Planting 35 



feet long and six inches wide. This is pushed or pulled 

 by hand. 



A wheel marker that covers six rows at a round is 

 shown in Plate II. Those that mark the land both ways 

 at a round, thus locating the exact place for setting each 

 plant, are preferable. One of the most serviceable of 

 these is described by P. E. Beatty:^ "Take a wooden 

 wheel sixteen inches in diameter and tack two cleats on 

 the rim directly opposite each other. Every time these 

 cleats come in contact with the soil they make a dent. 

 If you use a sixteen inch wheel, the dents will be twenty- 

 four inches apart. Set this wheel in a frame with a hinge. 

 This frame is bolted to a two inch board, which should be 

 seven feet long, one wheel frame bolted to each end and 

 one directly in the center, marking three rows at a time 

 three and one-half feet apart. The hinge is to allow the 

 wheel to adjust itself to any unevenness of the ground and 

 thus make a continuous mark to follow in setting. The 

 best way to draw this is by means of shafts and a man 

 will draw it straighter than a horse." A home-made 

 revolving spacer, checking two rows at a round, is shown 

 in Plate II. 



Rows should be laid ofiF lengthways of the field to econo- 

 mize time in tillage. In large fields there should be a 

 road through the center, both ways, with the packing shed 

 in the middle. Cross alleys every ten rods are a con- 

 venience in mulching and harvesting. When earliness is 

 important, the rows should run north and south unless 

 the land is steep, in which case they should follow the 

 contour. When wide beds are used for surface drainage, 

 have an even number of rows in each bed ; if there is an 

 odd row, the pickers may skip it. 



i"The strawberry," Vol. I, No. 2 (Feb., 1908), p. 28. 



