976 



THE STRAWBERRY. 



of any small vegetables may be sown in the spaces between the rows. 

 Every autumn, if the plants are not luxuriant, a light coat of manure 

 should be dug in between the rows ; but if they are very thrifty it 

 should be omitted, as it would cause them to run too much to leaf. 



A light top-dressing of leaves, or any good compost, applied late in 

 the fall, greatly promotes the vigor of the plaDts, and secures the most 

 tender kinds against the effects of an unusually cold winter. Before the 

 fruit ripens the ground between the rows should be covered with 

 straw, or light new-mown grass, to keep it clean. 



A plantation of this kind in rows will be found to bear the largest 

 and finest fruit, which, being so fully exposed to the sun, will always 

 be sweeter and higher flavored than that grown in crowded beds. 



Culture in alternate Strips. A still more easy and economical 

 mode is that of growing the strawberry in strips. 



Early in April, or in August, being provided with a good stock of strong 

 young plants, select a suitable piece of good deep soil. Dig in a heavy 

 coat of stable manure, pulverizing well and raking the top soil. Strike 

 out the rows, three feet apart, with a line. The plants should now be 

 planted along each line, about a foot apart in the row. They will soon 

 send out runners, and these runners should be allowed to occupy a 

 width of one foot, leaving an alley of two feet, which is kept clear from 

 weeds, and is used to walk in when gathering the fruit. 



The occupied strip or bed of runners will now give a heavy crop of 

 strawberries, and the open strip of two feet will serve as an alley from 

 which to gather the fruit. After the crop is over, dig and prepare this 

 alley or strip for the occupancy of the new runners for the next season's 

 crop. The runners from the old strip will now speedily cover the new 

 space allotted to them, and will perhaps require a partial thinning out 

 to have them evenly distributed. As soon as this is the case, say about 

 the middle of August, dig under the whole of the old plants with a 

 light coat of manure. The surface may be then sown with turnips or 

 spinage, which will come off before the next season of fruits. 



In this way the strips or beds occupied by the plants are reversed 

 every season, and the same plot of ground may thus be continued for 

 years, but less productive than when new land is taken. 



It may be remarked that the Alpine and European Wood strawber- 

 ries will do well and bear longer in a rather shaded situation. The 

 Bush- Alpine, an excellent sort, having no runners, makes one of the 

 neatest borders for quarters or beds in the kitchen garden, and produces 

 considerable fruit till the season of late frosts. If the May crop of 

 blossoms is taken off, they will give a moderate crop in September. 



To accelerate the ripening of early kinds in the open garden, it is only 

 necessary to plant rows or beds on the south side of a wall or tight 

 fence. A still simpler mode, by which their maturity will be hastened 

 ten days, is that of throwing up a ridge of soil three feet high, running 

 east and west, and planting it in rows on the south side. (The north 

 side may also be planted with later sorts, which will be somewhat re- 

 tarded in ripening.) 



Hermaphrodite and Pistillate Plants. — A great number of ex- 

 periments have been made, and a great deal has been written lately, in 

 this country, regarding the most certain mode of producing large crops 

 of this fruit. 



Cultivators divide all Strawberries into classes, characterized by their 



