SUCCESS WITH STRA U'BERRIES. 



thu mildew, is not so easily overcome ; 

 but I have found that sulphur and 

 quicklime in equal parts, blown upon 

 the foliage of the Delaware, early in the 

 season, upon the very first indications of 

 mildew, has always arrested and pre- 

 vented it spreading to any serious ex- 

 tent ; and vines so treated have ripened 

 .their fruit and wood well, even in un- 

 favorable seasons. 



Another difficulty with the Delaware 

 may be mentioned — its tendency to 

 overbear. It will often set double the 



grapes it can bring to maturity, and, un- 

 less they are promptly thinned out, the 

 present crop will be lost and the vine 

 enfeebled for many years to come. 



A few other fine varieties among the 

 hybrids of more recent introduction may 

 be mentioned, which are partially tender 

 in winter, and also subject to mildew in 

 unfavorable seasons ; and to grow these 

 successfully not only winter protection, 

 but remedies for mildew of the foliage 

 would have to be applied. 



SUCCESS WITH STRAWBERRIES. 



O not allow plants to set 



beyond the limit of six inches 



in width in the rows. ■ Pre" 



serve the balance of the four 



feet for the thorough pulverizing and 



cultivation of the soil. 



Cover the plants thinly, late in 

 Autumn, with coarse litter of almost any 

 description, the most easily obtained 

 where you live. Allow the mulching to 

 remain on the row during the fruiting 

 season in order to protect the fruit from 

 having the sand beaten upon it during 

 heavy rains. But do not neglect to 

 cultivate the vacant spaces between the 

 rows as thoroughly the second season as 

 you do the first. Allow the plants to 

 spread to about nine inches in width the 

 second year. Treat them otherwise pre- 

 cisely the same as during the first sea- 

 son, but in Autumn give the rows a lib- 

 eral dressing of fine stable manure ; and 

 as soon as the second crop is harvested 

 plow the plants under, preparatory for 



some other crop the next season. 



There is perhaps no practice so fatal 

 to successful strawberry-growling as the 

 one almost universally adopted of allow- 

 ing the ground to remain uncultivated 

 until after the fruit is gathered. This is 

 done to avoid the sanding of the fruit, 

 but it must be borne in mind that under 

 this practice, with the droughts which 

 occur two yfears in five, during the 

 ripening of the fruit, the crop is practi- 

 cally lost where otherwise, by the reten- 

 tion of moisture in the soil, through a 

 thorough system of pulverizing and cul- 

 tivation, a full crop of the best fruit could 

 have been obtained. In connection with 

 this we observe the most important fact 

 of all, that during the prevailing droughts 

 the short crop causes the market to rule 

 high, so that under this system of 

 thorough cultivation we are double re- 

 warded for the extra labor expended in 

 the production of a full crop of first class 

 fruit. 



^^^^^4^ 



308 



