352 TRANSACTIONS OF THE HORTICULTURAL 



with emphasis, that success with any variety which is adapted to 

 to the soil in which it is placed, depends more upon the prepara- 

 tion of the soil previous to planting than upon all other circum- 

 stances combined. 



No amount of manuring or cultivation after planting can atone 

 for previous neglect. The soil must be made rich, fine and friable 

 to the depth of twelve or eighteen inches if possible. This in 

 most cases can only be done by several plowings. My plan of 

 setting the plants is to mark off the ground as I would for corn, 

 and set the plants in the hill system as I would plant corn. Cul- 

 tivate both ways until the plants run, which they will do, and 

 cover the ground entirely if let go. Then I cultivate only one 



In growing the strawberry, I have tried many different kinds, 

 and find most of them produce well, when I have prepared the 

 ground well previous to planting. There is such a thing as 

 having the soil too rich, unless you stop the increase of the 

 young plants by cutting off the runners. I have had single 

 plants that a bushel basket would not cover. Some say that a 

 variety will run out; so do I say so. 



In the case of the Wilson, we cannot grow such crops of the 

 Wilson as we used to do. I care not how you cultivate, and 

 this will hold good in every case. The old must die, and the 

 new or young must f ake its place. Plants have a certain age to 

 live and produce, and then die, and I think the heavier we crop 

 them, the shorter their lives will be for production; hence we 

 must grow new plants from seed again, and we again have the 

 proper vitality to produce what we cannot get from the old and 

 worn-out plants. I care not whether you take corn, wheat, oats 

 or barley in the cereals. You may take the tubers, and from 

 six to ten years is about as long as you can grow any one variety 

 with reasonable success. Take any species of plants that you 

 can grow from seed, and you have got to renew it by planting 

 seed and growing young plants, and there is not any fruit- 

 growing plant that can be more readily grown from seed than 

 the delicious strawberry. 



I have been experimenting in this direction ever since 1865. 

 I have grown thousands of new seedlings, and by screening or 

 sorting them from time to time, have succeeded in producing 

 the most wonderful strawberry for vigor of plant, hardiness of 

 constitution to withstand excessive drouth and extreme cold 

 weather, and produce enormous crops of large and uniform 

 fruit. It is, namely, the Pacific. Again, I say it is the greatest 

 strawberry in existence. 



In my experimental lot, some three or four years ago, I had it 

 upon ridges like sweet potatoes, and the ground was apparently 

 as hard as a brick bat. I had enormous crops of Pacific, more 

 than double that of my other sorts on the thirty-five varieties. 



