SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 361 



The nlants should be cultivated about once a week during the entire season 

 of growth, and such weeds as are not reached by the cultivator must be got out 

 with the hoe or hand. Every year as long as the plat is permitted to remain 

 it should be top dressed with the same fertilizer in ahont the same amount, 

 half to be applied at the last cultivation before blossoming, and half at the first 

 after fruiting. 



As soon as the ground is frozen in the fall the plants should be covered 

 with clean straw, just enough, and no more, to hide them from view. The 

 object of this mulch is two-fold, viz. : to keep the plants from the blighting 

 influence of the hot sun when they are frozen, and to keep them from being 

 thrown out of the ground by the frequent freezing and thawing. The past 

 winter and present spring furnish a good illustration of the necessity for such 

 a mulch. As soon in the spring as freezing is over, this mulch may be 

 removed, the ground cultivated, and the mulch replaced in the rows, or the 

 mulch may be pushed away from the plants and left until after fruiting. 

 Good cultivators differ in opinion as to which of these ways is best. But the 

 last cultivation should be done and the mulch replaced before blossoming. 

 The object of the mulch at the time of fruiting is to keep the fruit clean and 

 the ground moist. It is hardly possible to get too much moisture in a well 

 drained soil at that time. If at any time plants of any variety are wanted for 

 the purpose of adding to or renewing the plantation, each parent plant may 

 be allowed to produce three new ones. In this case, the new plant as soon as 

 well rooted should be severed from the parent. 



These fine strawberries, when grown as I have described, are larger and 

 richer in flavor, are more easily gathered, look better in the boxes and on the 

 table, and taste much better, because you taste them with the eye as well as 

 with the palate. Even the AVilson, when grown in this manner and allowed 

 to get fully ripe before it is picked, is very different from and superior to the 

 half-grown, half-ripened sour Wilson usually found in the market. 



To obtain the largest success as a grower of this fruit a person must have a 

 love for the business. He must not go to his work as a slave under the lash of 

 a task master; he must be deeply interested in it, — an enthusiast in it, if you 

 please. Then his labor and care, even if wearying, as they surely will be, will 

 be a pleasure, and he will not yield to the difficulties, discouragements, and 

 disappointments that will inevitably meet him at times. He must feel that 

 this employment is honorable, not menial ; that it is as dignified as any to 

 which man devotes his time and energies. 



The fine, large, well-grown strawberry is the most delicious fruit in the gardens 

 of earth. Beautiful in its rich, green foliage, beautiful in its pure white blos- 

 soms, superbly beautiful in its own crimson maturity, it seems to me to have a 

 memory and a voice. It tells me of its former home in paradise, where every 

 breeze was laden with the fragrance of fruit and flower, and man in his 

 purity walked and talked with angels, while they ate of the fruit, and were 

 •satisfied and happy. It seems also to have a voice of prophecy; that tells me 

 of a paradise to be regained ; that at the bidding of Him who is the resurrec- 

 tion and the life, man shall come forth, purified from the grossness of earth 

 and the pollutions of sin, and live again with angels in the gardens of immor- 

 tality, and again gather fruits from the banks of the river of life. 



