SEPT.] THE FRUIT GARDEN. 507 



somewhat of the smell and taste of the pine-apple, from whence it takes 

 its name.* 



In the cultivation of strawberries, much depends upon the choice 

 of plants ; for if they are promiscuously taken from the beds with- 

 out care, a great number of them will become barren ; these are by 

 the gardeners termed blind, which is when there are plenty of flowers 

 but no fruit produced ; if these flowers are well examined they 

 will be found to want the female organs of generation, most of them 

 abounding with stamina, but there are few, if any, styles ; so that 

 it frequently happens among these barren plants that some of them 

 have a part of an imperfect fruit formed which will sometimes ripen. 

 The hautboy strawberry is more subject to this than any of the other 

 kinds. The plants of either sort should never be taken from old 

 neglected beds where the stools had been suffered to spread or run 

 into a confused multitude of vines, nor from any plants which are 

 not very fruitful, and those offsets which stand nearest to the old 

 plants should always be preferred. 



Strawberries in general, love a strong loamy ground, in which they 

 will thrive and bear fruit more abundantly than in a light soil. The 

 ground should be somewhat moist, for if it is very dry, all the water- 

 ing which is given to the plants in warm dry seasons, will not be 

 sufficient to procure abundant crops ; nor should the ground be made 

 overly rich with dung, for that would cause the plants to run into 

 suckers, grow too luxuriant, and render them less fruitful. 



Any time this month that the weather proves moist, you should 

 take advantage of it for making your general plantations of straw- 

 berries, but if dry and hot, it will be better to defer that work to the 

 last week thereof, or first in October, not later if possible, as the 

 plants will be greatly benefited by having time to form good roots 

 before winter. But should the weather then prove unfavorable you 

 should proceed to planting, after which, plentiful and frequent water- 

 ings must be given till the plants are well rooted. 



The sets proper for planting at this time, are those produced in 

 the present year from the young runners, selecting them as before 

 noticed, or such as were taken off in June and transplanted into 

 nursery beds. When taken up, the roots should be trimmed, the 

 decayed leaves picked off, and also any small vines or runners issuing 

 from the plants. 



The ground should be well dug and, if necessary, previously ma- 

 nured with a sufficiency of old well rotted dung, then laid out into 

 four feet wide beds with alleys between, of eighteen or twenty inches, 

 for the convenience, of going in occasionally to weed and water the 

 plants and to gather the fruit. Each bed is to contain four rows of 

 plants, the large kinds eighteen inches distant in the rows, and the 

 small sorts fifteen. Close the earth well about the roots of each plant, 



* This division applies to the more primitive state of the strawberry ; 

 we have now got them so mixed up by cross-breeding, that we recognize 

 them as Pistillate and Staminate, or Hermaphrodite varieties. The Pine or 

 aromatic, and the Hautboys, are somewhat distinct classes, notwithstand- 

 ing there are many kinds of them, and also that they have partaken of the 

 general mixing up. 



