STRAWBERRY. 69 



Those old and long celebrated English varieties, Keen's 

 Seedling and British Queen, were not produced from seeds 

 gathered from neglected plants, but from those which 

 had been stimulated by extra culture. And if we expect 

 to keep on improving we must stimulate our plants into a 

 vigorous growth not only the ones from which we gather 

 the seeds, but the seedlings themselves. 



To produce large and extra fine specimens, only a few 

 berries should be allowed to mature upon the plant 

 When there are several fruit stems, select three or four of 

 the strongest, and destroy the others; also remove all ex- 

 cept two or three berries from each. 



Large Strawberries are quite the fashion at the present 

 time, and the amateur cultivator generally takes the lead, 

 merely because he applies the requisite means for produc- 

 ing the results. 



A few years since an amateur Strawberry grower 

 brought some monstrous fruit to an exhibition held in 

 one of our eastern cities, and they were so much larger 

 than anything that had heretofore been shown, that he 

 was offered and accepted a very large price for the entire 

 stock of this variety. 



The purchaser sent his gardener for them soon after, 

 and when he took up the plants he found the beds so filled 

 with offal from a slaughter-house that the operation of 

 removing the plants was anything but a pleasant one. 

 Here were cause and effect but little separated. This is 

 but one instance among the -many that might be given to 

 show that great results in fruit growing of any kind are 

 only derived by direct effort on the part of the producer. 



Old plants seldom produce as large berries as young 

 ones, and a fresh stock should always be provided, either 

 by allowing a few plants in the fruiting beds to throw out 

 runners, or by setting a few in separate beds every year 

 for that particular purpose. 



Plants that have been highly stimulated will seldom 



