r!l896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



473 LJ 



until after nine o'clock, and did not have time 

 for my afternoon nap either. Just as I was 

 dropping off into a delicious and peaceful sleep, 

 one of my favorite texts came to mind, and I 

 said aloud; " Surely goodness and mercy shall 

 follow^ me all the days of my life;" and Mrs. 

 Root, who had not gone to sleep either, respond- 

 ed, "Yes, dear husband, goodness and mercy 

 will follow you if you always hold fast to your 

 Christian faith and hope, and I think you will." 



OUR STRAWBERRY REPORT FOR 1896 ; THE J 

 TIMBRELL STRAWBERRY. 



Just as we had decided to drop the Timbrell 

 from our list, it transpires that, in consequence 

 of the present favorable season, it is just show- 

 ing us what it can do. Onr rows of Timbrell 

 are not only giving us great quantities of ber- 

 ries, but they are the largest and the most beau- 

 tifully shaped berry, I tiiink, I ever saw in my 

 life; and, on top of it all, where they are al- 

 lowed to get fully ripe the greater part of them 

 are nicely colored. By picking out some of the 

 best, I think almost anybody would call it the 

 ideal strawberry; and the flavor of the fully 

 ripened Timbrell is second to none. When they 

 are not fully ripe, or where the ground is not 

 up to a high state of cultivation and richness, 

 the mottled color is still an objection. Now, 

 nobody objects to our Jessie strawberries when 

 they have white tips, or are even white on one 

 side; but the Timbrell has a strange way of 

 looking when it is not colored all over. The 

 white and red give it a mottled appearance, 

 something like cheap calico — yes, and even 

 faded calico at that ; and I fear that the Tim- 

 brell is to be discarded just on account of this 

 one objection ; and yet when it first came out, 

 nobody seemed to notice it very much — just 

 looks and nothing else. But when even one 

 berry of this sort happens to get into a box with 

 the calico side uppermost, it hurts the appear- 

 ance, not only of the whole box, but of the en- 

 tire lot. Good-by. Timbrell. 



Now. the Marshall is all right every way — 

 has all the good points of the Timbrell, and 

 none of the objections ; but it does not bear 

 enough berries — that is, I am afraid it will be 

 an objection, just the same as with our old 

 friend the Gandy. By the way, we begin to 

 think it is a pretty hard matter to beat the Ed- 

 gar Queen — that is. if you take it all around. 

 The berries are wonderfully large, and there 

 are lots of them, and it holds out well from be- 

 ginning to end. The objections are. they are 

 not all of a handsome shape. If you do not 

 have perfect varieties near bv for fertilization 

 you will have a terrible lot of berries, as it is im- 

 perfect. 



Michel's Early gave us the first berries to put 

 on the market as usual, and they are tiptop 

 every way — perhaps rather small, especially to- 

 ward the close of the season, but there are not 

 as many of them, by a long way, as there are of 

 the Haverland, that ripens only three or four 

 davs later. 



The Parker Earle is a splendid berry; but the 

 plants must have plenty of room, the very rich- 

 est ground, and water in abundance. With all 

 these essentials it is a most magnificent berry 

 in every respect; but if the soil is poor, or water 

 is lacking, the plant seems to get contrary, and 

 gives up. By the way, a great many strawber- 



ries will do very much better if you give them 

 plenty of room. Michel's Early, for instance, 

 will make a big mat of plants in almost no 

 time; but to get good large berries, and to get 

 them very early, the plants must be thinned 

 out and the runners kept off. 



Take it all in all, for our locality, I believe 

 our old friend the Jessie comes pretty near 

 standing at the head. When we remember 

 that it is a perfect variety, and furnishes pollen 

 both early and late, to fertilize other varieties, 

 it seems too bad that the Jessie, in many local- 

 ities, is reported almost a failure. With us they 

 are of large size, nice shape, and so sweet that 

 they are nice eating when they are red a little 

 on only one side. In fact, I do not know but I 

 prefer them that way. This makes it a little 

 more tart. The plant has nice foliage, is as 

 free from blight as any, and it seems to me that 

 every strawberry-grower should have at least 

 one patch of Jessies to test. I asked our boys, 

 Frank and Fred, what they thought about It. 

 They said the Jessie and the Bubach together 

 have given us the largest lot of fine berries, year 

 after year, of any thing we have tried. The 

 Hubach has the advantage of coloring all over, 

 while the Jessie is very often white on the un- 

 der side. During a very wet season the Bubach 

 has troubled us some by rotting, even before 

 they were ripe; but during dry weather we have 

 nothing of the sort. In fact, we have seen 

 nothing of this trouble for the past three sea- 

 sons, including the present. To have the plant 

 do its best, however, they should be pretty se- 

 verely thinned, so that each plant may have six 

 or eight inches of room. Thin them out like 

 this, and make the ground exceedingly rich, 

 and you will have berries that are almost like 

 peaches In fact, you can take one of these 

 great big fellows and make several bites of it as 

 you would of a peach. 



I' think I have touched upon all the straw- 

 berries we list, except our old friend the War- 

 field. This is ahead of all others in color. In 

 fact, the brilliant sparkle of the garnet-colored 

 fruit as it gleams out among the green foliage 

 would almost of itself give it a place among the 

 standard choice berries. No other berry in the 

 world — at least, none that I have ever seen — has 

 so brilliant and deep a color. In my early life 

 as a jeweler I used to have something to do 

 with valuable stones, and the garnet was al- 

 wavs my favorite : and I scarcely ever catch 

 sight of the Warfield berries without thinking 

 of a cluster of garnets. Aside from its beauty 

 it has a brisk, sparkling, tart flavor, quite dis- 

 tinct from any other berry. It is also a beauti- 

 fully shaped berry — there are no awkward mon- 

 strosities. Its sole fault is that it is small ; but 

 this is generally owing to the fact that it sends 

 out so many runners that the plants stand too 

 thick, even the first season. On that account 

 we get nicer berries from plants set out in the 

 fall. Thin them out till they stand at least five 

 inches apart each way. then give them ground 

 that is made exceedingly rich and mellow, and 

 you will not only have clusters of small garnets, 

 but here and there a great berry that ought to 

 make anybody fall in love with strawberries 

 just to look at. It is an imperfect variety. 



Up to the 1st of June we had 10 cents for our 

 berries. They are now 8 cents. With the cool 

 nights we have been having for three or four 

 days past, I think there is not going to be any 

 very great glut in the market. They are ripen- 

 ing so gradually that people manage to take 

 them at fair prices. 



It is now June 10. and most of our berries 

 have got past their best, but the Parker Earle 

 is just in its prime. The boys are inclined to 

 think with myself, that, all things considered, 



