38 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



with the spade or trowel, to prevent injuring the roots. If the 

 roots are long they may be shortened half their length without in- 

 jury. Indeed, this shortening of the roots is a positive benefit ia 

 causing small, fibrous roots to be emitted nearer the crown of the 

 plant ; also, the work of setting is facilitated thereby. It may 

 seem a very simple process to set out so insignificant a thing as a 

 little strawberry plant, and so it is ; but it makes a very great dif- 

 ference in the yield whether the roots of the plants are jammed in 

 together in a small hole, or spread out carefully as they grew. 

 We think it well to make quite a depression in marking out the 

 rows, then, after the plants are set and the ground levelled over; 

 the plants will be slightly depressed and less liable to have their 

 roots disturbed or brought too near the surface by frequent culti- 

 vation. Having marked out the rows, the plants may bo taken, 

 several at a time, in the hand and the roots clipped, and the plants 

 deposited in a pail partly filled with water, with a little earth 

 added sufficient to make quite a thick 2^uddle. 



Those that have observed the habits of the growing plants will 

 have noticed that the roots do not extend vertically into the soil, 

 but spread out nearer the surface. To imitate a natural position 

 we raise a little mound in the shallow trench, and on this set the 

 plant, spreading out the roots on all sides, the earth readily ad- 

 heres to the wet roots ; and if the soil is thoroughly packed about 

 the roots, and if we have chosen a cloudy day for setting, there ia 

 not much danger of losing a single plant. It is well to remove 

 all superfluous leaves from the plants when lifted, leaving but one 

 or two in the center of the crown. They should be faithfully cul- 

 tivated and hoed during the summer, the runners removed at each 

 hoeing, and oftener if necessary. To keep the runners back will 

 require persistent watching and labor. 



Winter Protection 

 is essential to grow strawberries in Maine. There is no better 

 protection than snow ; but this cannot always be relied upon, for 

 even in the best positions in winters like the present, we shall find 

 our strawberry plants exposed to the vicissitudes of the weather, 

 and frequently thawed and frozen. To obviate this difficulty it is 

 essential to use some material for a covering in the fall, and this 

 will serve the double purpose of a winter protection to the plants 

 and a protection to the fruit the coming season from grit and dirt. 

 For this purpose forest leaves, with leaf mold, or straw, or swale 



