THE PROPAGATING BED. 
The Propagating Bed when stocked with pedi- 
gree plant? is the fruit growers' gold mine from 
%vhich he can dig more profits than from any other 
spot on the farm. 
The Common Practice of taking "titman" or 
alley plants from along side the full matted row is 
very bad. These are the last to set in the fall and 
as fruit buds do not form until after the plants take 
root, they go through the year without setting fruit 
and thereby lose to a considerable extent the habit 
of making fruit buds. The roots do not have time 
to mature and become woody but are mere strings, 
soft and green and it is very difficult to transplant 
them so they will live. 
Tbe Sample 
You often wonder why your plants die when 
you take them up from the side of the row on your 
own grounds and set them out with great care. 
Remember the cause is immature roots ; so you see 
the absolute necessity of having a propagating bed 
and growing your plants by themselves, and tak- 
ing up the whole row using only those of mature 
roots and well developed buds and throwing away 
the grade of plants you have been using. 
Select a sand loam on high ground and make 
it mellow with barnyard manure thoroughly mixed 
with the soil by plowing and repeated harrowing 
and cultivating. 
Set plants In rows four feet apart and twenty- 
four inches apart in the row. Pedigree Plants 
being trained to develop fruit buds make compara- 
tively few runners, so unless there are frequent 
rains so as to keep the surface soil quite wet you 
will need to layer them as fast as they appear by 
putting a little stone or some earth just back of 
the first runner leaf which will cause them to root 
at once. Spread the runners out in all directions 
so that the crowns will have plenty of light and 
room to grow. The tendency to form fruit buds 
must be encouraged, and they must not be allowed 
to mat thickly. ^- i. j 
Never select low ground for a propagatmg bed 
because the plants become viney and cover the 
The Wm. Belt 
ground with weak, spindling plants. Such land 
may be profitable for the cheap plant nurseryman 
but you want fruit and will not get it on plants 
grown in that way. Their tendency to be "viney" 
and'make only runners is inherited and becomes a 
part of their nature. As soon as the ground freezes, 
mulch with clean straw quite thickly. This not 
only prevents injury to the roots by heaving caus- 
ed by frequent freezing and thawing but it keeps 
the plants dormant in the spring, giving you time 
to tit the ground and set them before they start to 
grow. 
A TEST. 
Take a Pedigree Plant and set by the side of a 
common mongrel plant, and gi\'e both high cul- 
ture. Notice that the Pedigree Plant throws out 
strong runners and its crowns form rapidly, while 
the mongrel plant will throw its whole strength 
into making a profusion of runners, and in the tall 
the mother plant will have few or no extra crowns 
and the runners will have few double crowns. The 
following season the difference in the berries will 
be very marked, both in size and quality. 
This Experiment we have tried time and again, 
with the same results. The vigor of the plants set 
makes the difference between big crops with large 
profits and little crops and no profits. 
Gandy 
