452 THE STRAWBERRY. 



occupied strip or bed of runners will now give a heavy crop of 

 strawberries, and the open strip of three will serve as an alley from 

 which to gather fruit. After the crop is over, dig and prepare this 

 alley or strip for the occupancy of the new runners for the next sea- 

 son's crop. The runners from the old strip will now speedily cover 

 the new space allotted to them, and will perhaps require a partial 

 thinning out to have them evenly distributed. As soon as this is the 

 case, say about the middle of August, dig under the whole of the old 

 plants with a light coat of manure. The surface may be then sown 

 with turnips or spinach, which will come off before the next season 

 of fruits. 



" In this way the strips or beds occupied by the plants are reversed 

 every season, and the same plot of ground may thus be continued in 

 a productive state for many years." 



SPECIFIC NUTRITION. R. G. Pardee, of Palmyra, N. Y., says : " I 

 fertilize the plants, on opening of spring, with a liberal sprinkling of 

 a solution of one-fourth of a pound each of sulphate of potassium, 

 Glauber salts, and sal soda, and one ounce of muriate ammonia, to 

 eight gallons of water ; continue this once a week or ten days until 

 they blossom ; then pure cold water until they ripen." 



An old recipe published in the " Friends' Review," Philadelphia, 

 says that "A bed 30 feet by 40 should have applied, about once a 

 week, for three times, commencing when the green leaves first begin 

 to start, and making the last application just before the plants are in 

 full bloom, the following preparation : Of nitre, of potash, of Glauber's 

 salt, and sal soda, each one pound ; of nitrate of ammonia, one-quar- 

 ter of a pound, dissolved in thirty gallons of rain or river water. 

 One-third applied at a time, and the application made at evening." 

 If dry weather, free application of clear soft water should be made 

 between the times of using the preparation. Throughout most of 

 the Western soils there is as yet no necessity for specific application 

 of food to the strawberry, except it may be in old gardens. For 

 field or market culture, new clover-ley will be found better than 

 specific manures on old grounds. The applying specific nutrition in 

 solution to all fruit-bearing plants, undoubtedly increases their sus- 

 ceptibility, while it increases the vigor, and foliage, and size of fruit ; 

 yet we doubt the success of such increased action in the soils of the 

 Western States, as combined with the great changes of climate. On 

 the other hand, we advise such course as will rather check than en- 

 hance vigor. We append analysis of the strawberry plant made by 

 Mr. Bilius Kirtland for guidance of those whose grounds have become 

 exhausted, and who prefer this method : 



