THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



89 



W. ]M. Williams on " Home Gardens 

 for Smoky Towns," Denmark seems 

 to offei- great inducements for an in- 

 vestigation of its wealth of small fruits. 



Mr. Williams says : — " The mo.st 

 luxuriant giowth of cherries, currants, 

 gooseberries and raspberries I have ever 

 seen in any part of the world that I 

 have visited, is where they might be 

 leasr expected, viz : Norway ; not the 

 South of Norway merely, but more 

 particularly in the valleys that slope 

 from the 500 square miles of the per- 

 petual ice desert of the Justedal down 

 to the SogniQord. latitude 6F to 61|-, 

 considerably to the north of the north- 

 ermost of the Shetland Islands. The 

 cherry and currant trees are marvellous 

 there." 



" In the garden of one of the former 

 stations ( Sande) I counted seventy fine 

 bunches of red currants growing on six 

 inches of one of the overladen down- 

 hanging stems of a currant bush. 

 Cherries are served for dessert by simply 

 breaking oflT a small branch of the tree 

 and bringing it to the table ; the fruit 

 almost as many as the leaves." 



I give another quotation from the; 

 same article respecting the English 

 sparrow, which speaks for itself. 



" Those who believe the newspaper 

 myths which represent such thick- 

 billed birds eating cater|nllars, should 

 make observations and experiments for 

 them.selves as I have done." T. B. 



Lindsay, April 1884. 



THE STRAWBERRY. 



To THE EvJT'jB of THE CaXaDIA.V HORTICULTURIST. 



The strawberry and I are old friends. 

 I first became acquainted with it on the 

 hills and dales of old Ireland, there I 

 had in my boyhood's days with my 

 young companions eaten till satisfied, 

 and then sti-inging them on what we 

 call the wifid-straw or straws of timothy 

 grass. 



2 



The sti-awberry is one of nature's 

 masterpieces of beauty and richness, 

 and an accumulation of these attractions 

 is sufficient to recommend it to the 

 notice of all lovers of fruit. 



Until the advent of the Wilson, in 

 '57, it was a luxury to be enjoyed only 

 by the few, now it is indispensable in 

 nearly every family. 



Where well gi'own it is not only 

 cheerfully bought and paid for, but 

 eagerly sought. Every thing connected 

 with its culture is pleasant, and there 

 is no hard work attending it. It oc- 

 cupies the ground but a short time, 

 removes almost nothing from it and 

 lea\es it in a good condition for the 

 following crop ; while other fruits have 

 their favourite localities outside of 

 which they cannot be grown at a profit, 

 this flourLshes on almost any soil and 

 any climate where one cares to live. It 

 requires but little capital and its cultiva- 

 tion is easily learned. It has but few 

 enemies and is one of the surest crops 

 grown. I have cultivated it many 

 years without a failure. It brings a 

 large amount from a small pie^ of 

 ground, and may be grown in copiiec- 

 tion with other crops at very little cost. 



But yet, although its culture ofiers so 

 many inducements, only those who have 

 had some experience and who live 

 within a reasonable distance of a good 

 market or a railroad station, should 

 engage in it extensively. 



Any land properly prepared and 

 managed may be made just right, and 

 the idea that cei'taiu varieties will only 

 flourish on sand and othei-s only on 

 clay, is erroneous and productive of no 

 good except to furnish a crawling-out 

 place for tho.se who introduce varieties 

 that are unworthy of general cultiva- 

 tion. 



The bearing out of this statement 

 will be the subject of the next paper. 



J. L. 



Fish Creek, Feb. 21st, 1884. 



