SMALL FRUITS. 233 



plant too many of them. Its size sells it, whether anyone 

 knows anything about it or not. In color it is a little light, 

 but it will bring two or three cents better than other berries. 



STRAWBERRIES. 

 By Geo. J. Kellogg, Janesville, Wis. 

 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



This subject has been so often written up in your past volumes that it 

 seems almost useless to take a moment of your valuable time on this 

 question, and but for the farmers and amateurs who are anxious to get 

 hold of your transactions, I would only touch the comparative merits of 

 new varieties that clamor for a place upon our lists. The best part of 

 any paper before a convention of horticulturists are its weak points, 

 thereby provoking discusssion, and I shall therefore try and make this 

 paper valuable in tnat direction. 



Location of the bed, field or plantation is of the first importance, if it 

 can be beside a large body of water or upon high ground, where the morn- 

 ing breeze will protect from late spring frosts. It may be the turning 

 point of success or failure, but everyone having a garden should raise his 

 or her own strawberries. 



Guard against water standing on the ground any length of time, there- 

 fore protect by surface drainage. 



Soil. Any soil the sun ever shone upon will grow strawberries; perhaps 

 the best is a rich sandy loam, underlaid with a yellowish clayey loam, 

 being easy of cultivation and retention of moisture; underdraining will 

 doubtless pay on very much of our best land. Do not plant on virgin soil 

 direct from the prairie sod or the forest, such soils need five years culti- 

 vation before planting to strawberries, always grow some hoed crop on 

 the ground two years previous to planting to avoid the white grub. 

 Forest soil has too much leaf mould, making it too light, prairie sod is 

 too dry. 



Preparation of the soil should begin two years previous to planting, by 

 heavy applications of manure fresh from the stables that has not been 

 exposed to the nights of the May beetle in May or June. Composts and 

 old, well rotted manures may do for old beds, but do not apply anything 

 that is liable to have the egg or larva of the white grub to new beds; pre- 

 pare the ground as thoroughly as you should for an onion bed. 



Planting. Were I setting five acres annually, as much as I hate to- 

 bacco, I would use a tobacco planter. In smaller plantations set with 

 spade or dibble on a line mark or use a horse marker. If a line is used, 

 stretch it and walk back on the line and the marks will be plain enough 

 to follow and no line in the way. Rapid work can be made ty using a 

 long-handled dibble, as for setting poles; but the most satisfactory work 

 is with a spade and the planter following on his knees. As we cannot 

 always have just the weather we would like, have the dry dirt kept out of 

 the holes and the plants fresh dug kept in dirt or water. 



Varieties. We have plenty of pistillates that are very satisfactory, and 

 I would give hundreds of dollars to know which are the two most proflta- 



