326 GRAPES, STRAWBERRIES, BUSH FRUITS 



will, with the result that at the end of the first season, 

 nearly all the space between the rows is covered with plants. 



Fig. 173. An excellent stand of strawberry plants on the matted-row system. 



Under this system the production is usually the heaviest, 

 and less care is demanded in training and caring for the 

 plants. 



The hedge system is often most desirable where a special 

 market is at hand and good prices may be obtained for 

 first-class berries. The fruit is usually larger and more 

 uniform in size although not so many quarts are produced 

 per acre. Greater care is also necessary in training the 

 plants. In starting this system the plants are set in rows 

 about two and a half feet apart and the plants eighteen 

 inches apart in the rows. Each plant is then allowed to 

 produce two runners, one each way of the row. All other 

 runners are cut away. Sometimes a double-hedge system 

 is used, which increases the production per acre. Here 

 two such rows are planted six to ten inches apart and with 

 a space of two and a half feet between each double row. 



