40 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



while strawberries can be grown more cheaply in the narrow rows, 

 the fruit will be larger and of better quality, and in case of drouth 

 will suffer less than in matted rows. 



By the selection of varieties and the soil on which to plant them 

 the strawberry season may be prolonged to six weeks or more, if 

 the earlier varieties are planted on warm early soil, or that having 

 a southern exposure, and the later ones on the heavier moist soil, 

 or that with a northern or western exposure. If you already have 

 a taste for fruit culture, and have a fair start with the family gar- 

 den, in making a selection of varieties choose first in regard to 

 eating qualities, placing productiveness second; but to a beginner 

 I would recommend planting first those most hardy and pro- 

 ductive, regardless of quality, and when you and your family get 

 well filled with these will be time enough to plant the better sorts. 



Pistillate or imperfect flowering varieties are as a rule the most 

 productive, and can be made to produce even more than they gen- 

 erally do, if care is taken to plant them sufficiently close to perfect 

 fl.owering sorts, that an abundance of pollen may be supplied to 

 every blossom and every berry be perfectly developed. While in 

 most plantations there are usually five to eight rows of pistillates 

 to every one of perfect flowering, I have noticed that the very 

 best results were obtained by planting them in adjoining rows, or 

 not more than five to six feet away. 



Being continually asked what is the best perfect flowering 

 variety to plant with this or that pistillate, I have been compelled 

 to study the matter to some extent, and while it may be too fine a 

 point to discuss here, experiments made some years ago convinced 

 me that the size, form, color, texture, and flavor of the pistillate 

 strawberry is greatly affected by the perfect flowering sort that 

 furnishes the pollen to fertilize its blossoms. 



Take the Crescent, a pistillate sort you are all acquainted with, 

 fertilized by the small, sour, but firm Wilson, and most of them 

 will be small and sour, yet much firmer than the Crescent when fer- 

 tilized by such varieties as Pioneer or Charles Downing. I have 

 never seen a coxcomb-shaped Crescent in my life, except when 

 grown with the President Lincoln, a variety that has a majority of 

 misshapen berries. Usually poor in flavor, the Crescent is passably 

 good when grown with the Charles Downing. Ever since its first 

 introduction, Mr. Olcott has furnished uniformly the best-flavored 



