THE CANADIAN H0ETICULTUEI8T. 



79 



It is well, too, to have one row in hand 

 for preserving in case a frost in early 

 blossoming time cuts short the Wilson's, 

 which are very susceptible to frost. 

 Besides, when thorotighly ripe, many 

 people seem to relish the peculiar flavor 

 of Glendale. 



But some man with sandy land would 

 like to raise strawberries ! Then, sir, 

 keep your Wilson's for fertilizing, be- 

 cause most of the common sorts suit- 

 able for sandy land differ from those 

 already named in being deficient in 

 pollen to fertilize the blossoms. Then 

 Instead of Duncan and Prouty set two 

 rows of Crescent which will yield an im- 

 mense crop from very early till after 

 the Wilson's, and be of better flavor 

 than if grown on clay loam, and substi- 

 tute one row of Champion (or what is 

 either the same thing or something 

 better, Windsor Chief,) instead of one 

 of your rows of Sharpless. Retain the 

 row of Glendale, and your patch is 

 again filled up. These two kinds, 

 Crescent and Windsor Chief, are not 

 so sweet and rich as the kinds recom- 

 mended for clay loam, but they make 

 up for it in size of the crop, and both 

 ai*e very handsome. Windsor Chief 

 is the largest, and like Glendale and 

 Wilson, is not ripe enough for eating 

 till quite dark in color. 



Now you have seven rows containing 

 altogether three hundred and fifty 

 plants, that take u]) a space of ground 

 fifty or sixty feet long, and say sixteen 

 feet wide, allowing for paths at the 

 outside, or a little less than four square 

 rods in extent, and costing you from 

 three to four dollai-s for the plants laid 

 on the ground, if you buy all of them ; 

 or not more than $2.50 if you get the 

 Wilsons for nothing ? Is not that 

 within your limits of space and means 1 



But you want to know what returns 

 to expect. Well, my friend, that de- 

 pends mostly on how you treat the 



plants. If you leave them to run races 

 with grass and weeds after a hoeing or 

 two, all except Wilson and Glendale, 

 (or these with the addition of Crescent 

 and Windsor Chief, on sandy land), 

 will go to the dogs, and you will prob- 

 ably get some thirty to eighty quarts 

 of little sour berries — to grumble over 

 and declare strawberry growing doesn't 

 pay. If you give about three hoeings 

 and runner cuttings each year, on good, 

 fair garden soil, you ought to get one 

 hundred to one hundred and fifty quarts 

 of fine fruit, while with first-class treat- 

 ment and very rich soil you need not 

 be surprised at over three hundred. 



Any man who thinks this won't pay 

 him on four rods of ground, has a call 

 from fate to eat pork and potatoes, and 

 had better be satisfied with a diet of 

 that description ! 



But perhaps your means and tastes 

 incline you to try some of the new 

 varieties that come out every season 

 with bounce and hurrah enough to cast 

 in the shade the modest tested sorts 

 we already have. Well, you will find 

 it very interesting — indeed fascinating 

 — to test some of them. But nibble 

 cautiously at that sort of bait, my 

 friend ! I have been bitten over and 

 over again in this line, by poor per- 

 formances allied to grand promises — 

 which, for a poor man, is unpleasant. 

 Let me give you a good rule. Don't 

 buy an article that only one nursery- 

 man, or even two or three without 

 much reputation, may recommend — no 

 matter how highly they may praise it. 

 But if several men whose good name i& 

 worth something to them, e. g., Dowi^ 

 ing, Roe, EUwanger and Barry in the 

 States, and our own Dempsey, Beadle, 

 Arnold, «kc., 8})eak in favor of a new 

 variety, it is safe to try it. Buy a few 

 plants, and if gooii, you can easily in- 

 crease your stock. Of all the new 

 varieties now before the public, Kirk- 



