434 Strawberries. 



It is only in cases of severe drought that further watering is required. 

 But when given it should be copious and repeated daily until the 

 fresh leaves begin to expand. By this treatment scarcely a plant 

 will be lost. 



Transplanting early in autumn, although succeeding well as far 

 south as Philadelphia, or even at New York city, is often attended 

 with failure further north, the plants being thrown out and frozen 

 in winter. Treading the earth firmly about the plants when set, 

 lessens the liability to winter killing. 



A spontaneous renewal of plants, may be effected by allowing 

 runners to fill up the spaces between the rows, and then spading in 

 the old rows. By thus filling alternate spaces in two successive 

 years, an annual supply of fruit is afforded. This method of re- 

 newal has not been generally adopted. 



Mulching among the plants, to keep the berries from becoming 

 soiled with earth, should not be omitted. Straw answers a good 

 purpose, and is more easily and neatly applied, if chopped short, 

 say two or three inches. Rye straw, threshed by hand, will lie 

 more smoothly than any other long straw. Applied in autumn, 

 straw will protect from winter killing, and may be renewed or re- 

 tained in spring. 



CULTIVATION OF STRAWBERRIES. Clean cultivation is a most 

 essential requisite. On a large scale, it may be very cheaply ac- 

 complished by a horse and cultivator, the rows being about three 

 feet apart, and the plants a foot to a foot and a half in the rows. 

 The treatment may be varied with circumstances, provided the 

 great leading requisite is constantly kept in view, namely, to allow 

 no weeds to get above the surface. This is the great cardinal essen- 

 tial, which must not be departed from. After the plantation is set 

 out in clean, well prepared soil, stir the ground often enough to 

 destroy the sprouting weeds before they get to the light. The 

 work may be then done with less than a tenth of the labor required 

 after the weeds are several inches high ; and all the labor of this 

 frequent stirring is more than repaid by the increased growth and 

 vigor given to the plants, to say nothing about the weeds. If the 

 plantation is small, the work may be done with a garden rake ; if 

 large, with a one-horse cultivator, or perhaps better, with a fine 

 toothed one-horse harrow. If this is attended to thoroughly 

 through autumn, the plantation may be mulched at the beginning 

 of winter with straw. It will be better, especially for heavy soils, 

 to remove the mulching in spring and mellow the surface one or 

 more times before the plants blossom. This may be done by 



