PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 283 



in water, thick with rich earth or compost, and set them no deeper than 

 they naturally stood, being careful to cover with fine earth well pressed. 



If you intend your bed to cover all the earth, set the plants a foot apart 

 each way. If to be kept in hills, two feet apart. If in rows, make them 

 three feet apart, and the plants eight to twelve inches apart in rows. 



There is no wrong season, when the plants are not bearing, to transplant 

 strawberries. Perhaps the best time is after the old roots send out runners, 

 and the first of them get well rooted. Then cut the connection with the 

 old stool, and keep the new root from sending out runners until it becomes 

 a strong root; and then, if your new bed is to be made in the same 

 locality, take up the plants with a transplanting trowel, with all the dirt 

 that will adhere, and lay them on boards and carry right to the spot where 

 they are to be set, and put them in suitable holes, scooped out with the 

 trowel or hand, and they will keep on growing almost as iveely as though 

 they had not been removed. Keep the ground free of weeds, and frequently 

 stirred between the plants till winter, and then cover with forest leaves, 

 held in place by brush or a little dirt scattered over. In the spring rake 

 the leaves off the plants, and leave them between the plants as a mulch. 

 After fruiting, the runners begin to put out. If your plan is to keep dis- 

 tinct hills, cut off all runners every week. If your plan is for rows, keep 

 working between the rows, and turn the runners so as to form a growth of 

 plants a foot wide, leaving a space for working two feet wide between. 

 This is the best plan for field culture, working the beds by horse hoe. 

 When the rows get grassy and need changing, run the subsoil plow deeply 

 and repeatedly through the rows, and work in the necessary fertilizers, and 

 prepare a new row of plants by setting or training runners to the right 

 spots, and let them set themselves, cutting away all the surplus ones. Then 

 late in the fall the old row is to be completely turned under by the spade 

 or plow; and so this system of renewal may be continued, turning down a 

 portion of the old bed each year, and thus having vigorous plants always 

 in full bearing. 



Where the plants are set with the design of covering all the surface, the 

 runners are permitted to spread where they will the first year, and the 

 second year the poorest plants, old or young, should be cut out, so as not 

 to allow the bed to become matted. When it begins to fail, from being 

 overrun with weeds or grass, or from the plants becoming feeble from age 

 or want of room, divide it into strips two feet wide, and turn under alter- 

 nate ones, and fertilize the ground for a new setting of plants to spread 

 over it from runners; and when they are well established, turn over the 

 other strips in the same way, and so continue. At every new preparation 

 of the bed add ashes if you can, or bone dust, or superphosphate of lime, or 

 fine compost, in which rotted sods, leaves and wood mold hold the greatest 

 share, and then no other manure will be necessary while the plants are in 

 bearing, except the mulching of leaves, straw, or salt hay that you should 

 give every winter. Where it can be had conveniently, always get spent 

 tan-bark for mulching. Tanners' chips are a very good substitute, and so 

 are leather shavings. When any fine material is used for mulching, be 

 careful not to smother the plants. Sawdust, and also scrapings from the 

 wood pile, may be used, if care is had about smothering. 



