ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 119 



seemed as if there were hardly room enough for them to ripen 

 without lying piled up on each other. Paths were provided for 

 the pickers, a foot wide ; but these paths were also filled with 

 straw. The Sterling, Cumberland, Gandy, Downing, and Bu- 

 bach, kept their berries out of the path ; but the wonderfully 

 productive Haverland could not be satisfied with piling the 

 berries up in the row, but it just kept pushing its great long 

 stalks full of fruit clear out into the path ; and it was very dif- 

 ficult indeed to walk in the paths without stepping on these 

 great beautiful handsome berries. Did anybody ever see such 

 a plant as the Haverland ? One reason for wanting to visit 

 friend Terry was, that I wished to see whether his Haverlands 

 were really lying in heaps around the plants, as ours were. 

 They were doing that very thing. Friend T. is not excitable. 

 I never saw him get very much excited about any thing. He 

 is cool and quiet in almost all emergencies. He does not sail 

 his hat nor get as enthusiastic as I do ; but for all that he en- 

 joys nature's gifts fully as much as the rest of us, if I am cor- 

 rect. Now, the catalogs have been severely censured for being 

 extravagant in regard to many of these new things ; but since 

 I have been home I have searched all the catalogs in vain to 

 find any thing that does half justice to the Haverland. It is 

 true, the berries are rather tart, and have not very much flavor 

 compared with some of the others ; neither are they as large 

 as some. But the berries are of good size ; and with a little 

 sugar they are almost as good as any of them. And, oh my ! 

 what an abundance ! I have not any figures just now about 

 the amount per square red ; but you will find them in the book. 

 It seems to me that this plant is destined to bring about a new 

 era in strawberry culture. We have had them for two years. 

 The first year we kept our priginal plants so busy furnishing 

 runners, that we did not get very much fruit. During the last 

 spring I let the old plants go, and they were pretty well cover- 

 ed with grass and weeds ; but when they began to set their 

 fruit I was almost alarmed. I could not believe it possible that 



