STRAWBERRIES.

Strawberries are another fruit which it is worth while to grow because of the better condition in which the fruits can be obtained as compared with those of the market.
Unfortunately, Strawberries demand a fair amount of attention and occupy a good deal of garden space without being specially decorative, and they are therefore regarded with disfavour by many owners of small gardens. Where a plot can be given over to them, however, they provide one of the finest of home-grown crops.
A good practice in Strawberry culture is to make a plantation in three sections. A Strawberry plant lasts for about three years, after which it can be discarded as worthless. Every year each plant sends out a plentiful supply of runners, on the ends of which grow tiny new plants which root readily in the surface soil. Each of these rooted runners, if potted up in rich soil, will make a new plant. These plants bear most prolifically in the first and second seasons after planting. To keep a regular supply of fruit, the grower is advised to scrap one third of his plants every year and replant the bed with newly-rooted runners taken from the healthiest plants of his collection. This last point is important, for if a runner is taken from a plant which has not borne fruit, the runner will in turn bear no fruit.
New plants are generally bought in September or in March. They should be planted 18 in. apart in rows 2 ft. apart. (Strawberries can for a season or two be run between two rows of new Gooseberries or Currants which are spaced at 5 ft. apart.) When runners appear in the first season they will be taken off, as they weaken the plants. During the second season one good runner can be allowed to develop from each of the plants, to be rooted and used for September planting. It assists the runner to root if the growing tip, where the tuft of leaves is forming, is pegged down into the surface soil.
An annual mulch of stable manure and autumn dressings of fertilizer keep the plants healthy. The fertilizers should consist of an ounce of sulphate of potash per square yard applied in autumn and three ounces of superphosphate and one ounce of sulphate of ammonia per square yard applied in spring. A little nitrate of soda may be used after the flowers open, to encourage the formation of large fruits. This is of course applied after the soil has been thoroughly soaked with water or rain.
During the three years that Strawberries remain in the bed they need frequent hoeing to keep the soil surface free from weeds (except during the time that straw is laid between the rows). Some growers, especially where the soil is inclined to be dry, put a good dressing of light strawy manure between the rows quite early in the season. This helps to conserve moisture in the soil and also serves the same purpose as the conventional straw mulch which is laid down just before the fruit ripens