214 ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



large berry in the field, would be worth a lot of money. I 

 would give something to be able to present to the readers of 

 Gleanings a picture showing the Nick Ohmers as they stand in 

 that bed this morning. 



Michel's Early, that we used to call ahead of all the others, 

 is not anywhere near ripening at the present time, May 30 ; 

 but, to tell the truth, Michel's Early has not been "fussed 

 with " quite as much as these newer kinds at least, not this 

 saason. You see, I want to be honest about it. 



Now, none of these varieties mentioned is likely to bear 

 the great quantity of berries that some of the later ones do 

 say Haverland, Warfield, Parker Earle, and last, but not least, 

 the Clyde. I dp not believe there is another berry on our 

 grounds containing such great heaps of green ones at the pres- 

 ent time as the Clyde ; and I notice the reports are now greatly 

 in favor of the Clyde as a tremendous bearer. 



ANOTHER SURPRISE. 



Yes, and this is a happy one too, even if it does run against 

 the one above somewhat. On page 175 I gave you a glimpse of 

 my plan of hill culture for strawberries. Well, in order to test 

 all the different varieties worked in this way we have to put in 

 one or more rows of all the kinds we could get hold of ; and I 

 am watching with very much interest the behavior of the differ- 

 ent plants, with runners kept off, and constant cultivation in 

 spring as well as fall. Yesterday, after speaking of the Nick 

 Ohmer's earliness, I went up through that hill culture patch to 

 see how the others were behaving. All at once I was startled 

 by sesing a great big strawberry, ripened all over, then another 

 and another, until I noticed there were six rows of berries with 

 quite a good many ripe ones right out in the open field. Now, 

 there were a few other kinds that had begun to turn just a lit- 

 tle, but nothing like the six rows. What were they ? Why, as 

 sure as you live it was our old friend Rio. Michel's Early was 

 near by in another patch in a matted row, but there was not one 

 berry colored in the lot. The Earliest and Darling had just be- 

 gun to color, but they were planted rather later than the Rio in 

 the same patch. I really do not know why the Rio should be 

 ahead of every thing else in hill culture, unless such constant 

 stirring of the ground suited the Rio better than it did any of 

 the other kinds. That is not quite it either, for the other kinds 

 are making most tremendous growths of foliage and runners. 

 Yes, the greater part of them are putting out runners, even be- 

 fore the fruit has colored. But this constant cultivation seems 



