MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 401 



9 The most prolitic berry? 



Champion is the most prolific berry that I have tested so far. It 

 is enormously productive and vigorous, but not any improvement on 

 size on the Pearl, which for vigor is hard to beat. Ked Jacket is its 

 equal in this respect, but I cannot yet pronounce upon its productive- 

 ness. 



10. Yes, it is apparently an "American production." I am of the 

 opinion at present that it is a native or it may be a seeding of some 

 English variety. 



11. What varieties would you recommend for extensive planting ? 



Taking into consideration the price of stock, I would take Down- 

 ing for main crop, with Pearl in less numbers, on account of higher 

 price. If these varieties are sprayed for rust, heavily manured, and 

 renewed as described above, they are fine berries. I should also get 

 a more limited number of Champion, Triumph, Red Jacket and Queen, 

 and propagate them. Another point is, I would watch carefully the 

 reports of the experiment stations, as there are quite a number of very 

 promising novelties being tested, and some one of these may be the 

 ideal berry. 



12. Have you any success in propagating from cuttings ! 



By the ordinary way it can't be done successfully. Layering will 

 be found much more satisfactory. In a wet, warm time shoots, not 

 suckers, will root in two or three weeks. 



13. Cause of Downing dropping its leaves prematurely? 



I do not find the Downing to have this habit now. Some years 

 ago when I did not spray, and gave but little cultivation, it had that 

 habit, but now the leaves stay on till killed by frost. This I attribute 

 mostly to spraying, but cultivation may be a factor. 



All questions cheerfully answered through medium of this journal, 



or privately, when necessary Stanley Spillett, Gooseberry Experiment 



Station, Nantyr, in Canadian Horticulturist. 



Questions on Berry Growing Answered. 



A correspondent askes, "I have a fine looking strawberry bed 

 that blooms nicely, but only bears a few little, knotty berries. What 

 shall I do ?" Your strawberries are pistillate varieties, and have to be 

 fertilized with a perfect flowering sort. I would plow or dig up a 

 row through the middle of the patch and set a row or more of good 

 fertilizers, such as Michel's Early or Robison. 



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