166 
A KITCHEN GARDEN 
as does the straw mulching, from which the berry is 
generally supposed to take its name. 
In selecting varieties choose those which are 
recommended as suitable for your soil, heavy or light, 
or such as have proved good in your immediate 
neighborhood, as some of the finest kinds are worth¬ 
less in a different soil from that to which they are 
adapted. If especially fine, large berries are desired, 
the plants should be set in rows three feet apart, the 
plants twelve inches, as before, and all the runners 
kept cut off as fast as they appear. In this case 
heavy mulching is imperative, or the stools will be 
thrown out of the ground in the spring freezing and 
thawing. When the spring opens, the mulching 
should be cleared away from the crown of the plant, 
but should be allowed to remain on the ground sur¬ 
rounding the plant, as the weeds can easily be kept 
from such a patch, and fresh fertilizer applied. The 
patch may be continued in bearing for two or three 
seasons, but it will be found a great deal easier if a 
fresh patch is planted in new ground each year. 
COMPOST. 
This should be prepared in the early spring for use 
in the hills, and if it can be stacked in the fall and 
allowed to rot through the winter, it will be all the 
better. It can be composed of barnyard scrapings, 
well-rotted manure, chicken manure, night soil, or 
other strong fertilizer, mixed with at least an equal 
bulk of soil or ashes. This should be wet enough 
to rot thoroughly, but should not be allowed to lie 
