Page:How and what to grow in a kitchen garden of one acre (IA howwhattogrowin00darl).pdf/170

 the vines to long canes, two to four to each post, and divide them at the top, carrying half out the top pole or wire in each direction; cut the side shoots back to two eyes each, as these are the spurs that will furnish the fruit branches. If fruit is desired in finest condition a two-pound paper bag should be tied round the neck, to the stem of each bunch, placing the bunch inside, when the berries are about half grown; this preserves the grapes from mildew and, what is more destructive, the ravages of bees and birds. There should be one or two rows of strawberries across the garden; the rows four feet apart. It will be found a great deal easier to keep them free from weeds and to gather the fruit when grown in this way. The varieties, one early and one late, or both rows of a continuous bearing kind, should be of the perfect flowering character, as there are plenty of varieties of this character which are as good and prolific as any pistillate sort grown, and they are not so much trouble to grow, or as uncertain a crop. The plants should be set early in the spring, in well-manured ground, twelve inches apart in the row, and should be hoed and cultivated as frequently as possible. As the runners start lay them lengthways of the row and let them root in, keeping the soil loose and fine, so that they can easily take hold.

The blossoms should be kept picked off the season of planting, or they will take the strength of the young plant so that it will make but a feeble growth