78. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



4ogues or advertisements. No ! You 

 know you wanted something reliable 

 and not too dear ; and these novelties 

 are, many of them, untested and high- 

 priced — except Sharpless, which is find- 

 ing its level. Just take something first 

 that you can depend upon. On your 

 clay loam, Wilson's Albany will do its 

 best, and probably some of your neigh- 

 bors have it in abundance, and will 

 readily let you have it for " Thank 

 you." Just put out two rows of it, 

 however, because its season, though 

 quite early, is short, and one hundred 

 plants will give you plenty for cooking, 

 considering that you are likely to leave 

 most of them for that purpose if you 

 can get a sweeter berry to eat fresh. 

 Put your Wilson's on the levellest strip 

 in the patch, if there is any difference, 

 and the heaviest land, and if you have 

 any spare well-rotted manure that you 

 don't know what else to do with give 

 it to them ; for the Wilson plant is not 

 nearly so vigorous as some others, and 

 in a dry season sometimes shrivels up 

 — leaf and berry — if the land is poor 

 and too sandy, or too stiff. " But this 

 patch is tit to raise fair potatoes and 

 " cabbage," you say 1 It's all right then. 

 Wilson will smile sweetly and give you 

 a crop of fruit, or of runners — if not 

 pinched — ^that will surprise you. But 

 you would like something a little earlier 

 than Wilson] Well, as your soil is 

 ■ rather heavy, you may try a row of 

 Duncan. Not being a new sort it is 

 pretty cheap, and it will come in nearly 

 a week before Wilson, and give you a 

 fine crop of large, sweet, rather soft, 

 berries that will be about done when 

 the main crop of Wilsons comes on. 

 ^iTou must not expect as large a crop 

 from the Duncan's ; but the peculiar 

 high flavor of the berries will leave 

 little or no demand for Wilson's while 

 they last; and they are really good 

 yielders. 



Now try one row of Prouty. It is 



th e handsomest berry I ever saw. Long, 

 you know, something like a Kittatinny 

 blackberry in outline, almost as uniform 

 as if cast in a mould, with a smooth, 

 shining surface, and a beautiful tint of 

 scarlet, merging into pink on the shady 

 side. Its quality is fine, and it some- 

 times out yields Wilson, size and season 

 medium. But if your land is sandy, 

 or poor, you must not think of trying 

 it. It is such a great bearer — such a 

 determined bearer — that on anything 

 but rich loamy soil it runs all to fruit, 

 and is apt to die as soon as the crop is 

 gathered, or before. 



Well, you must have some Sharpless, 

 of course. It is so large and handsome, 

 so late, and so good to take — put out a 

 couple of rows and astonish the natives 

 with berries as large as plums. But 

 you will astonish no one but yourself 

 unless you keep the runners off and the 

 weeds down. Allowing it to mat up 

 with runners and young plants will 

 give you a miserable return of insipid, 

 soft, pink-and-white medium berries 

 that will not half pay for the labor of 

 planting. Sharpless can get along 

 without rich soil if you give it room 

 enough ; but its constitution — the re- 

 verse of Prouty — insists on plenty of 

 sap in the leaves and stalks, and the 

 fruit is fed afterwards. If the roots 

 have room and the runners are checked, 

 the immense vigor of the plant pumps 

 the sap into the fruit, and you get fine 

 berries and lots of them. 



And lastly, we will finish the patch 

 with one row of Glendale. It's not as 

 large as Sharpless, or so good in quality 

 or color. In fact it is very dark when 

 fit to eat, and if you taste a berry that is 

 " not ripe but only red," you will wish 

 you had a Wilson instead. But the plant 

 is of a wiry vigorous habit that can stand 

 abuse. The blossoms seem better able 

 to stand a frost when in bud than 

 Sharpless, and it yields later pickings. 



