MULCHING STRAWBERRIES. 



169 



lose them if not better protected. I at once 

 got a load of syoit taji, and covered the bed 

 thoroughly over with it, perhaps two inches 

 thick, and let them go for the winter. Early 

 in the spring I began to stir among them, 

 and found them fresh and starting. I let 

 them alone. In due time they came up vigor- 

 ous and beautiful, and bore delicious crops, 

 all clean and fresh, without a weed about 

 them, far beyond my anticipations ; and they 

 are now running and striking in all directions, 

 furnishing me with multitudes of plants for 

 my new beds. 



A word or two, now I am on the subject, 

 as to the quality of the different varieties of 

 strawberry, as I have found them. 



Large Early Scarlet. The best berry /or 

 a crop, probably, taken altogether, that we 

 have. A vigorous plant ; a great bearer ; 

 fair size ; of delicious flavor, and a beautiful 

 colour. I planted, a year ago last April, a 

 bed, in ridges three feet apart, fifteen inches 

 apart in the ridge, on moderately good clayey 

 loam, with only ordinary care ; wed them but 

 twice, and let them all run together, on 

 about twelve square rods of ground. Last 

 June I gathered about two hundred and sixty 

 quarts of berries from them, and would have 

 got over three hundred, but the severe drouth 

 which came on when they were about half 

 picked, pinched them so that they did not 

 fill out, and reduced their size full one- 

 half. 



Hovey^s Seedling. Large in size, and 

 coarse in flavor, of necessity* — yet quite a fa- 

 vorite ; and, with good, rich culture, and 

 plenty of staminates among it, a tolerable 

 bearer. Not fit for a crop, yet I would al- 

 ways cultivate it for variety. 



Boston Pine. A fine large berry, and of 

 good flavor ; wants rich culture ; but the stem 

 is too short ; does not throw its fruit high 



* As a rule, all monstrous fruits vntst be coarse. Extraor- 

 dinary size niusl be obtained at the expense of some other qua- 

 lity ill pretty much everything, both vegetable and animal. 



enough from the ground ; yet a good fruit, 

 and, like the Early Scarlet, not requiring the 

 admixture of other kinds for fertilizing. It is 

 a few days later than the Scarlet. 



Burr''s New Pine. A splendid, and a 

 good fruit ; one of the very best. Large 

 enough, early, prolific, fine in colour, and of 

 the highest flavor ; it promises well for a crop, 

 and ripens with the Early Scarlet. 



Burr''s Rical Hudson. The most prolific 

 that I have seen. Deep red, almost crimson 

 in colour ; slightly necked ; fine rich flavor ; 

 fruit beautifully set in clusters of five to eight 

 or ten berries on a high stem, and frequently 

 all ripe together ; a few — say three or four — 

 days later than the New Pine in ripening. 

 The most beautiful growing berry I Iia\e 

 known. 



Black Prince. "With all Mr. Downing's, 

 and other eastern praise of it, it does not 

 prove equal here. The colour is bad — too 

 dark to be delicate ; flavor insipid, or sour ; 

 a low, branching, straggling stem ; and grown 

 side by side on the same bed, and with the 

 same culture as the two last named, is much 

 inferior — not to be named in the same chap- 

 ter. 



I speak of all these as they have proved 

 with me, in only one year's cultivation ; which 

 is, I grant, too short for a thorough trial. 

 In the plantations of an acre or two which I 

 am about making, my chief stock will be the 

 Large Early Scarlet, Burr's New Pine, and 

 the Rival Hudson, with a few Hovey's Seed- 

 lings. 



But it is time to stop. I have made this 

 long story about mulching, because I am 

 satisfied that no labor to promote the growth 

 of trees, /or the same expense, can be made 

 so productive as this; and I am now cutting 

 many tons of coarse marsh hay for next year's 

 use, and intend mulching everything of the 

 ti'ee kind which I cultivate, even to my cur- 

 rants and gooseberries; which last, M'ith the 



Vol. v. 



11 



