HOUSE AND GARDEN 
April. 1913 
fine and loose, but around the roots it should be packed as firmly 
as possible. 
Without doubt strawberries are the most popular of the small 
fruits. Have the bed prepared so fine 
that you can set the plants easily by 
hand. If the roots are long and dried 
off at the ends, cut them back about a 
third. In any case, spread them out as 
much as possible and set them as deep 
as possible without getting any dirt 
over the crown. Where only a few 
plants are used, a hundred or so can 
usually be had by growing them in 
what is known as the L system culture 
—a single row, or a bed of three or 
four rows, with the plants set a foot 
apart each way and all runners kept 
cut off as soon as they appear so that 
the strength of the plant will be 
thrown into one crown. If it is very 
hot and bright, it will pay well to keep 
them shaded for two or three days 
with pieces of old newspapers or 
something similar. 
As soon as the newly-cut plants 
“take hold,” the ground should be 
worked about them quite deeply, three 
or four inches at first. This should be 
gradually reduced, however, until just 
the surface is stirred up enough to 
maintain a sufficient “drought mulch” 
as it is called, to save the 
moisture below in the soil 
about the roots. It will 
be very easy to keep the 
newly-set plants clean 
if cultivation is given fre¬ 
quently, every ten days or 
two weeks. Do not let 
the weeds get a start or 
your season’s work on the 
strawberry patch will be 
doubled. 
Two or three crops are 
usually taken before a 
new bed is needed. You 
do not have to buy new 
plants for this, however, 
as you will have plenty of 
your own. They may be 
rooted directly in the soil, but a 
much better method will be to 
secure a quantity of small pots, 
2 or inches, and place these in 
the soil, filling them level full and 
in such a position that the runners 
about to root can be held in place 
over them with a clothespin or a 
small stone, so that the new roots 
which form will be confined in the 
pot. It is usually made after the 
fruiting season, so that the newly- 
made bed may be set out in Au¬ 
gust or September. A far better 
method, however, is to select a few 
plants from which to get your 
rooted runners earlier in the sea¬ 
son, so that you will have them ready to set out in July or early 
August. If these are set in rich soil and well cultivated and all 
the runners picked off clean, they will give a full crop of berries 
the following spring, thus saving a 
whole year’s time. For with this 
method you can easily have a new bed 
every year, and if you want the larg¬ 
est and nicest strawberries you can 
grow, this is the way to handle them. 
The mulching for the strawberry bed 
serves a double purpose. It protects 
the plants during the winter, keeps 
them up out of the soil, and guards 
them from being spattered every time 
it rains in the fruiting season. Clean, 
dry, autumn leaves, straw or bog hay 
may be used for this purpose, but the 
latter is the most convenient, as straw 
is more expensive and leaves are like¬ 
ly to blow around. Put it on after 
the ground freezes hard, but before 
very severe cold weather—November 
Fifteenth to December Fifteenth, de¬ 
pending upon the season. Cover the 
entire bed, soil, plants and all about 
three inches deep. In the spring when 
they have once begun to throw out 
new leaves and danger of frost is over, 
push this covering a little to one side 
over each plant to assist it in getting 
out of bed. 
The cane fruits—rasp¬ 
berries, blackberries and 
more humble and not suf¬ 
ficiently appreciated cous¬ 
ins, the dewberries, will 
grow with scarcely any 
care at all; but the better 
the attention you give 
them, the better will be 
the returns they give you. 
If there is any choice at 
all in the matter of soil, 
give them the heaviest 
and most clayey in the 
garden. Set the plants in 
the ground at about the 
same depth they have been 
growing in the nursery 
which you will be able to 
perceive by the discoloration at the 
base of the stem. The canes when 
you receive them will be quite 
long, but as soon as they are 
planted they should be cut back 
within about half’ a foot of the 
ground. 
As the plants grow naturally, 
they are altogether too ambitious, 
growing up entirely too many 
canes, but they should be cut out 
until only four or five are left— 
and each year all those which have 
borne fruit should be cut out clean 
and removed as soon as possible 
thereafter. 
(Continued on page 317) 
When raised with care, cane fruits have a decorative 
value that should not be disregarded 
In taking up runner plants of strawberries care should be exercised and a ball of 
soil left adhering to the roots. In purchasing look for well-developed root fibres 
The red Logan’s dewberry of wild blackberry flavor is some¬ 
times one-and-one-quarter inches long 
