328 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ing strawberries in their small catalogue of pleasant remedies. They dissolve 

 the tartareons incrustations of the teeth. They promote perspiration. Per- 

 sons afflicted with gout have found relief from using them ; so have patients 

 in case of the stone, and Hoffman states that he has known consumptive peo- 

 ple cured by them." Amongst this category of curative properties that which 

 refers to the gout has been the most satisfactorily authenticated. No less an 

 authority in the botanical world than the great ijinnseus attributed his own 

 cure from podagra to the effect of strawberries; and in the Edinburg Review 

 for Julv, ISOG, there occurs an extract from the Amo3nitiates Academica), 

 in which an account is given of the circumstances under which the fruit 

 proved of such singular service to the great botanist, and wdiich induced him 

 to recommend it to arthritic patients in general. 



PREPARIXG SOIL FOPv STRAWBEPvEIES. 



Kev. E. P. Hoe, in Scribner's Monthly, gives the following practical uotes: 



In the garden, light soils can be given a much more stable and productive 

 character by covering them with clay to the depth of one or two inches every 

 fall. The winter's frosts and rains mix the two diverse soils, to their mutual 

 benefit. Carting sand on clay is rarely remunerative ; the reverse is decidedly 

 so, and top-dressings of clay on light land are often more beneficial than equal 

 amounts of manure. 



As practically employed, I regard quick, stimulating manures, like guano, 

 very injurious to light soils. I believe them to be the curse of the South. 

 They are used "to make a crop," as it is termed ; and they do make it for a 

 few years, but to the utter impoverishment of the land. 



And yet, by the aid of these stimulating commercial fertilizers, the poorest 

 and thinnest soil can be made to produce fine strawberries, if sufficient mois- 

 ture can be maintained. Just as a physician can rally an exhausted man to a 

 condition in which he can take and be strengthened by food, so hand, too poor 

 and light to sprout a pea, can be stimulated into producing a meagre green 

 crop of some kind, which plowed under, will enable the land to produce a 

 second and heavier burden. This, in turn placed in the soil, will begin to 

 give a suggestion of fertility. Thus poor or exhausted soil can be made, by 

 several years of successful management, to convalesce slowly into strength. 



Coarse gravelly soils are usually even worse. If we must grow our straw- 

 berries on them, give the same general treatment that I have su2:gested. On 

 some peat soils the strawberry thrives abundantly; on otliers it burns and 

 dwindles. With such a soil. I should experiment with bone-dust, ashes, etc., 

 until I found just what was lacking. 



No written directions can take the place of common sense, judgment, and, 

 above all experience. Soils vary like individual character. I have yet to learn 

 of a system of rules that will teach us how to deal with ever}"- man we meet. 

 It is ever wise, however, to deal justly and liberally He that expects much 

 from his land must give it much. 



I have dwelt at length on the preparation and enrichment of the land, since 

 it is the corner-stone of all subsequent success. Let me close by emphasizing 

 again the principle which was made prominent at first. Though we give our 

 strawberry plants everything else they need, our crop of fruit will still bo good 



