STRAWBERRIES 

 WILLIAM PALMER, REXFORD, SARATOGA COUNTY, N. Y. 



The strawberry is one of our best berries, 

 enjoyed by nearly everyone, and should be 

 grown by all who have even a small piece 

 of ground. As it grows well on nearly all 

 kinds of soil, it should not be considered a 

 berry for the commercial grower only; it 

 can be grown well by people living in vil- 

 lages and cities who have a back yard and 

 small garden, so that fresh strawberries can 

 be had all through the season. 



STUDY VARIETIES 



\Yhen beginning to grow strawberries, it is well to look over the 

 line fence and see what varieties are doing best for your neighbor. 

 As all varieties do not succeed well in all soils and locations, it is 

 well to try several varieties in a small way, growing them under 

 the same conditions. Usually one or more varieties will do better 

 than the others, showing which are best to plant. Do not draw 

 your conclusions too early, but give them two or three years' trial 

 before casting aside the unworthy ones. 



The writer has grown more than one hundred and fifty varieties 

 of strawberries; but, as a very large percentage of them were 

 found to have no profit and some but very little merit, they were 

 discarded. In all locations it is well to test varieties, as it is 

 quite important that the variety succeeds well on the soil. I do 

 not know of any one variety of berry so prominent in the straw- 

 berry family as the Baldwin apple is in the apple family. The 

 strawberry is rather sensitive, and must be located in a favorable 

 home. The principal varieties, as grown in Saratoga, Albany, 

 Rensselaer, Schenectady, and Montgomery counties, are the fol- 

 lowing: for early varieties, Michel's Early, Excelsior, and Beder- 

 wood ; midseason, Sample, Wm. Belt, Splendid, and Brandywine ; 

 late, Gandy and Stevens 7 Late. A good supply of staminate 

 plants should be set with the pistillate varieties. 



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