1895 



GLEANIN(;S IN BEE CULTURE. 



one with his mind a part of the time on some- 

 thing else, might set out a bed so as to give a 

 perfect stand. He does it this way: He sets 

 out his plants in double rows, and this is done 

 by setting the plants 18 inches apart each way. 

 Now. this double row is ?> feet from the next 

 double row. Fig. 1 will show how he marks 

 out his ground. 



After the ground is marked as above, with 

 any sort of marker, you are ready to put out 

 your plants. The path for picking the berries 

 or for running the cultivator is just a yard 

 wide. The plants, after the plantation is put 

 out. are 18 inches apart each way. Let me show 

 yon some stars standing just as the plants 

 stand when they are growing nicely, before 

 putting out any runners: 



FIG. 2.— PLANTS AFTER THEY ARE SET OUT. 



Now a word about cultivating. The broad 

 spaces, or the paths a yard wide, of course can 

 be cultivated without any trouble: and if you 

 set vour plants with a spade, on the plan given 

 by Dan White, you can run the cultivator 

 within an inch of the plants on each side, with- 

 out injuring them. As tlie rows beticecn the 

 plants are only IS inches wide, you will proba- 

 bly do them easiest with a wheel-hoe. Friend 

 Young uses a wheel scuttle-hoe. With a horse 

 trained to the business, and a cultivator that 

 will shut up narrow, I have sometimes done 

 quite a good job of cultivating where plants 

 were 18 inches apart. Please notice, before the 

 plants have put out any runners, you can, with 

 the horse-cultivator and the hand-cultivator, 

 go through them both ways, so as to cultivate 

 close up to each plant on four sides. By this 

 means an acre of plants can be kept almost per- 

 fectly clean with modern cultivators and noth- 

 ing else. Not only this, we can break the crust 

 after every rain so quickly and so easily that 

 we can afford to keep the ground loose and 

 mellow, banishing all weeds at the same time 

 that we do the stirring: and there has never 

 been any thing invented, and in my opinion 

 there never will be. to get great crops of any 

 sort of fruit like this mellow, soft loose soil. So 

 far so good: but when the rnnners put out and 

 begin to take root, what then ? Here is what I 

 learned of friend Young's invention: No plants 

 are allowed to take root in the broad path 3 

 feet wide — that is. not the first season, any way : 

 but when the runners are just right, and begin 

 to take root, your man or boy is taken into the 

 patch with a trowel, and told to set a good plant 

 about half way betweon all the old plants and 

 one in the center of the square. After he has 

 done this he is to cut off all the others. Let us 

 have another diagram to make this plain. We 

 have placed the stars a little further apart, so 

 you can see better what you are doing. 



FIG. ^. — HOW TO PLACE THE RUNNERS. 



The large stars represent the original plants, 

 ana the small ones the new plants at the end of 

 the runners. This, you will notice, makes a 

 matted row, wiih the bearing plants just 9 

 inches apart each way. This is a little further 

 apart than what TVrry directs; but with the 



strong thrifty Enhance, the space is not any 

 too great. Each square contains nine bearing 

 plants; and each bearing plant should give a 

 great cluster of immense berries. If your plan- 

 tation is made either in the spring or fall, your 

 first crop will be like cut Fig. 2; and it will be 

 an easv matter, with the horse-cultivator in 

 the three-foot path, to keep this matted row 

 clean, for the plants stand like hills of corn, 

 except that the hills areonly Uin. apart, and you 

 can work them with a narrow hand-cultivator, 

 or you can use a hoe. Then comes the question. 

 How many crops shall we get from this beauti- 

 ful plantation before plowing it up? Mr. 

 Young thinks it pays to get two crops; and 

 he sometimes gets three. If you work for a 

 third crop, after the first crop is picked, clean 

 out your bed thoroughly, then let the runners 

 set where they choose. Just let the whole 

 plantation grow up lo a thick mat of vines, 

 leaving a 2 or a 31. _. foot path for the pickers. 

 Through this path, of course, you keep the 

 cultivator going. After you have secured the 

 crop from this solid matted row, then turn 

 strawberries, weeds, and every thing, all under, 

 the very day you do the last picking. That is, 

 you ought to do it the very day, if you are go- 

 ing to work up to the highest notch of high- 

 pressure gardening.* Now. friend Young goes 

 to work and plants strawberries again, because 

 his whole ground is used constantly for straw- 

 berries exclusively, or almost so. Meantime, 

 however, he is pretty well convinced that 

 some other crop should be put on before plant- 

 ing again for strawberries; and, by the way, 

 you can get a good crop of cabbages, wax beans, 

 early sweet corn, and ever so many other 

 things, after turning under your strawberries. 

 You may i-emember that, last season. I got a 

 splendid crop of Freeman potatoes after the 

 strawberries were all picked. 



THE TIMBRKLL STRAWBERRY. 



In a little sheet called Specialties for 1895, 

 published by the introducer of the Timbrell 

 strawberry, we clip the following: 



Thp Timbrell is a strawberry that has surpassed 

 all exp<=ctatioiis. vet not half its merits have been 

 r-old. Each mail bring-s to us the cheerinsr news that 

 those who have planted it the past season can not 

 speak too hij?hlv of it. Never has a new fruit so 

 quickly become "such a general favorite, succeeding: 

 so well in every localitv, and never has there been 

 such a iiin for plants iis on Timbrell. We could not 

 by any means supply tlie flemand last spring. 



There is no berry in existence to-day that includes 

 the same combination of merits atl.iined in Timbrell. 

 Indeed, we say without fear of contradiction that 

 there are mt six berries on the market that combine 

 the good qualities possessed by Timbrell alone. 

 Hence you get in Timbrell the same points that you 

 would get in half a dozen of the best varieties of the 

 day. We claim still more: There is novaritty in 

 existence tliatcan compare with Timbrell in quality, 

 healthiness, visror. and iaree average size; and there 

 is but one other tliat enuirls it in productiveness, 

 though it is soft and of poor quality. 



You will notice in the above that not a word 



* Please notice, in fall planting- the routine would 

 be something- like tins: Use potted plants; in fact, 

 this is the way friend Young always does, forhe is a 

 greenhouse man, and handles pots eveiy day of his 

 life. Use potted plants, and the next summeryou 

 will get part of a crop of immense-sized berries. 

 After fruiting-, place the runners as in Fig. 3. and 

 the -second summer you will get a full crop— all 

 large fine berries. Gather your fruit; g-et out the 

 weeds, then let the whole jilantation have pretty 

 much its own way. Ku 11 tlie cultivator, of course, 

 and do as much hand weeding- as you can afford to 

 do, more or less; then the third summer you will 

 have an immense crop of berries as before; but a 

 g-reat many of them will proliably be small, because 

 the beds are too mucli crowded. Pick as long- as it 

 pavs to bother with them, tlien get them under the 

 sod, and have your field clean and lovely once more. 



