STRAWBERRY HAND-BOOK. 



5 



if pains are taken to maintain the terraces every time the 

 land is broken. 



Selecting Varieties. It is not always safe to pick out a 

 variety of strawberry from the accounts given in plant 

 catalogues. A perfect all-around berry is about as hard to 

 find as a perfect all-around milk cow. Usually it is best to 

 take the advice of a neighbor who knows about the different 

 varieties, or if you cannot get this, you can write and get 



the opinion of the editor of a farm journal. 



Varieties change much as fashions change. 



There is not much foundation for the claim 



that certain varieties are suitable for light 



soils, or heavy soils, etc. 



Large crops of fine berries 



are only grown on soils very 



rich naturally, or made so 



artificially. 



There are two distinct 



classes of strawberry plants, 

 Blossom of a staminate, known as the perfect and 



or perfect, strawberry 



plant. imperfect varieties ; also 



known as staminate and pistillate. The per- 

 fect or staminate plants are bi-sexual, which 

 means that they produce fruit as a natural Blossom of a" Pistillate, 



or imperfect, straw- 



condition; the pistillate varieties are one- berry plant, 



sexed, and will not produce fruit unless planted in proximity 

 to staminate varieties. The safest plan is to plant one row 

 of staminate plants to every two rows of pistillate. 



