THE MAGAZINE 



OP 



HORTICULTURE. 



MAY, 1838. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. Observations on the Culture of the Strawberry. By 

 A. J. Downing, Botanic Garden and Nurseries, Newburgh, 

 N. Y. 



The strawberry is certainly one of the most valuable and de- 

 licious of all the smaller fruits. It is not only easily cultivated, 

 yielding an abundant crop in a short time, from a very limited 

 space of ground; but while its pleasant sub-acid flavor is agreea- 

 ble to all palates, and forms one of the most delightful additions 

 to the dessert in summer, it is also extremely wholesome, never, 

 as is the case with most other fruits, undergoing the acetous fer- 

 mentation. In some diseases it has ever been found highly ben- 

 eficial, and it is affirmed that Linnaeus was cured of the gout by 

 abundant use of the berries. 



The strawberry, though a low herbaceous plant, sends down 

 remarkably strong roots. In good soils these are often found to 

 penetrate to the depth of eighteen inches or more in a season. 

 It is necessary, therefore, to produce a fine bed, that the soil be 

 deep as well as rich. Where the sub-soil is not positively bad, 

 the ground is always much improved by trenching, (two spades 

 deep,) before setting the plants. In doing this a good coat of 

 manure should be deposited between the two spits: old garden 

 soils which have been long cultivated are astonisliingly improved 

 by this practice, the whole becoming renewed by the presence 

 of the fresh soil; and the growth of plants in such mould, when 

 again acted upon by the sun and air, is of course proportionately 

 vigorous. A deep mellow loam, rather damp than dry, is un- 

 doubtedly the preferable soil for this plant, but almost any soil 

 for so limited a species of culture, may, in the hands of a judi- 



VOL. IV. NO. V. 21 



