CULTURE OF SMALL FRUITS. 3x!5 



CHAPTER XX. 

 CULTURE OF SMALL FRUITS. 



Complaint has been made that in the former editions 

 of this work, no allusion was made to the culture of small 

 fruits, which, in many sections, is as much a matter of 

 interest to the market gardener as is the culture of vege- 

 tables, as, in many places the two have to be combined 

 so as to supply the local demand, The most important 

 of all the small fruits is 



THE STRAWBERRY. 



The same general rules for soils, drainage, manuring, 

 etc., are generally applicable for Strawberry or other small 

 fruit culture as for vegetable crops. Our method of 

 obtaining a full crop of Strawberries by "pot layering/' 

 which we here give in detail, we have practised for the 

 past fifteen years with unvarying success, and if we were 

 growing Strawberries for market, no matter on how large 

 a scale, we would follow no other method. To obtain a 

 crop in June from the plants that were planted out the 

 previous August, or in ten months from date of planting, 

 the plants must be such as are layered in pots, and the 

 sooner they are planted out after the 15th of July the 

 better, although, if not then convenient, they will pro- 

 duce a crop the next season, even if planted as late as the 

 middle of September ; but the sooner they are planted, 

 the larger will be the crop. They may be set from pot 

 layers either in beds of four rows each, twelve inches 

 apart, and twelve inches between the plants, leaving two 

 feet between the beds for a pathway ; or be set out in rows 

 two feet apart, the plants in the rows twelve inches apart ; 

 and if the plants are properly set out (care being taken 

 to firm the soil around the plants, which is best done by 

 pressing the soil against each plant with the foot), not 



