It
would be better, therefore, to dig the ground late in the
afternoon, and set out the plants the same evening. Watering,
however, should never be dispensed with during warm weather,
unless there is a certainty of rain; and even then it does no
harm.
Suppose one wishes to set a new bed in July. If he has
strawberries growing on his place, his course would be to let some
of his favorite varieties make new runners as early as possible.
These should be well-rooted young plants by the middle of the
month. After the new ground is prepared, these can be taken up,
with a ball of earth attached to their roots, and carried
carefully to their new starting-place. If they are removed so
gently as not to shake off the earth from the roots, they will not
know that they have been moved, but continue to thrive without
wilting a leaf. If such transplanting is done immediately after a
soaking rain, the soil will cling to the roots so tenaciously as
to ensure a transfer that will not cause any check of growth. But
it is not necessary to wait for rain. At five in the afternoon
soak with water the ground in which the young plants are standing,
and by six o'clock you can take up the plants with their roots
incased in clinging earth, just as successfully as after a rain.
Plants thus transferred, and watered after being set out, will not
wilt, although the thermometer is in the nineties the following
day.
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