principles and details of the business. Mr. Hofer concluded his paper as 

 follows : " Co-operate with your neighbours ; form a fruit-growers' union to 

 secure a standard of quality for your section. That is a great secret of 

 success, for having established a standard and maintaining it is the best 

 advertisement of your crop and your neighbourhood." 



It has been thought advisable to select excerpts from publications which 

 are considered to be the best suited to our requirements and conditions, which 

 here follow. The experience of our own growers is given further on, and 

 whilst in some minor points there may be differences of opinion, the funda- 

 mental principles governing the growing of plants is the same the world over, 

 and applies to the cultivation of strawberries equally with other plants. It 

 will be observed that the concensus of opinion of local growers is decidedly 

 in favour of the Magoon; for the local market, in a minor degree, and for 

 transhipment, overwhelmingly so. Opinions also as to the best system of 

 planting are altogether in favour of that known as the hill system. 



As will be seen, the recommendations regarding the distances at which 

 strawberries should be planted in this Province vary considerably, the closest 

 being rows 32 inches apart and from 10 to 12 inches in the rows ; the greatest 

 distance being rows 3 feet 6 inches apart and 18 inches in the rows. A good 

 average distance is probably rows 3 feet apart and 15 to 18 inches in the 

 rows. By the Central Experimental Farm Bulletin No. 5, rows 2 feet apart 

 and 12 to 15 inches in the rows is recommended; and in Michigan, rows 2 

 to 2y 2 feet apart and 10 inches in the rows are the distances mentioned ; the 

 experience of our growers being evidently to the effect that those distances 

 are altogether too close to suit our conditions. 



SOIL AND LOCATION. 

 Michigan Bulletin, No. 143. 



As a rule, the lighter sandy loams should be avoided, as the crop will 

 be likely to suffer from lack of water, while the stiff clays can seldom be 

 properly worked in the spring, and if neglected are likely to bake so that 

 the plants suffer more from the lack of water than upon the lighter sands. 

 In a general way, then, it will be seen that the heavier sandy loams and the 

 lighter clay loams are best adapted for this crop, although good results will 

 be obtained upon the lighter soils, if moisture can be provided. Fair returns 

 are often obtained upon a soil of a mucky nature, as the water is generally 

 so near the surface that droughts will have no effect; but two difficulties 

 are frequently met with upon this class of soils, the first being the danger 

 of frosts while the plants are in blossom, and the other that the plants make 

 a rank growth and fail to form the necessary fruit buds. Where the mucky 

 soil is in a basin, entirely or nearly surrounded by higher land, the blossoms 

 seldom escape the frost, but if situated so that the cold air can drain off upon 

 a lake, or still lower land, the danger will be lessened. 



(Central Experimental Farm Bulletin No. 5.) 



Any soil that will produce a good crop of potatoes or other vegetables 

 will answer for strawberries. It should be well drained, either naturally or 

 by tile drains. A rich clay loam is preferable, and will usually give the 

 largest yield, but the fruit will not ripen as early as on sandy loam. Avoid, if 



