MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 395 



EXTENDING STRAWBERRY FRUITING SEASON. 



Where berries out of season bring a very high price, cold storage 

 has been employed quite successfully. However, this is beyond the 

 reach of most of us, hence the great mass of family gardeners mast be 

 content with simpler methods. A number cf'early and late varieties 

 of strawberries have been produced which will enable anyone to pro- 

 long the season several days by simply selecting varieties with refer- 

 ence to their time of fruiting. Early varieties may be hastened in the 

 spring by planting on a warm, sandy soil, with a southern exposure. 

 If the mulch is removed as soon as the ground is in condition to work, 

 and the early varieties thus exposed thoroughly cultivated until the 

 berries begin to ripen, their fruiting season will be hastened. 



However, the opposite process may be more successfully employed 

 with one of the latest varieties. The late ones should be given a north- 

 ern exposure and left unmulched in the winter until the ground is 

 deeply frozen, and then mulched lightly with straw or coarse manure. 

 After this mulch has settled and is covered with snow or ice, spread 

 on a thick layer of straw, the thicker this second covering is the bet- 

 ter. Both of the layers should be left on the late strawberries until 

 the earlier ones are in blossom, when it should be removed and the 

 plants helped through the first mulch in caee they do not readily come 

 through alone. Plants left covered until late in spring have less ability 

 to help themselves through any mulch than those that have been 

 allowed to start early. 



Gaudy's Prize, deeply mulched in a manure as described abc^ve, 

 may be made to fruit through the last of July, and with considenible 

 watching I have found no trouble in extending its season into the 

 month of August. If left covered too long after warm weather, they 

 should be ca,refuliy watched and uncovered as soon as they show signs 

 of smothering. When uncovered, plants that have been heavily mulched 

 will be thoroughly blanched, and in this condition they may be left 

 covered as long as the young leaves remain plump and fresh. For a 

 long time Gaudy's Prize has seemed well adapted to this kind of treat- 

 ment. In this section it is a shy bearer, but its extra late fruiting sea- 

 son and large, firm berries have kept it in the field. The Western has 

 been highly recommended of late as having the good qualities of 

 Gaudy's Prize and at the same time being more prolific. The Michigan 

 is another late variety which has been much improved, and is claimed 



