268 HORTICULTURAL MANUAL. 



favor planting the roots wet so that the fine earth will 

 adhere to them, which is accomplished by keeping the 

 plants in a pail with about two inches of water in the 

 bottom. As the assistant picks up a plant for planting the 

 dead leaves and surplus live ones are picked off. 



From the start the soil should be kept mellow around 

 the plants with a pronged hoe and the cultivator should 

 be started soon after planting. The first runners are 

 trained out in the line of the rows to fill up the vacancies 

 and to be out of the way of close culture. As the season 

 advances the rows are allowed to spread out as they fill up 

 in the centre, and before culture ceases they should form 

 matted rows from twelve to fourteen inches wide. Late in 

 the fall, after the ground freezes the matted rows should 

 be lightly covered with marsh hay if obtainable. If not, 

 straw will answer the purpose, or any litter that does not 

 lie in lumps and is fairly free from weed-seeds. The 

 covering is not thick enough to exclude frost, but it pre- 

 vents the alternate freezing and thawing of the winter 

 period and lessens evaporation. If left on quite late in 

 the spring, it also retards the period of blossoming, which 

 is an advantage in some localities. Sometimes at the 

 West, when a late frost is apprehended, the covering raked 

 between the rows is returned as a protection. It is best to 

 leave the raked-off covering between the rows until after the 

 crop is picked. The coarsest of the straw is then taken out 

 and the tramped-up particles are cultivated into the soil. 



257. The Two-year System of Cropping. We have much 

 talk in books and papers about the best methods of renew- 

 ing old plantations. But the experience of growers each 

 year strengthens the belief that more than two crops from 

 the same plantation should not be attempted. The first 

 and second crops are in all respects satisfactory with 

 ordinary care, and grass and weeds can be kept out with 



