Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1857-06-11

before mentioned, we take an asparagus
fork, OR a three-prongcd hoe, and stir the
ground well just around the plants, making
the soil fine and light and then put on the
manure as before directed. This manure is
placed on the plant, which is covered with
it to the. depth Of one or two inches The
rains and SHOWS of winter will dissolve the
manure, and sink all it's fertilizing qualities
into the soil to feed and nourish the plant,
and at the advent of the spring, there will
be nothing on the surface but the ''pine
tags" which were mixed with the manure.
These are to be allowed to remain. to serve
as protection against sand when the berries
ripen. Some persons are silly enough to
remove this litter from about the plants, and,
, as consequence, when the fruit is ripe, it
falls on the earth, and every shower Of rain
covers it with dirt and sand, and renders it
totally unfit for the table, whereas, the litter
would have preserved the fruit from contact
with the soil, and kept it clean and nice
Wheat or oat straw might be used, were it
not for the fact that it is almost sure to rot
completely during the winter, and so fails
to answer the purposes specified; and, be-
sides, when it does begin to rot, it has
musty smell, which it imparts to the fruit,
whereas the ''pine tags are tough and do
not rot easily; and being washed perfectly
clean during winter, in no wise affect the
fruit. Saw-dust, spent tanbark, and other
things are sometimes used, but nothing, we
believe, answers the purpose so well as ''pine
tags"
At the same time that the soil about the
plants is stirred, we are accustomed to ma
nure the alleys between, and to spade them
very deep, and use them to make some crop
which will be out of the way early in the
spring. A crop Of spinach or lettuce may
thus be raised in the Strawberry plantation
without the slightest detrjment to the plants.
The plantation is now done for until the
spring, and then commences again the pro-
cess Of removing the weeds. With this diff
ference, however, that until the fruit reason
is over, the hoe cannot be used to remove
the weeds, but they must all be taken away
by the hand. And for the obvious reason,
that if the hoe be used, the soil will become
mixed with the litter, and so the >good'to be
obtained from that will be lost
- AS soon as the plants begin to blossom,
let water be given them freely, as was d.
rected in our article in the May number of
the Southern Planter, at page 318.
Persons whore Straw berries for market,
will find it much to their interest to leave
long stems to each berry, instead of pluck
ing them short, as is too commonly done.
Two points are gained by this. The berries
are less likely to get mashed and bruised,
becaue the stems will serve as protection;
and secondly, they are prepared for the table
with far less trouble.
About the time that the plants begin to
bloom, runners begin to develope themselves,
and they should be removed as fast as they
come throughout the year, as they operate
upon the plant as suckers do on fruit trees,
take away sap and so impair its fruitful
ness. They should, therefore, always be
removed except where they are wanted to
use in making new plantations.
! Every Strawberry plantation requires to
be renewed once in five years from the time
that it first comes into bearing and in order
that a supply of fruit may be kept up, the
new plantation should be made during the
third year. The fact that this renewal is
requisite, is generally conceded, indeed we
may say universally, but the why is not so
well known, and in our jud gment vast deal
of twaddle and nonsense has been written
and printed in this connection. Volumes
have been written about male and female
plants, Summaries, pistallates, and hermo-
phradites, without casting much light upon
the subject, whereas the explanation of the
difficulty is to be found in simple fact,
which is familiar to ALL or with which all
may acquant themselves with very little
trouble. When the runner is first planted,
the roots by which it feeds are fbrous roots,
clinging to a sort Of neck, and are all of a
light colour; the second year this neck elon-
gates, and changes its colour, becoming
quite dark, as do also the fbrous roots to
which we have already alluded, and they
cease to perform the functions which they
performed originally, and a new set of roots
are found just above the former, which also
change as the others did and SO the third
year another set of roots are formed, which
pass through like stages; and the fourth
year, these fbrous roots are found growing
almost on the surface of the soil, where they
cannot obtain that sustenance from the soil
which the plant requires. Of course, then,
the plant becomes partially Or totally barren,
and may as we'll be removed Immediately.
This simple statement, which any of our
readers can verify, by examining the plants