1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



US 



New Straavberries. — Mr. Hovey says : " I 

 think I state the truth when I say that a batch of 

 seedhngs saved from the best varieties, will pro- 

 duce full as fine a lot of strawberries as nine-tenths 

 of those named and offered for sale as varieties 

 superior to all others." 



Raising New Strawberries. — Few persons 

 have given more attention to the careful produc- 

 tion of the new varieties of strawberries than Col. 

 Wilder, and the results of his extensive experience 

 must be of great value to beginners in this' pleas- 

 ant pursuit. In a recent essay before the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society, he thus details his 

 views and experiences: 



"The strawben-y has assumed great importance 

 among our cultivated plants, and great progress 



Degeneracy of Strawberries. — Col. Wilder 

 believes that the degeneracy or wearing out of 

 varieties may often be traced to the exhaustion of 

 proper elements in the soil, and to the bad manipu- 

 lation of the plants. In the rage for novelties, de- 

 scribed as the "best in the world," we meet with 

 many disappointments, and sometimes become dis- 

 gusted with their failures and cast them out as 

 worthless without a fair trial. So also with some 

 of the old kinds, which have not been so much 

 cultivated as in former years, such as the Hovey, 

 Jucunda, Triomphe de Gand and others which 

 were once popular. The essayist thought it would 

 be a wise measure for the society to offer a special 

 premium for the restoration of those old, valuable 

 varieties of fruits and flowers which have gone out 



has been made in the production of new and fine ' of general cultivation. But from our experience it 



kinds, but there is still room for improvement. We 

 know no reason why we may not produce varieties 

 of strawberries of the finest quality and such as 

 are adapted to every section of our vast territory. 

 To produce them we should select as breeders 

 those which possess the characteristics which we 

 wish to obtain. To make sure of a perfect cross, 

 the essayist has chosen pistillate kinds and impreg- 

 nated them with those of the greatest excellences, 

 for example, the Crescent — which, though of sec- 

 ond quality, possesses extraordinary hardiness and 

 productiveness, with good form and color — which 

 he has crossed with the President Wilder, Duncan, 

 Triple Crown and other high-flavored sorts. From 



these crosses he has obtained some very promising .... ., , . ,.„ , 



kinds. The time is fast approaching when the ^^^t ripened on one side, so that it was difficult to 



seems likely that much of the degeneracy of straw- 

 berries comes from disease which, once affecting a 

 plant, becomes extended by runners. We fancy 

 if strawberries are propagated from plants that 

 have not the "spotted leaf," or other troubles, they 

 would rarely "wear out." 



A Perfect Strawberry. — Many points, not 

 often thought of, go to make up the perfect berry. 

 At a meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, W. H. Hills, of Plaistow, N. H., spoke of 

 an extraordinary crop of Miner's Prolific, but the 



get the pickers to select only that which was ripe. 

 A fruit that will ripen uniformly all through at once, 

 has a great advantage over such a one as Mr. 

 Hills referred to. 



Layering Boxes. — As the season for preparing 

 strawberry runners for "pot" plants is now ap- 

 proaching, it may be in order to.note the great ad- 

 vantage the cheap chip baskets have over ordinary 

 flower pots. Advances in horticulture are often 

 the greatest in small things — and we really think 

 this invention of Mr. Ryder deserves a rich re- 

 ward. 



Profits of Vegetable Culture in Texas. 

 — Mr. H. Tone said at the North Texas Horti- 

 cultural Society, that two years ago no member 

 of that society would have believed that $250 

 per acre could be realized from so insignificant 

 an article as wax beans, and yet it has been 

 done by half a dozen of their members. To 

 have told then that $500 could be realized from 

 practice.. For garden culture we should plant j an acre of cabbage would have subjected one to 

 a young bed every second year to succeed the I a charge of lunacy, and yet that figure has been 

 older one. I reached and surpassed the present year. 



public will not be satisfied with so poor a straw 

 berry as the Wilson, and if we can produce a bet 

 ter one the Wilson will disappear from our mar 

 kets. If we can produce a variety of the quality 

 and productiveness of the Hovey in former years, 

 and better suited to general cultivation, should we 

 not do it? What is wanted is varieties of excel- 

 lence that everybody can grow." 



Garden Culture of the Strawberry. — Col. 

 Wilder is of opinion that for garden culture plant- 

 ing in rows three feet apart and one foot apart in 

 the rows, allowing each to make from two to four 

 shoulder runners, and no more for the first season, 

 is best. These by autumn will make a row of 

 thrifty, strong bearing plants, and will produce 

 more than the common matted row. For field 

 culture the rows should be four feet apart and the 

 plants one foot in the rovv, and all superfluous run- 

 ners should be pinched off so as to leave only 

 strong plants. It may be added that it is found 

 by experience that a renovation by replanting 

 young ones about every second year, is good 



