ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE 141 



A characteristic of the Gandy strawberry is the large 

 bright green sepals around the fruit-stem. This green con- 

 trasts so finely with the shining scarlet of the berry that it 

 looks like a beautifully colored picture. These .sepals also, 

 on account of being unusually large, keep the beiries apart in 

 the basket so as to give them air, and prevent bruising. The 

 berry at the corner of the basket in the cut shows particularly 

 this feature. See also cut of Gandy on page 53. 



THE VALUE OF STRAWBERRY PLANTS TURNED UNDER. 



On the 15th of July we plowed under a bed of Sharpless 

 strawberries that had borne an excellent crop of fruit, and had 

 made a prodigious growth of foliage, runners, etc. Before 

 turr.ing them under, however, the ground was covered with a 

 heavy coat of stable manure. With the manure and vines to- 

 gether, the plowman had considerable trouble in getting them 

 all turned under nicely. In fact, a man had to follow (with a 

 hoe or similar tool) to push the tangled vines from under the 

 plow-beam. When it was all turned under, however, it 

 was harrowed and rolled until fine and compact. Then a 

 heavy coat of ashes frpm our steam-boiler was put on. These 

 ashes we e mostly coal. Considerable basswood and pine, 

 however, goes in with the coal. In order to get out the 

 coarser portions we run it through a sieve, or riddle, such as is 

 used for sifting sand or gravel. These ashes were put over the 

 surface, from one to two inches deep, and harrowed lightly 

 into the mellow surface soil. In this we sowed, the same day, 

 radishes, lettuce, and turnips. Well, on the 15th day of Au- 

 gust, just thirty days from the day the seeds were put in, beau- 

 tiful radishes were ready for the market in fact, the finest I 

 ever saw. A nice shower fell soon after the seeds were sown, 

 and the ashes had sufficient strength to destroy all insect en- 

 emies. Not even a flea beetle punctured the first leaves of the 

 young radial e*. They grew with a rich dark green, and a ra- 

 pidity I never saw them grow with before. Neither have I 

 ever had good-sized radishes fit for market in just thirty days, 



