CULTURE OF STRAWBERRIES. 363 



desired, and there is also plenty of time to crop the ground with 

 cabbage, cauliflower, celery, or other fall crop, after the crop of 

 strawberries has been gathered. The plan of getting the pot layers 

 of strawberries is very simple. Just as soon as the fruit is gathered, 

 if the beds are well forked up between the rows, the runners or 

 young plants will begin to grow, and in two weeks will be fit to layer 

 in pots. The pots, which should be from two to three inches in 

 diameter, are filled with the soil in which the strawberries are growing, 

 and "plunged" or sunk to the level of the surface; the strawberry 

 layer is then laid on the pot, being held in place with a small stone. 

 The stone not only serves to keep the plant in its place, so that its 

 roots will strike into the pot, but it also serves to mark where each 

 pot is; for, being sunk to the level of the surface, rains wash the soil 

 around the pots, so that they could not well be seen unless marked 

 by the stone. In ten or twelve days after the strawberry layers have 

 been put down the pots will be filled with roots. They are then cut 

 from the parent plant, placed closely together, and shaded and 

 watered for a few days before being planted out. Some plant them 

 out at once when taken up, but, unless the weather is suitable, 

 some loss may occur by this method ; by the other plan, however, of 

 hardening them for a few days, not one in a thousand will fail. 

 Strawberries for field culture are usually planted from the ordinary 

 layers, either in August and September in the fall, or in March, 

 April or May in the spring. They are usually planted in rows, two 

 to three feet apart, and nine to twelve inches between the plants. 

 In planting, every plant should be well firmed, or great loss is almost 

 certain to ensue, as the strawberry is a plant always difficult to 

 transplant. They are usually worked by a horse cultivator, and gen- 

 erally two or three crops are taken before the beds are plowed under; 

 but the first crop given (which is in the second year after planting) 

 is always the best. The same care must be taken in planting by pot 

 layers; the ground must be kept clear of weeds, and the runners 

 pinched or cut off to make fruiting crowns. By the usual field 

 method of culture, it will be seen that there is a loss of one season in 

 about three; for in the year of planting no fruit, of course, is produced, 

 and for this reason we incline to the belief that, if a portion were set 

 aside to produce early plants, so that pot layers could be set out by 

 the 15th of July, a full crop of the finest fruit could be had every 

 season, and with less cost, we think; for the only labor after planting 

 is to keep the ground clean and pinch off the runners, from July to 

 October, with the certainty of getting a full crop next June, or in less 

 than a year from the time of planting, while by planting by ordinary 

 layers, if planted in August, we have three months of fall culture, and 



