FRAG ARIA, STRAWBERRY PLANT. 255 



to withstand the severe cold). A small area of loose & friable soil is tilled. The surface is 

 smoothed & fully watered. The seeds are sown immediately, & an amount of pulverized 

 friable soil sufficient to cover them to a depth of about half a ligne is sifted over them 

 through a horsehair sieve. This pulverized soil sifted onto the wet ground becomes 

 sufficiently moist & clings to the seeds. Then everything is covered with a straw mat or 

 with long straw, & from time to time it's lightly watered on top to keep the seeds moist 

 enough to germinate. From ten to twenty days thereafter, when some of the seedlings are 

 seen coming out of the ground, the straw matting is removed & raised up in front to 

 protect the seedlings from being dried up by the sun. Strawberry plants can be sown in 

 pots the same way. M. du Chesne's work includes several other methods for making these 

 seed beds. The young strawberry plants are weeded, watered, & allowed to strengthen. If 

 they've grown five or six leaves before November, they're transplanted to a nursery. 

 They're planted separately five or six inches apart, or three or four plants grouped 

 together with eight or nine inches between each group. If they're too weak, the 

 transplantation is postponed until the following March or April. The planting stays in the 

 nursery until October or November. During the summer it has to be weeded, hoed, 

 watered, thinned out, &c. 



2°. Runners of strawberry plants produce new plants suitable for propagation. If 

 only a few plants are needed, the runner is pinched off after the second offshoot that's 

 grown from it so that the two offshoots will benefit more. If a lot of plants are needed, the 

 runners are left to grow according to their own energy & fecundity. They'll produce many 

 young plants to be pulled up around mid-November and planted right away on location at 

 suitable distances apart. 



