W. F. ALLEN, Strawberry SpecialisU SALISBURY, MARYLAND 



of plants it is well to make the soil fine and mellow before 

 making the trenches, for the fine soils should be well 

 pressed to the roots to keep out the drying air by tramping 

 or patting down with a spade. When plants are received 

 after a strong growth of leaves have been made, it is a 

 good plan to remove most of the leaves so that they will 

 not be pumping the moisture out before the roots get 

 started in growth. This is largely done in shipping the 

 plants, but it is well to have few leaves at the start. 



Then it is a good plan to chop off the fine tips of the 

 roots, as the new fibers will start better from the cut 

 surface. As fast as the plants are prepared for planting 

 put them in wet gunny sacks, and keep them in the 

 wet sacks in the field. 



Lavina Off ^^ garden-culture on a small scale, after 

 the Groinid ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ made perfectly fine, the plant- 

 ing can be done by stretching the garden 

 line where the rows are to be, and marking the rows 

 with a marker made with wooden teeth like a big rake. 

 This marker can be made with teeth set a foot apart 

 on a piece of scantling, and with handles to drag it by, 

 and it can be used for planting in rows at various dis- 

 tances. For Strawberries that are to be grown in matted 

 rows, a distance of 4 feet between the rows is best, but 

 in garden culture one can set them in hills 2 by 3 feet, 

 and keep them in hills, and keep all runners off, and in 

 this way can get large crops of large berries. But for 

 field-culture the matted row is the method in general 

 use, and as a rule give entire satisfaction. 



In large plantings, furrows are run with the plow 4 feet 

 j apart. (I plant in rows 3 1 2 feet apart. — W. F. A.) The fer- 

 tilizer is placed in the furrows, and a furrow thrown from 

 each side, making a ridge. The ridges are flattened with a 

 roller and the plants set with a garden trowel, or by two men, 

 one with a spade lifting the spot for the plant while 

 another places the plant behind the spade, and the earth 

 is then let fall back and pressed to the roots. It is impor- 

 tant that the plants be set at the proper depth, not so 

 deep as to cover the crown bud nor so shallow that the 

 crown of the roots will be above the soil, but just as they 

 j would naturally grow. 



Some set as close as 15 inches in the row, but the best 

 distance is 20 to 24 inches. One grower suggests that as 

 the new runners are always produced from the side of the 

 i plant that was farthest from the old plant from which 

 I the runner came, that this side should be set in the line 

 of the row so that the new runners will strike out in the 

 direction of the rows and not sidewise, as it is an advan- 

 tage to have them in line in making the matted row. 

 Cultivation should begin as soon as the plants start to 

 grow, and it is well not to allow any fruiting the first 

 season on spring-set plants, but to pull off the blossoms 

 to make the plants strong. I advise comparatively light 

 fertilization at the start when commercial fertilizers are" 

 used, and after the plants are well started in growth, to 

 apply a heavy dressing between the rows to be cultivated 

 in, and in this way to encourage the growth of strong run- 

 ners and strong crowns for the next season's fruiting. 



