102 GARDENING FOR ALL. 
The strawberry-plant comes into bearing sooner than any 
other fruit, producing, under good cultivation, a paying crop 
in twelve months after planting. 
The nail-makers of Catshill, near Bromsgrove, have long 
found the strawberry a source of benefit even upon their 
hungry, sandy, and dry soil, and many acres are entirely 
planted with it in théir allotment fields. In consequence of 
the depressed state of the nail-making trade and of prevailing 
low prices—in fact, semi-starvation wages—the allotments 
have been found a great boon, and altogether, they now have 
three or four hundred acres in the district, a great portion of 
which is cropped with strawberries. If the crop is profitable 
on such poor soil, it would be, and is, much more profitable 
on good soil. 
Good average crops of strawberries from gardens or 
allotments are worth about £40 per acre: those under 
ordinary field culture about £30; heavy crops of extra fine 
fruit would realize higher values, especially if ripe a few days 
earlier than the average. 
July and August are good months for planting straw- 
berries, and these may follow early peas or early potatoes. 
Strawberries planted at this time will produce fair crops the 
following year if they have been well cared for, and if a 
few spring-sown onions, radishes, lettuce, or dwarf cabbage 
are taken from between each row of strawberries, they will 
pay for rent and labour and leave the crop of strawberries for 
clear profit, thus saving a year and all expenses. Straw- 
berries may also be planted in April, or during autumn and 
winter. 
In preparing for planting, rows should be marked out 
thirty inches apart ; small holes should be scooped out, and 
if available, some manure water poured in; this will both 
supply the plants with moisture if the soil is dry, and afford 
food in an immediately available form. 
Plant the strawberries twenty or twenty-four inches 
apart in the rows, and be careful not to plant the crowns 
either too deeply or too high. 
Young plants produce the strongest runners, and young 
plants not bearing fruit produce the earliest runners. The 
