1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



789 



Now, I don't say this is the bost plan; but 

 don't you think that many a farnior out West 

 who thinks ho can"t fuss to raise strawberries 

 miglit tie induced to do so if he were told how 

 little trouble would supply his table? Just tell 

 him to set one corner of a corn-Held to straw- 

 berry-plants, and cultivate them with the corn, 

 the only difference being in setting tlie plants. 

 Likely he may raise a question about mulching. 

 Well, if that's going to scare him out of it. tell 

 him I raised a paying crop without using any 

 mulch whatever, and you know it's a good bit 

 colder here than at Medina. 



TRIMMING. 



It may be presumptuous for one so much be- 

 hind the times as I am, in matters horticultural, 

 to suggest any addition to what has been said 

 by two such experts as you and friend Terry. 

 Nevertheless I know you'll let me "'speak in 

 meeting," and will good-naturedly set me right 

 if I'm away off. 



I see nothing said in the book, if I am not 

 mistaken, about trimming, except to cut off the 

 dead leaves, and perhaps cutting off' the ends of 

 the roots. Now, I don't know of any harm that 

 these dead leaves do except to be in the way; 

 but I do know of harm that some of the iiving 

 leaves do, in all plants that ever I have bought. 

 If a plant be taken up by means of one of 

 Root's transplanting-tubes. and set out at once, 

 all roots intact, and the soil adhering, not a 

 leaf should be touched. But if the plants have 

 come from a distance, the chances are that 

 many of the little rootlets are so injured that 

 they will never work again, and the number of 

 leaves must be diminished to correspond with 

 the number of working roots left. So I always 

 felt safest to trim off all leaves except the cen- 

 ter one, besides cutting square across the ends 

 of the roots so as to take off perhaps a fourth of 

 the longest ones. These long straggling roots 

 don't get well planted, and a number of good 

 working roots will start from the freshly cut 

 ends. 



PUDDLING. 



Has " puddling" gone out of fashion ? and is 

 there something that I don't understand about 

 it, that makes it better to lift the plants right 

 out of water when set ? When plants are taken 

 out of water, you know what a tendency they 

 have to cling together — just exactly what you 

 don't want them to do. Stick them back in the 

 water, and they spread out in a natural posi- 

 tion: but the minute they are withdrawn they 

 try to get into a single rope. Thus planted, 

 there will be places where no soil will touch the 

 roots, and holes left between. Now, what is 

 " puddling "■? Simply dipping the roots in vei-y 

 thin mud. Take a dish or pail of water, and 

 stir into it all the soil it will bear, so that, when 

 you stick into it the roots of a plant, and shake 

 the plant up and down a little, the roots will 

 spread out in a natural position. Upon lifting 

 out the plant, each root will have a coating of 

 soil, so they can not cling together as when 

 taken out of the water, and will go into the 

 ground in lietter position and condition. If the 

 " puddle" be too thin, not enough soil will ad- 

 here to the roots; and if too thick, the roots 

 will not readily go into it. Have too much soil 

 in the bottom, and add water on top as often as 

 needed. After puddling, the very tine little 

 roots will stand out naturally, as you can not 

 get them to do if you take them out of clear 

 water. Leaving plants too long in cleai' water 

 may injure them, and a puddled plant will not 

 injure as quickly by drying. 



MARKING. 



In addition to the plans given for marking 

 the ground, some might lind it convenient to 

 use a plan practiced by nurserymen. They 



stretch a rope on the ground; then, pressing on 

 it the blade of a ho(> in front of them, they slide 

 the hoe along as fast as they can walk, leaving 

 the impi-int of the rope in the soft ground. I 

 have seen hoes with holes worn in the middle 

 of the blade through much use of this kind. 



You ought to have a big vote of thanks for 

 getting out so practical a book. C. C. Milleh. 



Marengo, 111., Oct. 20. 



Well, old friend, I do not know but we owe 

 you a vote of thanks. I have several times felt 

 a longing to try strawberries on just the plan 

 you give, but our ground is too expensive, as 

 you suggest. Cultivating both ways would 

 certainly save a great amount of labor. We 

 have practiced trimming— in fact, we always 

 trim our plants before sending them off by 

 mail; but after many experiments in sending 

 out and receiving the plants, I am sure there 

 are two extremes in the matter, and I would 

 never trim them down to one leaf. We leave 

 three leaves— counting the new one just push- 

 ing out. We received 100 plants in August, 

 from New Jersey, trimmed, as you suggest, to 

 one leaf; but while they all lived, the growth 

 has been very much slower than with others 

 where there were two or three leaves left. 

 Matthew Crawford and Mr. Little both express- 

 ed themselves against trimming too closely, as 

 they looked at the plants above mentioned. 

 You give me a new idea in favor of puddling; 

 and one reason why I have disliked putting the 

 plants in a pail of water, is because the roots 

 cling together in the way you mention. I shall 

 try puddling again, with the additional light 

 you give us in regard to it. My impression is, 

 however, that the careful grower who really 

 loves his plants will make them grow by almost 

 any of the methods given. Pushing a hoe 

 along the rope is another idea that will be val- 

 uable to me. We have always made a mark 

 by walking on the rope; but this takes too much 

 time where one foot is put tight up with the 

 other as we walk. 



PLANTING STRAWBERRIES IN THE FALL, IN 

 FLORIDA. 



Friend Root:— I consider your "crop" de- 

 partment one of the most interesting in Glean- 

 ings, and I always delight to read it. 1 have 

 iust read in the Sept. 15th number what you 

 and S. P. \^)d(>r have to say under the above 

 head. Here in Florida, all of the hundreds of 

 thousands of quarts of lierries that are shiijped 

 out of the State every year are grown on 

 plants set, for the most part, in Septembei- 5Uid 

 October. These plants b(>gin to b(>ar tlie tol- 

 lowing January, and continue to bear until 

 June These plants are not set " by way ot ex- 

 periment," but by the acre; and. given the 

 urouer season and attention, they pay well. 



Alva, Fla., Sept. 27. H. G. Burnet. 



"Friend B., circumstances are so different be- 

 tween your locality and ours that there is no 

 particul-ar application except tliis: Y'ou have 

 demonstrated that a plant that grows in the 

 fall may bear a gi-eat crop of berries the follow- 

 ing spring; but I presume that with you, as a 



