be deep and 

 mellow, and if it is so, plunging the hand into it, and set- 

 ting the plant firm and upright, will be neither difficult 

 nor disagreeable." 



tl I should think it would be fun," said Johnny. 



" It is certainly not hard. Boys, or women, do it quite 

 as well as the best of men. The German women I employ 

 do nearly all the work, except holding the plough or spread- 

 ing manure. That is beyond their strength. There are 

 several ways of making the hole into which the young 

 strawberry plant is set. One is to punch a hole with a 

 blunt-pointed instrument called a " dibble " or "dibber." 

 It is nothing more than the handle of an abandoned spade 

 cut off and sharpened to a point. With it, plants may be 

 set out at the rate of two a minute. I do not think it the 

 best way, though it is much used by foreign gardeners. It 

 crowds the roots into too small a space, and does not leave 

 the ground smooth. Another way is to scratch out with a 

 hoe a rude trench, into which the plants are dropped, and 

 then the hoe is used to cover them. This might be called 

 the lazy man's method, and, though often successful, I can- 

 not recommend it." 



" Then our gardener must have used a hoe, for here and 

 there a plant is missing, arid the rows are broken." 



