Cultu re— Oa arrival of plants, unpack them at once, loosen the banchei, "heel" them in the ground 

 A3 described at front of Guide, or dip their roots in a " muddle," made by mixing earth in wacer unai of the 

 <;onsistency of cream, and lay away In a cool, damp cel'ar, where they can neither dry no." freeze, until thty 

 zan be planted in suitable weather. Do not leave in package and pour water over them, as this will surely 

 cause the plants to heat and spoil. If by chance the stock should arrive in a frozen stat j, bury the pa:;kage 

 or place it in a cjol place until the frost has bacome entirely abstracted by slow deg'-ee Thjse remarks 

 apply also to other Plants aud Trees, as well as Strawberries. The Strawberry delights in a moist soil, but 

 will succeed almost anywhere, if well manured and mulched. Avoid planting nea" trees, a? it resents 

 shade. To grow largj berries and plenty of them, fjrtilizjrj must be' used frejly. Ualea^hjJ wojd aihes 

 Is a specific fertilizer for the Strawb:3rry; ground bane U also excellent. la planting take but few olanta 

 from the trench or package at a tiJie, and expose as little as p^jsible to wind or sun. Never plant on a 

 windy day, and never plant in freezing weatuer. Do not plant djep, but press the exrth very flrm.ly about 

 thj roots.' Should the weather b3 warm, shade valuable plants for a few days with a handful of coarse lii.ter 

 over each plant, or with berry baskets or boxes (old rejected ones are as good as auy.) In Autumn planting 

 It is a good plan to defer It until just bafore freezijg weather, and over ea'^h plant with earth, to be re- 

 moved at the approach of Spring. By this method the plants start early, make a strong growth, and 

 scarcely one will fall. 



For hill culture, plant In beds four feet wide, with alleys two feet between them. Plant In each bed 

 three rows of plants flfteen inches apart, and the plants the sam j distance apart in the rows. For the mat- 

 ted-row system, plant in rows three feet apart, and the plants a foot apart in the rows; requiring 14,5:20 

 plants per acre. For the best results, mulching with some light material is indispensable, which should be 

 applied just as soon as the ground hxi bjcom j sli.?htly frozen, and p irtially or entirely removed when the 

 ground has become "settled" in Spring. It is well for all to plant at least three varieties— early, medium 

 and late -to expend the season to its full limits. 



The blossoms of all varieties are bi-sexual or per- 1 

 feet, except those marked with the letter P, which j 

 are destitute of stamens and are termed pistillate orC 

 imperfect, as shown by the following figures. Pistil- 

 late varieties must have a row of a perfect-flo.vered , 

 sort, planted every nine or twelve feet apart among 

 them, or, better yet, every third or fourth plant in the 

 row, to pollenize their blossoms. When properly fer- 

 tilized the pistillate varieties are the most prolific ; 

 and there is no reason for any prejuaice against them- 



Success depends la a great measure on getting flnci Pistill.^tk, or lm|)v riecL 

 Bi-SEXUAL, or I'eiiecL- healthy plants, strictly pure and true to name. This we know our plants to be. 

 In shipping plants, we s ond out none but young plants, as shown at Fig. 454, grown under the so-called 

 "pedigree system." "We nevjr send out old plants. When gro wn on deep, black soil the roots of young 

 plants are of a dark color, but soft, succulent and nearly uniform in size and appearance, as shown by the 

 figure just referred to. With old plants, the lower roots are black, dead and wiry, with generally a few 

 young roots just below where the leaves are j )iued to the crown, as shov/n in Fig. 456. We clean all plants 

 of dead leaves and tie In bunches (Fig. 455) before packing. Strawberries are perhaps th t most difficult of 

 all nursery stock to ship long distances in good conditio:), and to overcome the danger of damage in ship- 

 ment we pack large lots in cases designed and manufactured expressly for the purpose. 



Young Plant. Fig. 454. 



Plants Bunciiep. Fig. 455, 



Old Pla.vts. Fig. 456. 



