ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 211 



to show off the plants, and give the names of the difltrtnt vi ri- 

 eties, it was not at all surprising that customers would say, 

 " Well, I think I will have a quart;" or, "Why, I will take 

 two quarts of those great big ones, if you give heaping measure 

 like that," etc.; and just when I began to fear there were more 

 strawberries than we could easily get rid of, they were all clean- 

 ed up in fact so much so that the boys, in their efforts to get a 

 few more quarts for a customer, picked some that were rathtr 

 green. Oh how the new varieties have brightened up and en- 

 larged since the rain ! 



This year we are testing new varieties, as I have explain- 

 ed, by putting them in our plant-beds 18 inches apart. This is 

 just about right; and if you do not step on the beds at all it 

 gives plenty of room for putting down runners. It is wonder- 

 fully interesting to me to note the peculiarities and desirable 

 traits in the different candidates for public favor. For instance, 

 Clyde, that has been considerably talked about, is really bearing; 

 a wonderful crop wonderful considering that the plants were 

 put out only this spring. 



Our friend Dan White, of New London, O., told me he is 

 putting out an acre and a half this year on the plan I gave on 

 page 117. He says there was not a ripe berry to be found among 

 his Gandys up to June 22, and he places the Gandy as the latest 

 berry to ripen he has ever found. 



By the way, the berry that I was so pleased with last year, 

 and that came as the Great American (see p. 180), I am obliged to 

 think is only our old friend Sharpless under another name. 

 The berries are now (June 22) in their prime; and the reason 

 they were so much later than every thing else last year was on 

 account of their being grown in such a thick solid bed. The 

 rank foliage and the close planting kept the *un out so as to 

 make the berries late. Well, even if it is the Sharpless the in- 

 cident has opened to me a new possibility in strawberry culture. 

 Make your ground exceedingly rich (it had better be heavy clay 

 soil underdrained), then let the plants grow all over. Let thefti 

 stand just as thick as they have a mind to. Perhaps some cur- 

 rant bushes or something of the sort to help shade the ground 

 will assist in making them backward. Now, notwithstanding 

 its cramped circumstances, the Sharpless, after all other berries 

 are gone, will produce great monstrous fruit. Of course, the 

 berries will not be colored up very much; or at least not to 

 amount to very much; but the Sharpless is very nice to eat when 

 it is partly ripe. But you will find a purchaser at good prices 

 while other berries are too small to bother with. Besides, such 



