ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE STRAWBERRY. 49 
the soil in the spring when the thaw commences. When the 
planting is left till the spring, they must be well watered in dry 
weather to insure success. After the plants have taken root, 
the next thing is to guard them against severe weather; and in 
order to prevent the frost from injuring them, lay some old 
tanner s bark between the plants : if this cannot be procured, 
saw-dust, the decayed leaves of trees, or the branches of trees 
with the leaves on them, may be laid over the beds, to prevent 
the frost from penetrating deep in the ground. 
In the following summer the beds should be kept free from 
weeds, and all the runners taken off as soon as they are pro¬ 
duced ; if this is attended to, the plants will become very strong 
by the following autumn, whereas when this is neglected, as is 
often the case, and all the runners are allowed to grow till the 
autumn, and then pulled off, the plants are much weakened 
thereby; it is very necessary to attend to this point, for young 
plants, when allowed to produce runners the first season, never 
produce fruit so . fine as those that have had no runners to 
support. 
The next thing to be observed, is in autumn to clear the beds 
of all the decayed leaves and weeds that may have accumulated 
on them, and dig up the paths, burying the rubbish taken from 
the beds ; then lay some soil over the surface of the beds, 
between the plants, as this will strengthen them for the follow¬ 
ing spring ; if loam can be got, put it between the plants in pre¬ 
ference to any thing else. In spring, when the danger of hard 
frost is over, the ground between the plants may be carefully 
forked up with a small fork, breaking all the clods of earth that 
may come to the surface ; and in doing this, the loam that was 
put on in the autumn will be buried, and form a good dressing 
to the plants : then about the beginning of April, if it is possible 
to cover the beds with a coating of moss, it will be of much 
service in keeping the beds moist, and preventing the fruit from 
being splashed by heavy rains, which is very injurious—for when 
fruit has to be washed before it can go to table, it loses much 
of its flavour. I am convinced that where this method is prac¬ 
tised, plenty of good fruit may be obtained ; but it is requisite 
to have a succession of beds, for about three or four years will 
be found quite as long as the plants will produce fine fruit, and 
by keeping the ground longer under one crop, it will become 
quite exhausted. 
