315 
Manuring—The strawberry is a gross feeder, and the more 
liberal the grower is in feeding it, the more prolific it proves itself 
to be. The crop is, moreover, a perennial one, that is to say, when 
establishing a strawberry bed we must store, at the same time, into 
the ground a stock of fertilisers which will supply all the require- 
ments of the plants for at least three seasons. Nor must the food 
be stinted to them, but it should be given in plenty and under an 
easily assimilable form. 
These fertilisers should not be buried too deep either, as the 
strawberry feeds in 15 to 18 inches of soil. After the deep fallow- 
ing, but before the light ploughing which precedes plarting out, the 
manure is placed on the ground. 
If well-rotted stable manure is procurable, nothing is better; 
manure which is not tainted by sawdust litter, and which is procured 
from stables where the animals are well fed, is the best. Thirty 
loads to the acre is by no means an excessive dressing; and as the 
composition of the manure varies according to the class of animals 
kept, their food, and the way it is secured, it is always advisable to 
supplement its richness by a further dressing of such chemical 
fertilisers as kainit or muriate of potash, and of superphosphate of 
lime, in the proportions of 3ewt. of kainit or lewt. of muriate of 
potash and 2ewt. of superphosphate. The stable manure is evenly 
scattered first, and the chemical fertilisers broadvasted afterwards, 
and the land ploughed to a depth of 6 to 7 inches. 
The main objection of stable manure, however, is that it gener- 
ally conveys seeds of troublesome weeds; its haulage is, moreover, 
costly, and it is not, besides, always possible to get it in sufficient 
quantity. For these reasons some growers prefer chemical fer- 
tilisers at the rate of either, for fairly good land, 5ewts. to Tewts. 
Thomas’ phosphate or superphosphate and same quantity kainit (or 
one-third the amount of muriate of potash, containing 50 per cent. 
of potash). For poor, hungry land, 8ewts. to 10cwts. each Thomas’ 
phosphate or super and of kainit. The mixture is prepared on a floor, 
or a tarpaulin, by first sifting through a wire screen with ‘in. 
meshes, and mixing thoroughly with shovels. One-half of this amount 
applied broadcast is used when giving the last working to land be- 
fore planting, and the other half own between the rows during the 
first season. Just before planting a light dressing of ewt. of sul- 
phate of ammonia or of nitrate of soda is given along the rows, 
and also early the second spring, just as the plants are moving 
from their dormant state, another similar application will stimulate 
a vigorous growth and an abundant setting. Shoull an abundance 
of unleached wood ashes be procurable it would form an ideal fer- 
tiliser, as it contains both potash and phosphate. A dressing of 
60 to 80 bushels to the acre broadcasted would be a liberal one. 
Although it contains a good deal of potash the strawherry plant is 
