16 The Strawberry Book. 
CHAPTER II. 
ON PLANTING. 
STRAWBERRY plants may be set out in any month from 
April to December, but practically are usually planted 
either in April or May, or in the fall, i.e., in the month 
of September. ‘There can be no question that the spring 
is the best time for planting, and I believe that the earlier 
the vines are set the better. The reasons are obvious. In 
the spring there is less danger of losing the plants by 
drought and hot weather before they get established ; they 
have the benefit of the genial vernal rains; and the earlier 
the vines are set out, the longer time they have, of course, 
to perfect and ripen the fruit buds on which the next year’s 
crop depends. Again, a plant set out in August or Sep- 
tember does little more by the end of the season than estab- 
lish itself, and make sure of living over winter, while a 
plant set in April not only assures its own safety and 
growth, but puts out a host of runners which take root 
and become independent plants before fall. A notion is 
prevalent that we can plant in the fall and get a crop the 
ensuing summer ; but while this is to a certain extent true, 
and while a moderate crop may be had from strong plants 
carefully set in September, the yield obtained cannot be 
compared with that from similar plants set five months 
earlier. Planting in the fall is attended with risks from 
drought and failure to get established, from which spring 
planting is almost entirely exempt. I have had the best 
success in very early planting, that is to say, as early in 
the season as the frost is well out of the ground, and it is 
