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TILE CINCINNATI STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



The Cincinnati Strawberry Culture. 



BY A. II. ERNST, CINCINNATI. 



Deak Sir — The questions of the character 

 and habits of the Strawberry plant, and 

 the principles on which they rest (now so 

 satisfactorily settled in the minds of most of 

 those who have paid attention to the sub- 

 ject,) has become, among Horticulturists, 

 one of absorbing and deep interest. In the 

 settlement of these principles, the advo- 

 cates of old and vague notions have ad- 

 hered to them with a tenacity and resolu- 

 tion that would be satisfied with nothing 

 short of the most positive testimony. Had 

 the explanations and developments of these 

 principles been left to less antagonistical 

 and persevering hands, they would still 

 rest where Keene, and others, faintly saw, 

 and left them. A meed of praise is due to 

 the indefatigable and persevering zeal cf 

 Mr. LoNGwoKTH, from the community, 

 which would not be sufficiently expressed 

 by a medal of gold. It is not, however, my 

 design to take up your time, or that of your 

 readers, in a eulogy ; but to confine my re- 

 marks to the oft repeated inquiries, elicited 

 by the statements of the extraordinary quan- 

 tity of Strawberries raised in the vicinity, 

 and sold in the Cincinnati market. " What 

 are the sorts raised, and the method of their 

 cultivation, with the extent of the ground 

 occupied, and its yield ?" These questions I 

 shall endeavor to answer in their order, as 

 collected by personal inquiries from the 

 most prominent amateurs and cultivators, 

 with some views and remarks on my own 

 experience, premising with a remark or 

 two on the adaptation of our soil and cli- 

 mate to the superior development of the 

 Straivberry. 



The soil in the region of Cincinnati, may 



be said, in general terms, to consist of two 

 kinds ; holtovis and upland. The former is 

 a rich sandy loam, more or less mixed with 

 the washings of the vegetable mould from 

 the uj)lands. The latter composes our hills, 

 the tops and slopes of which are mostly 

 covered with a dark rich vegetable mould, 

 on a stiff limestone subsoil. This gives the 

 cultivator an opportunity of adopting that 

 soil most congenial to the productiveness of 

 his plants. The composition of the top soil 

 of the upland, on which the plants delight 

 to luxuriate, with the tenacity of its subsoil 

 to retain, and supply them with a greater 

 uniformity of moisture, without a surfeit, 

 renders the upland soil decidedly prefera- 

 ble. The blooming and fruiting season is 

 mostly attended with exciting and stimu- 

 lating showers of rain, with bright and in- 

 vigorating sunshine intervening. Perhaps 

 there are no temperate countries which ex- 

 ceed this in the luxuriance of its vegetation 

 at this period. We have, then, all the na- 

 tural elements most favorable to the fullest 

 development and product of the Strawberry. 

 The. sorts principally cultivated for the 

 market, are, 



1st. The Early Scarlet, the first and 

 oldest sort introduced. Fruit of medium 

 size, globular, bright scarlet, a good bearer, 

 and a fine fruit, and desirable as an early 

 variety. 



2d. Neck Pine: Fruit large, conical, with 

 a neck or shoulder, scarlet, early, a great 

 bearer, and fine fruit, 



3d. Hudson: Fruit large, shape conical, 

 much inclined to flatten, dark red, flesh 

 firm, acid, but fine flavored, without a neck, 

 very hardy and a great and uniform bearer, 



