58 ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



All this was a little discouraging to a beginner ; but still 

 he learned by experience, without any great harm being done. 

 He did have sense enough to let Mr. C. pick out the main va- 

 rieties for him, and to experiment with the novelties in a small 

 way. We bought only a dozen plants of each kind tested. 

 Among them we shall find some, probably, that will stay. The 

 Gandy is worthy of trial as a late berry, in a small way. The 

 Haverlands, with us, just lie in piles.* They are of good size 

 and fair quality, and hold out well. The Bubach gives us extra 

 large, choice fruit, and both it and the Haverland and Gandy 

 have very healthy foliage. The Summit is large and choice, 

 but not as free from rust. The Cumberland does well for us. 

 The berries are large. It is an old standard variety. May King 

 proved very ordinary good enough if we did not have much 

 better kinds. The quality was more satisfactory than the yield 

 and size of berry. We bought it as an early berry ; but it is no 



pint of the largest, finest, and most beautiful berries I ever saw in my life. 

 Each one was a model of beautiful shape, color brighter and more be- 

 witching, it seems to me, than any thing I ever saw in the shape of a 

 strawberry, and the whole set off to wonderful advantage by a remarka- 

 bly large, bright-green petiole surrounding the stem. The stalk is very 

 strong, and the biggest part of these berries stood up clear from the 

 ground. For beauty of foliage, and for rank, luxuriant growth, I have 

 never seen any thing to equal the Gandy. Now, my friend, if you will be 

 satisfied with a quart of berries from one picking of two dozen plants, it 

 will pay you to plant the Gandy. My impression is, that they should be 

 at least two years old before you can expect a fair crop. 



* We want to emphasize the remark, that the berries just lay in piles. 

 It was a refreshing contrast to look at the Haverlands, after we became 

 disgusted with the poor fruiting of the Gandy. Why, some of our large 

 old plants of the Haverlands had fruit in piles not only on the south side, 

 but on the north and east and west sides. Some writer, in speaking of a 

 new strawberry, said that no mulching to keep the berries out of the dirt 

 was required, for the plant bore so bountifully that the berries lay three 

 or four tiers deep all around the plant; consequently only the lower tier 

 got in the dirt. All this has been literally true with these Haverlands. 

 Unless I had seen them down on our rich creek-bottom land, with my own 

 eyes, I should never have believed that any single strawberry-plant could 

 ripen such a quantity of fruit. I felt like saying to one of them, " Why, 

 you poor, silly, dear little plant ! you can never ripen all this great mass 

 of fruit, any way in the world." But I tell you, friends, they are ripening 

 up nobly. The first that turned red were so long and large that they com- 

 pared quite fairly with the neighboring Jessies and Bubachs. We are just 

 now making preparations to plant tremendously of the Haverlands. Per- 

 haps I should say that this ground that gives berries in piles has been very 

 heavily manured for several years. A. I. R. 



