MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 309 



ieave a stool of clover or a strawberry plant, and I do not deem it 

 absolutely necessary to mulch, as the soil does not spatter enough to 

 make any great difference. I have mulched a small part of my plant- 

 ings for the last five years, and do not know that it has ever paid me, 

 yet I intend to mulch a little this winter. If you wish to retard the 

 ripening of a part of your plant, you can accomplish this by a heavy 

 mulch after the ground is frozen, leaving it on until rather late in the 

 ■spring. 



If your ground is not naturally under-drained, it should be well 

 under-drained before planting. I believe that with a proper system of 

 sub-irrigation we can double the yield and returns of our crop each 

 year for a series of years, and I intend to have my plant under perfect 

 control, as far as moisture is concerned, in the very near future, when 

 I hope to give some startling results. 



Strawberry plants are divided into two general classes, known as 

 staminates (perfect) and pistillates (imperfect). These terms are well 

 understood by growers generally, but beginners may need to be told 

 that the staminate plants are those that carry their own pollen, and are 

 therefore perfect flowering, while blossoms of pistillates contain no 

 pollen, and require the aid of a staminate variety before they will pro- 

 duce perfect fruit. There are one or two exceptions to this general 

 rule. The pollen is carried to the pistillates by the wind and insects, 

 hence the good results from a goodly number of bees in connection 

 ■with the strawberry. Wet, damp and cool weather at blooming time 

 may interfere with a proper distribution of pollen and cause a crop of 

 imperfect fruit, and possibly a total failure. 



There are hundreds of varieties that are extensively advertised by 

 the different nurseries throughout the country, and the beginner may, 

 after looking over a dozen catalogues, be so bewildered that he will 

 not know what to order, for every one of them will claim some half a 

 dozen varieties are the best in the world to plant, and possibly no two 

 of the whole catalogued list will be alike. From my own experience 

 from varieties tested on the "Flint hill," 1 would recommend the fol- 

 lowing staminates for this section of the country : Captain Jack, 

 Comet, Parker Earle, and for extra late the Gaudy; pistillates — Cres- 

 cent, Wartield, Speece, Greenville and Shuster's Gem. The list that 

 has received the most votes from a large number of growers from all 

 parts of the country is Bubach, Warfleld, Haverland, Lovett and 

 Parker Eirle. Babach, I think, is too soft for a good shipping berry, 

 and the Haverland often rots at the tip end, especially if we have very 

 much rain during the ripening season. 



