SECRETARY^ PORTFOLIO. 401 



buttony, only the rim or base being developed, and the cone of the berry fail- 

 ing to become more than a mere green lumbo. I used to attribute this failure 

 to a lack of complete fertilization, without reflecting much on the matter. But 

 I have met full proof that I was quite in error there. Part of my beds are 

 bounded by a hedge fence on the west, and are crossed by a screen of arbor 

 vitass eight or ten feet high. The winter was very severe, and in the extreme 

 cold of February 10-12 (-12°), there was no snow, excepting in the lee of such 

 shelter. The strawberry plants look equally luxuriant now, in June, through- 

 out the beds, but the berries are fine and perfect only where snow lay during 

 the extreme cold. A brush covering had been laid over all. 



We have ample evidence that the formation and full completion of the blos- 

 som-buds of fruit bearing plants goes on during winter whenever the tempera- 

 ture admits of it. If a storm of very severe cold occurs quite early in the 

 winter, its effects are seen in imperfections of the exterior parts of the blos- 

 soms, and complete injury to the ovary, excepting, perhaps, the first formed 

 central one of a cyme. If the cold occurs later, part of the fruit develop- 

 ment may be advanced enough to escape, as in these buttony bits of berries. 

 Cases corroborative of this theory can be remembered by all observing fruit- 

 growers of long experience, in the case of cherries, plums, and other fruits that 

 occasionally suffer from severe cold. No effort of culture, or use of manure 

 or water, can remedy this sort of injury, which is stamped upon the berry, so 

 to speak, in its fcetal formation. Places where snow lies well enjoy one eminent 

 advantage for the growing of this most delicious fruit, of which one great 

 merit is that, however much the plants may be assailed and harmed by insects, 

 the fruit itself is always entirely free from any such pollution. 



A Soil Mulch. — Chas. A. Green believes the soil itself, in a finely pulverized 



state, to be the best mulch. He says: 



We do not hear as much said about mulching of late years as we did for- 

 merly. This is owing to the fact that the most economical mulching has been 

 discovered to be the soil itself, when kept frequently cultivated to the depth of 

 two or three inches about the plants. There is no better mulching than this, 

 and, in some respects, it is superior to any artificial covering, as it does not pre- 

 vent the warmth of the sun from penetrating the earth, and it is more econom- 

 ical. Many who stir the soil frequently with the cultivator and the hoe are 

 unable to tell why it induces growth in their plants. While subduing the 

 weeds is a great benefit, it is a very small part of the service rendered by the 

 hoe. The man who cultivates frequently is, in fact, mulching on a large scale, 

 and the more frequently he cultivates the more successful will his mulching 

 prove. The objection to this is that the cultivator destroys many feeding roots 

 of small plants, such as strawberries, raspberries, grapes, and even those of 

 young orchard trees. I am confident that the average cultivator is not aware 

 how many feeding roots he destroys in one day's cultivation among young 

 growing plants. He should be taught the necessity of shallow cultivation 

 close to the plants. This breaks up the continuity of the capillary passages 

 between the soil beneath and the air above. It covers the former with a soft 

 blanket that checks the rising of the vapor and holds the water where it will do 

 the most good. 



Ax Amateur's Method. — "Hortulanus" gives a model method of plant- 

 ing strawberries in the N. Y. Tribune : After three years' trial I find that 



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