EARLY HISTORY 9 



clear of suckers, they have continued very fruitful three 

 years without being transplanted." 



With slight modification, these directions, written 125 

 years ago, might stand for the " Kevitt System, " and other 

 so-called modern methods of culture. Probably he had 

 the Scarlet strawberry most in mind when he advised, 

 "But little dung should be applied to the soil, as a large 

 quantity will cause them to run much and to be less 

 fruitful." The English practice of growing strawberries 

 in raised "beds" seems to have fastened that name per- 

 manently upon the planting of small areas. Not until 

 1850 was there a strawberry "field." One important 

 departure from English methods is noted : " The time to 

 remove the plants is said by the above mentioned author, 

 (Miller), to be September or the beginning of October, but 

 they are known to do well in this country when removed in 

 early spring." 



There is nothing in "The New England Farmer," or 

 contemporaneous publications, which would indicate that 

 strawberries were grown commercially at that time. The 

 only strawberries marketed were the wild ones that were 

 peddled about the streets. Strawberry culture was 

 confined to the home gardens of gentlemen of means who 

 employed private gardeners. These gardeners were 

 mostly from England, where they had been trained in 

 the apprentice school of rule-of-thumb gardening. It 

 was inevitable that they should persist in attempting to 

 grow strawberries here exactly as they had been taught 

 to grow them in England. The results were hardly less 

 disastrous than was the case with grapes. For years the 

 general public considered strawberry-growing an ex- 

 ceedingly difficult and uncertain matter, that only the 

 initiated might undertake with prospect of success. Here 



