50 



THE CANADIAN IIORTICCLTURIST. 



Virginian strawberry, has been able to 

 establish itself over such a vast extent 

 of country (see Vol. I. of the Canadian 

 Horticulturist), while the Jucunda can 

 be grown in perfection only with care- 

 ful cultivation, and that only upon 

 peculiar soils and in favorable locations. 

 Hence our hybridists, when experiment- 

 ing with the strawberry, will need to 

 bear these facts in mind. 



In general, the soil best suited to the 

 successful cultivation of strawberries is 

 a rich, fiiable loam, that is well drained, 

 yet retentive of moisture. If there be 

 one thing essential to the securing of a 

 fine crop of this fruit more than 

 another, it is an abundant supply of 

 moisture in the soil. This does not 

 mean a wet soil, but quite the contrary. 

 A wet soil will bake and become hard 

 and \Qvy dry when the weather is hot 

 and dry, and this is very injurious, and 

 may be ruinous to the crop. If the 

 gardeu is not naturally friable, it should 

 be made so by thorough drainage, and 

 kept so by proper tillage. If the straw- 

 berry bed can be thorouglily watered 

 in very dry seasons, the result will be 

 highly beneficial, as will be seen in the 

 increased size and quantity of the fruit, 

 and vigOr of the plants. Mulching the 

 surface with the clippings of the lawn 

 or short grass cut from the fence corners 

 will often prove a very valuable treat- 

 ment. 



The cultivation consists mainly in 

 keeping the ground free from weeds 

 and the surface loose and in a friable 

 condition. Three systems are in vogue, 

 known as the "matted row," the *'hill," 



and the "narrow row" systems. In 

 the matted row system as soon as the 

 runnets push out vigorously the culti- 

 vator is narrowed down to about 

 eighteen inches and run up one row 

 and down another, so as to draw the 

 runners always in one direction, that 

 they may not become tangled and 

 broken. In this way the row of plants 

 becomes widened, and a narrow strip 

 is left for cultivation and for passing 

 between the rows when gathering the 

 fruit. Under this system usually two 

 crops only of fruit are taken and then 

 the plants are plowed under, another 

 plantation having been set to fill the 

 place of the one abandoned. In the 

 hill system the plants are set out so 

 that the cultivator can be run both 

 ways, as in cultivating corn, the run- 

 ners are cut off, and the plants only 

 increase in size by stool ing. In the 

 narrow row system the cultivator 

 run only one way, up and down, the 

 runners are cut off*, and the plants 

 having been set out only a foot apart 

 soon spread so as to form a continuous 

 row. In garden culture the hill system 

 will usually give the best results in size 

 and flavor of fruit. In field culture 

 one of the other systems is usually the 

 most convenient and least expensive. 



As to varieties, what shall we say \ 

 Each year some new claimants for 

 popular favor are brought forward, of 

 which one can only say, 



'• The last still loveliest ; till 'tis gone. 

 And all is gray." 



There seems to be no way left for us 

 but to test each variety, as long as our 

 patience holds out to plant them, and 



