SEED-TIME AH© HARVEST. 
11 
tinuous, and that it receive no injury while 
in the dormant state or ont of the ground. 
Now, what are the wants of the straw¬ 
berry when planted in the Fall? The soil of 
the strawberry should be rich and moist, 
but not wet. It matters not whether it be 
sand, clay or muck, so that it furnishes an¬ 
chorage for the plant and contains an abun¬ 
dance of the elements of its growth. It 
should be stirred to a good depth, but little 
or no poor subsoil should be brought to the 
surface. It is w^ell to have it prepared some 
little time in advance so that it may have 
time to settle somewhat before the plants 
are set. The surface should be rich. This 
is especially important with Fall-set plants 
as their roots have comparatively little time 
to go far in search of food ; There is another 
advantage in encouaging surface ~oots; they 
are not drawn out nor broken by the expan¬ 
sion of the water in the soil when itchauges 
to ice, but rise and fall with the ground. 
Root that run deep are apt to be broken or 
drawn out,—as red clover, — while white 
clover roots remain uninjured, although 
frozen and thawed a dozen times. If the 
soil has been enriched for a previous crop, 
so much the better; but if not, well decom¬ 
posed stable manure may be worked into 
the surface either before or after setting the 
plants. Bone dust and wood ashes will sup¬ 
ply all tnat may be lacking in any soil, and 
these can be obtained in nearly all parts of 
the country. Of all the commercial ferti¬ 
lizers none is safer to buy than pure ground 
bone. It must, however, be decomposed 
before the plants can use it, .as they take up 
all their food in solution. For immediate 
effect it is sometimes advisable to use dis¬ 
solved bone (super-phosphate of lime) which 
will be washed down to the roots by the first 
rain. It should be impressed on the mind 
of every tiller of the soil that neither pleas¬ 
ure nor profit can be derived to any great 
extent from cultivating poor land. 
A plant receives more or less of a check 
by being taken up and reset, in the growing 
season, even though this be done in the most 
skillful manner. The following method I 
have used with great success for more than 
a quarter of a century: the plants are taken 
out of damp soil, with great ease, divested 
of all runners and superflnous leaves and 
thrown into a pail of water. They are then 
carried to the new bed and each one taken 
out as planted. The roots are spread out in 
fan shape, with the crown even with the 
surface, and a little damp soil put over the 
roots and pressed firmly against them. The 
balance of the soil is then filled in loosely. If 
the weather be very hot after transplanting, 
a little shade during the middle of the day, 
for a time, will be an advantage. 
Another very satisfactory method is to 
set the plants about four inches apart in 
loamy soil, with the roots spread out care¬ 
fully and covered wit' i half an inch of earth. 
In this situation they can be shaded and 
watered, if necessary, and in a few days 
thousands of new roots will be sent out. 
They may then be taken up, after a thorough 
watering, with the soil adhering, and set in 
the new bed, where they will grow from 
the first without wilting. This is the best 
way to treat all plants received from a dis¬ 
tance. Soon after the plants are set out they 
will commence to send out runners which 
must be cut off as soon as they appear. The 
soil should be kept well stirred from the 
time the plants are set until the end of the 
growing season; but all deep cultivatioh 
should be discontinued after the first of 
October, lest the surface rootR be injured. 
Plants set in the Fall-the earlier the better- 
will produce fine fruit the following June, 
and will make a far greater growth than if 
the planting be postponed till Spring. As 
soon as freezing weather comes the whole 
surface oi the bed should be covered to the 
depth of two or three inches with straw or 
any light litter. Early in the Spring when 
the plants begin to grow, the covering should 
be removed from over the crown of each 
plant and left between to keep the ground 
moist and the fruit clean. I take this method 
of answering inquiries from correspondents 
in various parts of the country .—Matthew 
Crawford, in Western Rural. 
Respect Age. Always respect age. There is 
nothing more contemptible and ungentlemanly than 
for a young man to sneer at the ignorance or infirm 
ities of the old. 
When you have had Catarrh long enough, just 
send 10c. to Dr. R. C. Sykes, 181 Monroe St., Chicago, 
for his “True Theory of Catarrh,” 
