10. Never disturb roots by working among them in dry weather. At such times, stir the surface only, and often.
11. If you water at all, water thoroughly, and keep the soil moist till rain comes; otherwise watering is an injury.
12. The easiest and cheapest way to keep a garden clean is to rake the ground over once a week on sunny days. This method destroys the weeds when they are just appearing, and maintains moisture.
18. Pick fruit, if possible, when it is dry, and before it is over-ripe. Do not leave it in the sun or wind, but take it at once to coolness and shade. Pack carefully and honestly. A quart of small, decayed, green, or muddy berries scattered through a crate of fine fruit may reduce its price one half.
14. Mulch everything you can. Save all the leaves and litter that can be gathered on the place, and apply it around the plants only when the ground is moist. Dry ground covered with mulch may be kept dry all summer.
15. Practice summer pinching and pruning only when plants are in their spring and early summer growth, and not after the wood begins to ripen. If delayed till then, wait till the plant is dormant in the fall.
16. Sandy or gravelly land can usually be worked immediately after rain; but if heavy land is plowed or cultivated when wet, or so dry as to break up in lumps, it is injured.
17. Watch all crops daily. Plants are living things, and need attention. Diseases, insects, drought, or wet may destroy them in a few days, or even hours, if left uncared for.
18. If you cultivate strawberries in the spring, do the work very early—as soon as the ground is dry enough to work. After the fruit buds show themselves, stir the ground with a rake or hoe only, and never more than an inch deep. I advocate early spring cultivation, and then the immediate application of the mulch.
19. Just as the ground begins to freeze, in the fall or early winter, cover strawberry plants with some light material that will prevent alternate freezing and thawing during the winter. Never use heavy, unfermented manure for this purpose. Leaves, straw, salt, hay, light stable manure, or any old litter from the garden, answer.