STRAWBERRIES Fito 
It is a good plan to leave a slight depression round 
each plant so that all the water given may directly 
benefit it. Be sure to practise firm planting, and follow 
it by a good watering. 
Spring planting has not much to recommend it, except 
in very exposed localities where summer planted straw- 
berries might suffer during the first winter. The 
advantages of this method are that it allows a longer 
time for ground preparation, the strawberries may follow 
a winter crop, and they have a longer season in which to 
become established before winter. The disadvantages 
are that the young plants have to be kept about so 
long in small pots—for rarely are they potted on from 
the 60s.—and they become more or less starved owing 
to the mass of roots and the poverty of the soil, the 
latter being caused by the frequent applications of 
water and subsequent loss of plant food by drainage. 
The distances at which to plant must vary somewhat 
with the strength of the variety, the condition of the soil, 
and the length of time the plantation is to remain. My 
own practice is to allow two feet six inches between the 
rows, and two feet from station to station in the rows, 
putting out three plants at each station. By this method 
we are able in our strong land to obtain heavy crops for 
three years in succession. When set out singly a good 
general rule to follow is to place the rows two feet apart, 
and the plants eighteen inches apart in the rows. Very 
strong growers may advantageously receive more room, 
while, on the other hand, smaller growers succeed with 
less. 
HoEING aND WEEDING 
New plantations pay for surface cultivation, whether 
it be by means of a Planet Jnr. machine or a Dutch hoe, 
while older plantations are benefited by surface hoeings 
