HOW TO MAKE STRAWBERRY BEDS. 



BY AN OLD DIGGER. 



As I presume a large part of your readers 

 prefer practice to theory, perhaps some of 

 them, about to plant strawberry beds, may 

 take an interest in the following hints, 

 though they are neither novel nor origi- 

 nal. 



I have seen a great deal written about 

 the sexual character of the strawberry, but 

 not half enough about plain and straight- 

 forward ways of cultivating it. 



Now I must be permitted to say that I 

 have cultivated for years the Early Scarlet, 

 Hudson, and Hovey's Seedling, — three un- 

 exceptionable sorts ; the first peculiarly va- 

 luable for early maturity, the second for 

 preserving, and the third for large size and 

 good quality ; and I have paid no attention 

 whatever to staminate or pistillate plants. 

 All I have cared for, was to get the soil in 

 the right state, and let the blossoms and 

 berries take care of themselves. I have 

 had the satisfaction of gathering very large 

 crops of first rate fruit, while some of my 

 neighbors, who have studied the nature of 

 the blossoms, and thought too little of the 

 soil, have had very sorry crops. Not that 

 I mean to say that there is not something 

 in this matter of the difference in the blos- 

 soms ; but that I have found it of little or 

 no importance to intermix them in any 

 given proportions in the same bed. All 

 that I do, is to cultivate a bed of "stami- 

 nates," like the Virginia, or the Early 

 Scarlet, in the same part of my garden as 

 my Hoveys and Hudsons, and let them 

 take the whole matter of fertilization into 

 their own hands. 



Now it seems to me that the point most 

 difficult to hit, is that of manuring the soil 



well for the strawberry. If you use stable 

 manure, in the ordinary way, you are cer- 

 tain to fill your soil with weeds, to such 

 an extent that you give yourself a deal of 

 needless trouble in keeping the weeds 

 down ; and if, as is not unlikely, you use 

 it fresh, you will be likely to burn up your 

 young plants, if the season is dry. 



Two points must be understood, to grow 

 the best strawberries : 1st, that the soil 

 must be deep; and 2d, that it must be 

 rich. If you look at the leaves of a straw- 

 berry, and, because they are not very 

 large, presume that the roots will extend 

 but little depth, you are greatly mistaken. 

 I have seen the roots of strawberries extend 

 five feet down in a rich deep soil ; and 

 those plants bore a crop of fruit five times 

 as large, and twice as handsome and good, 

 as the common product of a soil only one 

 foot deep. 



And this reminds me of a capital in- 

 stance of strawberry delusion, which most 

 of your readers doubtless know something 

 about, but which many even yet do not, 

 perhaps, fully understand. I mean the his- 

 tory of the "Washington Alpine Straw- 

 berry," which Mr. Stoddart, of western 

 New-York, advertised and sold a great 

 many dollars' worth of, some four or five 

 years ago. Mr. Stoddart, I believe, was 

 quite honest in the transaction; and yet 

 the whole public were completely deluded 

 by the " Washington Alpine," which was 

 nothing but the old Alpine or monthly 

 strawberry. The long and short of the 

 matter was, that Mr. Stoddart had a corner 

 of his garden which was made ground, — a 

 rich deep moist soil, (I think it had been 



