THE ART OF ORIGINATING STRAWBERRIES. 55 



If the planting be made during the first half of July, young 

 plants may be expected to appear during the first week in August 

 if the sashes have been kept closed and the soil well wetted every 

 day. As soon as the young plants appear in numbers, they should 

 be shaded. This is best done by whitening the glass. The frames 

 may then be kept closed a good part of the time, and the seedlings 

 will grow so vigorously that they will bear transplanting in a few 

 weeks to the bed where they are to remain and fruit. 



This method is well adapted for bringing seedling vines into 

 bearing in the shortest possible time, as they get a very strong 

 growth the first year. 



Another way, involving even less trouble, is this : sow the mixed 

 sand and seed on a bed of rich soil in July, rake it in lightly, putting 

 on no sash at all. A few seeds will germinate in August or Sep- 

 tember, but by far the greater number will come up the next spring. 

 aud should be thinned and transplanted as soon as large enough. 

 In either case, the young plants must be protected at the approach 

 of winter by a good covering of leaves or straw. 



The seedlings should be transplanted into beds of rich earth 

 encouraged to make stout, stocky plants, and to this end they should 

 not be allowed to niake more than two runners. 



The seedlings may be set in the bed where they are to fruit, in 

 rows two feet apart, with the plants eighteen inches asunder in the 

 rows. All vines whose leaves burn, or suffer from sunscald, may be 

 profitably pulled up and thrown away before they fruit. Many 

 seedlings that are perfectly healthy are pulled and destroyed by the 

 experienced grower before they fruit. 



As the fruit on the seedling begins to ripen, it should be closely 

 watched from day to day, and its progress noted. When fully ripe 

 it should be tested and marked, not absolutely as good or bad, but 

 comparatively, by reference to some standard kind. If a seedling 

 seems worthy of preservation, it should be encouraged to make 

 runners, several of which may be easily obtained, and these carefully 

 transplanted as soon as possible will give a little bed of the new 

 variety for more liberal testing the next year. 



No seedling should be preserved which is not healthy, vigorous 

 and productive, its fruit large, of uniform size and symmetrical 

 shape, with few small berries, bright colored and firm, not too acid, 

 and with as high a flavor as possible. Almost all these good traits 

 are united in some berries we now possess, so that our ideal straw- 

 berry is not an impossible one. 



Mr. Wedge: I am very much interested in that paper. I 

 am not much of a seedling man. A few years ago I tried to 

 grow some strawberries in the way Mr. Gardner suggests. It 

 is very interesting. I was interested in noting that while 

 those I used in the experiment were the Lovett, that two-thirds 

 of the plants resulting were pistillate. Is that Mr. Gardner's 

 experience with staminate varieties? 



Mr. Gardner: My experience is that you cannot tell any- 

 thing about the plant grown from the seed. You may plant 



