Joint Convbntion. 183 



need so mucli petting it takes away all the profit. Forest Rose 

 is claimed to have fruited berries eleven inches in circumference. 

 Great American, twelve inches. Jucunda, perhaps the most 

 profitable of this list of six; President Lincoln, which has pro- 

 duced a berry measuring fourteen inches in circumference; this 

 is the largest on record; Pioneer, nine inches, and Triomphe de 

 Gand. 



Any one who spends 81,000 on any of these six will never get 

 his money back; and yet any one of them will pay on clay soil 

 with careful attention, in large, choice fruit, where size is of 

 greater consequence than quantity. 



Prouty's Seedling, which is highly praised by some, is so short 

 in stem and the berries crawl in the dirt and rot so badly while 

 they ripen, that we do not recommend it. 



French's Seedling, bought of an eastern firm, is the greatest 

 humbuor we have had in the strawberry list. 



The points of success in strawberry growing are, 1st. Good 

 soil, well prepared. 2d. Good, pure plants, of choice kinds. 3d. 

 Early spring planting. Let the crown of the plant be even with 

 the surrounding ground, and not in raised beds. 4th. Clean 

 culture the first season as long as weeds grow. 5th. "When the 

 ground first freezes so as to bear a team, cover the entire bed 

 and walks with marsh hay, corn-stalks, refuse from the sugar 

 mill or clean straw, just deep enough so you cannot see the 

 leaves of the plant. See that this is not blown off, and in the 

 spring leave it all on; if the plants cannot get through, poke it 

 away a little. This mulch will keep down the weeds and pro- 

 tect from late frosts and drouth. What few weeds appear hand 

 pull; do not hoe or cultivate until after the fruit is all gathered. 



The yield of strawberries will vary according to the kinds, soil 

 and treatment, but most of all, the season. One hundred ])iants 

 of the Crescent will in one season grow a bed which may produce 

 five hundred quarts the following year; but recollect this must 

 have a row of some other variety, perfect in the blossom, within 

 about ten feet. 



Wilson has yielded five bushels to the square rod, and we claim 

 that there are five kinds that beat the Wilson now, in quantity. 



