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is checked the crop likewise suffers and is never again a remunera- 
tive one. 
As a rule, even the same sorts are influenced by variations in 
the soil and locations. Thus, all things being equal, a strawberry 
will ripen earlier on a warm sunny slope in light loam than on 
heavier and moister flats, where on the other hand, the crop, if 
later, is generally a heavier one. The practical deduction to be 
drawn from these facts is that the experienced growers are careful, 
in order to lengthen the season, to place early sorts on a warm, 
sunny slope, on light loam, and the later sorts on heavy moist flats. 
Some varieties besides, which show a healthy growth on high, well- 
drained ground and slopes, are badly affected by leaf blight when 
struck in damp, hollow ground, and conversely, by moving some of 
the choicer and more delicate varieties, too blighted to be profitable, 
from low, damp ground up to more healthy locations, they speedily 
become more fruitful and more resistant to blight. 
Preparing the Soil—Although the land need not be virgin land, 
it is essential that the plot should be new; that is to say, that it 
should not have been under strawberry culture before, or for many 
years previously. Strawberries, indeed, are gross feeders, and ab- 
stract from the ground large quantities of fertilising elements, the 
depletion of which makes the ground unsuitable for that crop after 
a period of a few years. Old ground, besides, gets foul with para- 
sitie insects and fungi, which prey on the crop. The simplest way 
of getting rid of such pests is by a system of starvation, which 
is attained by refraining to plant strawberry after strawberry on 
the same ground. The ground should be prepared in the spring 
and laid fallow for the summer preceding planting. If only a small 
plot, it ean be broken up with the spade or the fork to a depth of 
12 to 15 inches. If a larger field, two ploughs, one following in the 
wake of the other with its mould board taken off, should be made 
to break up the land to a depth of at least 14 inches. 
Several harrowings following this deep ploughing reduce the 
ground to a state of fine tilth, sweetening it by favouring the atmos- 
pheric action upon its mass. This clean cultivation also frees the 
ground of a great many troublesome weeds and of such destructive 
underground insects as the wire worms, the white grubs of the cock- 
chafer, and other insects that cause injury to the root system of the 
plant. Besides, the deeper the ground is worked up the better able 
it will be to absorb and retain moisture, and the greater mass will 
there be through which the roots will penetrate in search of food and 
moisture. 
When the time of planting comes—about the end of March— 
the requisite manure is spread over the ground, which is ploughed 
again to a depth of 6 to 8 inches, and gathered into lands, narrow 
if the spot is wet, broader if dry; it is then harrowed, and if still 
lumpy, lightly rolled down, 
