ABC OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 223 



planting the second row, lift the tile. See that the sand settles, then fill 

 the tile with sand again, then put in dirt above the next row of holes ; 

 tramp again, and plant that row, and repeat the operation until the five 

 rows are planted. But don't fail to tramp. 



. After you are done planting, the tile remains in the barrel; have it 

 empty, so as to take the water. In watering, you water in the tile for the 

 lower rows ; on top of the barrel for the two top rows. It would be im- 

 possible to water the lower plants without the tile and the core of sand. 

 You can water the plants too much. Fill the tile once per day, and put 

 about two quarts of water on the outside of tile. After cold weather sets 

 in, we quit watering. They want no winter protection. Set the barrel on 

 bricks, to keep it off the ground. If any should die in the summer, you 

 can replant them by taking a runner and putting the young plant in the 

 hole, and stick it fast with two little sticks. 



Use the largest fruiting vaiiety that does well in your locality, and per- 

 fect-blooming sort, if possible. Planted early in the spring, you may ex- 

 pect a fair crop the same season. Paint barrel any light color, for con- 

 trast. 



After hearing Mr. Ohmer describe the barrel at the horti- 

 cultural meeting, he added that no one had better undertake it 

 unless he could attend carefully to all the details, for a little 

 neglect in watering will ruin the whole thing very quickly. 

 Such a barrel is too heavy to carry indoors. It must be winter- 

 ed right in the open air. S'/mebody asked him if it needed 

 turning around so the sun could get at all sides. Mr. O. told 

 us if we would get up early enough in the morning we might 

 see that the sun goes clear atound the barrel, from morning till 

 night, and actually laps over quite a piece. No turning around 

 is necessary. You can get the finest strawberries in the world 

 by the barrel plan, and more bushels to the acre, that is, if you 

 had an acre covered with the strawberry-barrels, than you could 

 possibly get by any other plan. 



OUR NEWER STRAWBERRIES. 



Although I have again and again declared I did not want 

 our list of strawberries made any larger unless for some ex- 

 ceedingly good reason, I find at least some of the new ones I 

 have seen in bearing for the first time that promise very favora- 

 bly. The first is the Ridgeway ; and if it will grow on my own 

 grounds as I saw it on Wilbur Fenn's, at Tallmadge, O., I shall 

 certainly give it a place. The plant is a remarkably strong, 

 robust grower. The berries ripen a little late, but are remark- 

 able for their size, beauty of shape, and for the fact that they 

 stand away up above the foliage and out of the dirt. Every 

 berry seems to be as perfect, almost, as if it were turned in a 

 lathe. In this respect it resembles the old Cumberland Tri- 

 umph. Now, this is the way it behaves on cousin Fenn's 



