86 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



mulch, or rake it between the rows in the paths. I have grown 

 strawberries after the first year's cultivation by only mulching two 

 feet, thick enough to smother plants and weeds, and left the other two 

 feet unmulched, and cut the weeds off with a mowing scythe. For 

 three or four years had tolerable good crops, but do not understand me 

 to advocate this lazy or slovenly way. Captain Jack, Crescent Seed- 

 ling and Crystal City will stand most neglect. 



I grow over thirty varieties of strawberries. I would like to 

 give a description of their size, quality, hardiness, etc., but time and 

 space in your columns will not admit. I will name varieties that suc- 

 ceed best on iny soil in Southwest Missouri, commencing with the 

 earliest. Early Washington, Crystal City, Cinderella, Crescent Seed- 

 ling, Chas. Downing, Wilson's Albany, Miner's Prolific, Captain Jack, 

 Manchester, Big Bob, Cumberland Triumph, Jucunda, Sharpless, 

 Windsor Chief and Glendale. Remember those marked in catalogues 

 with an (H) are perfect blossoms, or hermaphrodite, and those marked 

 with a (P) are imperfect blossoms, pistillate?, the former producing full 

 crops by themselves, while the latter require every fifth or sixth row 

 of any of the former sorts planted among them as a fertilizer. 



Raspberries, a delicious fruit, follow strawberries. Before late 

 strawberries are gone, early raspberries are ripe. This fruit is very 

 valuable for drying, and when berries are picked they are ready for 

 the evaporator like an apple that is peeled and cored. Raspberries are 

 delicious for the table, jelly and canning, andean be grov/n after the 

 first year with less work than corn for ten to twelve years without re- 

 newing the bed by cultivating and manuring, and much like straw- 

 berries adapted to almost all climates and soils. Set plants like straw- 

 berries. Set two to three feet in the row, and six to eight feet apart. 

 The first and second years plant between the rows potatoes, beans, 

 cabbage, etc., and cultivate first year like strawberries and potatoes, 

 and when canes are about eighteen inches high, cut back to eight or 

 twelve inches. That will cause them to throw out branches. Cut 

 them off again. Second year let canes grow two to three feet high, 

 according to the strength of canes and branches, fifteen to twenty -lour 

 inches if plants are wanted from the Black-caps. These are grown 

 from the tip of the new growth in August and September. As soon 

 as the tips are nearly bare of leaves and present a snakish, dark purple 

 color, put them into the ground one or three inches, and in a few weeks 

 they will form a fine matted plant, and can be transplanted by cutting 

 off the parent cane four to six inches above the root. If this layering 

 is neglected, they will make some plants. All red, of the Antwerp 

 family are increased by suckers or root cuttings, like blackberries. 



