" STRAWBEHKIES. 



not one plant in fire thousand seedlings that may be raised will be 

 as good as any of the best half dozen varieties now in cultivation, 

 but there will be a good many plants out of such a number that 

 will be fairly productive of good fruit. It is this variability that 

 gives us an opportunity of improving on the kinds now grown. To 

 raise strawberries from seed the ripened berries should be crushed 

 in a smaU amount of dry sand or loam as soon as they are "dead 

 ripe." The seed and sand should then be sown at once in a some- 

 what shaded bed of rich soil. It will come up in a few weeks if 

 well cared for. The plants should be transplanted four inches 

 apart in another bed as soon as large enough to handle. By winter, 

 if carefully attended to, they wiU be of good size and may be moved 

 to the fruiting bed in the spring, where they will fruit the follow- 

 ing year, that is in two years from tne time the seed was sown. It 

 is a very simple process and may be carried on by any careful per- 

 son, The raising of seedlings is not often profitable, but is a very 

 fascinating line of experimental work on account of the possibility 

 that one may develop a variety of jnore than ordinary value. 



For practical purposes strawberries are increased only by run- 

 ners, which.most desirable kinds produce in great abundance when 

 growing in rich soil. These runners are attached to the old plant 

 only part of one season, the connection dying the first winter if not 

 before. It is common to separate the runners into old plants and 

 young plants. By old plants is meant the plants that have once 

 borne fruit. They can be distinguished by their black roots, and 

 should never be used except in emergency as they often fail to 

 grow. Plants should never be taken from beds that have fruited. 

 The young runners are what should be set out. They have never 

 fruited, have white roots, and were formed the season just, preced- 

 ing the spring they are set. Strawberries should never be grown 

 from divisions, unless it is necessary to save the stock of a valuable 

 kind. 



Location and Soil.— The cfop is generally most satisfactory 

 when grown on a northern slope, as it is then not exposed to the 

 drying southerly winds, which in exposed locations occasionally so 

 dry out the land that the crop is seriously lessened; also as the 

 plants start latest on north slopes the blossoms are not liable to be 

 injured by the late spring frosts which sometimes cause serious in- 

 jury to plants that start early. Some growers, however, are very 

 successful in growing them on southerly slopes or on level land. 

 In a general way any land or location that is good enough for a 

 crop of com wiU do admirably for strawberries, but strawberries 

 should never be planted on sod-land on account of the liability of 

 its being infested with cut-worms, or with the white grub, which 

 feeds on the roots of the plants. 



Manure and Preparation of the Land. — The strawberry 

 is a gross feeder and needs plenty of plant food in the soil. The 

 best fertilizer is barn-yard manure that is partially rotted, but it 

 should not be plowed in very deep. It is generally best to plow the 



