68 



STRAWBERRY CULTURE AND SELECTION OF VARIETIES. 



plants individual!}^ are not sufficiently strong 

 to perfect the fruit. 



Pistillate varieties, as they do not throw 

 up so many trusses, will succeed much 

 better in thick beds. These remarks may 

 explain the discrepancy which often occurs 

 in the statements of different individuals 

 about the productiveness of the same ; and 

 may, also, independently of climate, ex- 

 plain the reason why English cultivators 

 are st much more successful in cultivating 

 hermaphrodite plants, as they almost al- 

 ways keep the plants in stools under a high 

 state of cultivation, — the runners being 

 continually removed. The mode of culti- 

 vation has also a very decided influence 

 upon the quality of the fruit. Hovei/s 

 Seedling, for instance, is very different in 

 flavor when crowded in beds, from what it 

 is when cultivated in open drills, and the 

 fruit fully exposed to the influence of the 

 sun. In the first case, the fruit is rather 

 insipid ; in the latter, it is of excellent 

 q lality. G. W. Huntsman. 



Flushing, July 10th, 1848. 



[The foregoing really sensible and prac- 

 tical remarks, on the culture of the differ- 

 ent classes of strawberries, we publish with 



the greater pleasure because there has been 

 so much said on this subject by prejudiced 

 persons, who are too strongly biassed in 

 favor of one or the other horn of the straw- 

 berry dilemma to judge impartially. 



Mr. Huntsman's remarks, respecting the 

 influence different modes of cultivation have 

 upon different varieties, corresponds exactly 

 to our own views. Hermaphrodite sorts, 

 well cultivated, may be made to produce 

 very large crops. The advantage of grow- 

 ing pistillate sorts is, that a very careless 

 or inferior mode of cultivation will suffice 

 to produce crops equally large, or even 

 larger ; and, in this country, where labor is 

 much scarcer and dearer than abroad, any 

 mode of cultivation that saves labor will 

 become the popular one. 



We are inclined to rank the Large Ear- 

 ly Scarlet as one of the most productive of 

 strawberries, although it is an hermaphro- 

 dite, and not a pistillate sort. We have 

 compared its product for two seasons past 

 with that of some of the best pistillates, 

 and find it quite equal. Its great hardi- 

 ness, and the fact that it is one of the best 

 sorts to plant, as a fertilizer, along with 

 pistillate varieties, lead us to consider it 

 still one of the most valuable. Ed.] 



STRAAATBSRR? CULTURE AND S3LECTION OP VARIETIES, 



BY WM. R. PRINCE, FLUSHING, N. Y. 



It is indispensable that the ground for 

 strawberry beds be perfectly free from all 

 weeds and their seeds. This may be ef- 

 fected by digging the soil several times at 

 intervals; thus destroying all forthcoming 

 weeds. The preferable soil is a rich loam 

 that retains moisture, but sufficiently fria- 

 ble for the requisite filtration ; this should 

 be highly manured, but without the proba- 



bility of introducing nauseous weeds there 

 with. The beds should be about four feet 

 wide, and the plants set fifteen inches asun- 

 der ; and new beds should be formed every 

 second year. The best periods for planting, 

 in all but the southern states, are August, 

 September, and April. Strawberry plants 

 are of three characters : 1st, staminate or 

 male, sterile; 2d, hermaphrodite or bisex- 



