388 HORTICULTURAL MANUAL, 



fails to do well on wet land, and on clay it is not as early 

 as on sandy loam soils. 



In starting rows it is usually best for the amateur to 

 purchase one-year-old plants of nurserymen or dealers in 

 seeds. Plant in spring, when the soil works well, in rows 

 four feet apart, with the plants three feet apart in the 

 rows. It is best to plant with the crowns of the roots two 

 or three inches below the surface, but it is not best to fill 

 up the channels until after the plants start. Where the 

 plants are not readily obtainable, rows are often started 

 by taking up the seedling plants that spring up in old 

 beds. In July these are about six inches high and trans- 

 plant about as safely as weeds. These will be well rooted 

 by autumn and come forward about as rapidly as when 

 one-year-old plants are set in early spring. 



In new sections, if plants are not available, they are 

 easily grown from seed. The berries are crushed and 

 mixed with sand (5) and buried outside for spring plant- 

 ing, or they can be planted in the fall half an inch deep 

 in drills with a ridge of earth two Inches deep drawn over 

 the rows. In the spring the ridge is raked off, leaving a 

 mellow seed-bed in which the plants will make rapid 

 growth. If desirable they can be transplanted in July in 

 the permanent rows, or they can be left for planting the 

 next spring in a dormant condition. 



As to after-care when the plants are dead in the fall, 

 they may be mowed ofE and burned, and the surface should 

 be treated with a coat of well-rotted manure. In the 

 spring cultivate well the surface, without regard to the 

 position of the plants, prior to the starting of the succulent 

 shoots. It is also best, when the season of picking closes, 

 to cultivate the whole surface. Some cutting can be done 

 in private gardens the second year, but it is preferable to 

 wait until the third season. 



