How To Make A Strawberry Bed

CtPitiganrgns Will the editors or correspondente of the Western Rural inform 1110, through its columns, tho-best way of setting out a a bed of stniwberrics, for market purpoRcs ? whethor in hills or drills, and tho distance apart ? I would also liko to know the best variety for niarkot and profit, and whether the ground should bo very richly inanurod. E. B. Oshtemo, Midi. - A rich, deop, mellow, well-drained sandy loam soil is necessary for the bucoessf ui cultivation of the strawberry ; yet a light sandy soil or heavy clny by proper pteparation may b brought into condition to produce good crops of this fruit. Somo Varieties thrivo best in clay land and somo in light, rich snndy soil. One of deeply tilled, well uianurcd, and properly proparod soil will produce inore fruit than thrce or four acres iniperfectly prcpared_ Well rotted barn-yard manure is adaptedi for the strawberry. A compost of barn-yard manure and rich nmck, leaves, nd rotted sods, when heaped for a considerable time, and well mixed before it is used, is nearly as good as barn-yard manure without any mixture. Concontrated. manares, such as bone-dust, guano, and ptradrette, may be used with very good effect. Lime, piaster, soot, wood, or peat ashes, and castor or sorghum pomaco, have been.found beneficial when applied to the soil. In field culture stawberries are generally plantod in drills three feet apart, with the plante one foot asunder in the drills.. All runners are taken off as soon aa they appear and the spaces between the rows kept mollow and clean with the cultivator, etc. A Winter covering of straw, coarse hay, or dead leaves, is very beneficial. This should be removed froin the crowns of the plants in Spring, but left on the rest of the ground, in order to keep the fruit free from mud and sand. John, Ford, a very successful strawberry grower of Detroit, Michigan, raises abunlant crops for the Detroit market. He plants in drills or rows, thrce fect asunder ; plants onc toot asunacr in tne ruws. ue does not expcct a erop tho firsfr seMoa, Uut aHows tho young plants to tukc root and grow togethcr in tho rows forming u mass of plants about a foot wide. ïho intervals betweon the rows aro kopt clean with the cultivator. He gets a splendid erop tho second year, and when it is gathered, the plants aro turned down with the plow, and the ground prepared for soino othor kind of erop. He does not keep etrawtoerries in tho same ground for moro than two seasons. In garden culture, hills two feet asunier each way are mueh approved of. Some persons keop the hills froin two and a half to three feet asunder, munuro tho soil betweon them highly, keep öfï the runners, and gather splendid crops of vi-ry ltEgt) fruit. Wilflon's Albany is the most productivo and profitable variety for market. Jucunda is also good, but it is a week or ten days later, and is not so productive as the Wilson. By having both varieties, tho strawberry season muy be prolonged consideraMy. In ordiniiry garden soil, the Wilson will do well in TWlla from one and a half to two feet asunder each way, and last for threo or more seasons without being renewed. Some persons plant much closer than this, and allow the plants to grow together in a mass. Large crops are soinetimes obtained in this way the second year from planting ; after that the beds become unproductive unless thinned out and well