congenial soil.
Nature performs wonders for the strawberry; but human care and skill can
multiply its capabilities to an extent which even yet is undetermined.

Acting upon these hints, for which I was again indebted to my invaluable
agricultural treasury, I took care that every runner, as soon as it
threw out a perfect tuft of leaves, should be let down into a little
cavity scooped out by a garden-trowel, and sprinkled with earth enough
to keep it down. The instinct of the plant was so nice and active, that,
as soon as it came in contact with the moist ground below, it threw out
roots and took a fast hold. These nourished it into an independent
plant, enabling it to project a new joint, which, being similarly
covered, formed another plant. Thus attending to them every day, I not
only obtained more than were needed for the yet unoccupied half-acre,
but secured plants of so vigorous a growth as to insure a good crop the
coming season. The ground was broken up and put in nice order in
October. Then, after every rainy day, but especially in damp and drizzly
weather, a man who understood the business was employed to transfer the
young plants to their new location. It was too great an undertaking for
me, though I assisted in the operation. My new bed I made an extension
of the old one, and began with those plants which had grown from the
runners nearest to the parent. As these had been longest in growing,
they were the most thrifty and the best. Taking them up carefully on a
trowel, with a ball of earth to each, I carried them one by one to the
places previously prepared for them by the gardener, being simple
excavations about a foot apart, into which we slipped them directly from
the trowel, and then drew the loose earth up around the ball, so as to
leave no portion of the roots exposed. By making holes for them, the
plants were let down quite level with the surface, just as they had
stood before transplanting: for strawberries must never be set on a
ridge; since, when thus set, the roots, having two surfaces laid open to
the action of the sun and drying winds, become parched by exposure, and
the plants will frequently perish in consequence. Moisture is the vital
principle of the strawberry. Practically speaking, it may be said to be
the only manure it ever requires.

This job cost me some ten dollars for hired help, but the gain was worth
all that. Not a single plant showed the slightest sign of wilting.
Indeed, there was