250 



The Canadian Horticulturist 



culture, and my success has been 

 gratifying in the highest degree. 

 Last year every grower of the White- 

 smith in town, except myself, com- 

 plained that the fruit was not worth 

 picking on account of tne mildew. 

 Out of my fifty bushes of that variety 

 not a single specimen could be found 

 that was not as clean and bright as 

 it is possible for a berr}' to be. This 

 year other growers in town have 

 suffered to a greater or less extent, 

 while I have invited my friends to 

 go through my Whitesmiths, Golden 

 Drop, Industry, Crown Bob, and a 

 large English variety, and find a 

 mildewed specimen if they could. 

 They could not do it. My soil is a 

 clay loam with a western slope, giv- 

 ing it a fair natural drainage. I 

 have my Whitesmiths planted five 

 feet apart and Industry four feet 

 apart, in the row, with six feet 

 between the rows. I dig about the 



bushes every spring and apply a 

 coat of ashes immediately underneath 

 them every second year ; and for 

 size and thriftiness of bush, for 

 heavy bearing and for the size 

 and perfection of the fruit several 

 experts have told me that my 

 garden excelled anything they had 

 seen. 



Now, in this matter I do not 

 claim to have solved any problem. 

 Nature's methods are perfect and if 

 unobstructed in her operations she 

 will give perfect results. Let the 

 sunlight into the bushes ; give plenty 

 of room for a free circulation of air ; 

 purify the soil with unleached ashes 

 and if the results are not satisfactory 

 I have studied nature's methods and 

 operations in vain, and my faith and 

 confidence in her laws governing the 

 vegetable kingdom have been mis- 

 placed. — T. H. Race, Mitchell, Aug. 

 77, i88g. 



A NEW JERSEYMAN'S REVIEW OF THE STRAW- 

 BERRY SEASON. 



CRYSTAL CITY came in a week 

 ahead of other varieties. We 

 have tried nothing yet which will take 

 the place of it for the table as it 

 is so early and so good, but it is not 

 sufficiently productive for the mar- 

 ket. May King is also a necessity 

 on account of its extra quality, and it 

 sometimes produces paying cro[)s for 

 market, but oftener not over two- 

 thirds as much as Crescent and other 

 market sorts. 



Among newer varieties Warjield 

 No 2 is most promising for market. 

 It is pistillate, and an immense run- 

 ner like the Crescent, and like that 



makes rather small plants under or- 

 dinar}' circumstances, but the berries 

 are fifty per cent, larger on an aver- 

 age through the season, firmer and 

 of better color, and at least as pro- 

 ductive, a small plat of them (1-40 of 

 an acre) having produced this season 

 at the rate of nearly 7,000 qts. per acre 

 with ordinary treatment. This berry 

 is broadly conical with a slight neck, 

 of a bright crimson scarlet as usually 

 picked for market, coloring all over 

 very evenly. When fully ripe it is a 

 dark glossy crimson. It is, however, 

 too acid to eat without plenty of sugar 

 and cream. Decidedly promising. 



