OF CHOICE STRAWBERRY PLANTS. » 
HOW AND WHEN TO PLANT. 
FIG. 7. FIG. 8. FIG. 9. 
SET JUST RIGHT. SET TOO DEEP. SET TOO SHALLOW. 
Figure 7 shows you a plant properly placed in the ground, The top of the 
crown, where the leaves come out, should be just above the surface, after the 
plant is set and the soil leveled down around it, The lines in these figures in- 
dicate the the surface of the ground. 
Figure 8 shows a plant set too deep. Earth over the crown will usually 
kill it, or at least prevent its doing well. Figure 9 shows a plant set too shallow. 
The air can get to the roots and so can the sunshine, and the plant will not do 
well under such conditions. The roots should all be in the ground. I do not 
suppose anyone would set a plant quite so deep as in figure 8, nor quite so shal- 
low as shown by figure 9. I have exaggerated these cuts to make the lesson 
plain. Also the leaves on the plants are a little more upright than you usually 
find them when setting out. They often crinkle down so as to be in the way. 
Of course we had to put them out of the way in these pictures so as to show 
you plainly just how to do the setting. Do not make the holes except as fast as 
you want to set the plants. So as to have the soil moist where the roots will 
touch. Take the plants out of the pail only as fast as you want to set them. 
Early Spring, just as soon as the ground can be easily worked, is the 
best time of all the whole year to plant strawberries in any section where 
there are extreme frosts in winter, especially if planting is to be done on a large 
scale and plants have to be brought from a distance. How to plant will depend 
largely upon local conditions, size and shape of the field, etc. In the small 
family garden or city lot, where there is little chance to use horse and cultivator 
they may be planted one foot apart each way, in two or three rows then leave a 
space of three feet to furnish path during picking season. Planted in this way 
all runners should be kept off the original plants, since for their be?t develop- 
ment they require each about one square foot. 
For field culture mark out the rows 2+ to 5 feet wide and set plants 18 to 2A 
inches apart in the rows. Then if we wish to follow the narrow row system w< 
let each plant strike a few runners along the line of the row, and then, later ii 
the season keep all runners off; while if the broad matted row is wanted, ai 
runners are allowed to take root and the cultivator narrowed up a little at eacl 
cultivation during the latter part of the season, till we have matted rows o 
plants two feet wide, with walk one foot wide between them. The narrow is 
the more profitable of these two systems, yet the matted row is the most adopted 
i s many are of the opinion that the more plants the more berries. 
