In Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Shakespears makes the Dane say " Look here, upon this picture, and 
on this." This garden and the one on tlie preceding page are less than a half mile apart if measured by 
the surveyor's chain, but several times that distance if measured by quantity and quality of berries. A 
great deal of the joy of life consists in doing well everything attempted, and when the wife can walk down 
the straw covered paths and fill the basket with the fine, plump fellows that lay In wind-rows she can't 
help but feel cheerful as she sets the luscious short cake on the dinner and supper table. And how does 
the other fellow's wife look at life when she is hunting among the vines and weeds for a few nubbins? 
Who Is to blame if she don't smile when you come home? The man who doesn't make love to his wife 
after they are married is neither appreciative nor wise, and one of the ways to do it right is to provide 
for her a good strawberry bed. 
Preparation for a big crop of high priced 
berries must begin in advance. You must not 
only have your ground fitted, but your plants 
also must be grown under special care. It makes 
a world wide difference if you start the bed 
with plants already well developed, because in 
this case you have only to enable them to hold 
their own and then you can get results. 
In selecting ground avoid all low, mucky 
soil. These unduly stimulate the vegetative 
parts of the plant at the expense of fruit or- 
gans. Such soil are largely used by growers 
of cheap plants because they make a world of 
runners, but it is hard on the man who buys 
the plants; for a plant grown under such con- 
ditions will go right on making runners in- 
stead of berries. 
Select a sand loam and set plants fully twice 
as far apart as if they were intended for fruit. 
' Make it only moderately rich and depend on 
thorough tillage and layering the plants so 
they will root as soon as formed and be es- 
pecially sure to keep them spread out so every 
leaf will be fully exposed to the sunshine. 
Use the cultivator liberally, but do not crowd 
the plants. Use a sharp pointed hoe to work 
among the plants to break up the crust, using 
care not to disturb the plants that are be- 
ginning to send down roots. 
A runner will not make roots unless it is 
brought in contact with moist earth, and so in 
layering, it is best to remove a little of the dry 
top earth and replace it over the crown, but 
the leaves must not be covered. A small 
stone is best because it holds capillary mois- 
ture. It is a good plan to have a pretty large 
propagating bed for in a dry season it will not 
make so many plants, and you will have op- 
portunities to sell a good many, and after you 
have taken what you want you can let the bal- 
ance fruit. Where beds are fruited two or 
three years before turning under, you should 
plan the propagating bed a year in advance 
and order fresh selections of thoroughbred 
plants and in that way a material saving can 
be effected. 
It is of the utmost importance that the 
breeding bed be mulched as soon as it freezes 
in the fall. A plant left to freeze every cold 
night and thaw every bright sunny winter day 
might form new roots to take the place of 
those broken by the expanding and contrac- 
tion of the ground, if the plant was left where 
it grew, but where it is transplanted many 
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