THE GENESEE FARMER. 



SET OUT STEAWBEERY PLANTS THIS MONTH. 



If the weather should continue as wet during 

 September as it has been during the past few weeks, 

 we would recommend those who have not already done 

 so to set out strawberry plants. Under favorable 

 circumstances plants set out at this time will be- 

 come suiSciently rooted to endure the winter, and 

 will bear a moderate crop of fruit next summer. 



An underdrained, deep, rich, somewhat loamy 

 soil is best for strawberries. It should be dug at 

 least two feet deep. It is better not to bring the 

 lower spit to the surface — as in ordinary trenching. 

 It should be broken up, and have as much manure 

 dug in with it as possible. You cannot make the 

 subsoil too rich for strawberries. 



Plant in rows two and a half feet apart, and 

 from twelve to eighteen inches apart in the rows. 

 Water the plants, if necessary, and let it be done 

 thoroughly, so as to reach the roots. A light 

 sprinkling on the surface is worse than nothing. 

 Keep the soil loose and free from weeds, and in 

 JTovember spread a light coat of fresh manure on 

 the surface between the plants. This will enrich 

 the soil and protect the plants during the winter. 



For best varieties, see article in last number, by 

 one of our most successful and experienced cultiva- 

 tors [ 



GATHEEING AND EIPENING mmT. 



We make a few extracts on this subject from an 

 excellent article in the August number of the Maga- 

 zine of Horticulture : 



" Pears. — It should be distinctly understood that 

 no summer pear should be allowed to ripen on the 

 t-ree ; there is no exception to this rule. There are 

 a few which are barely eatable, but in most instances 

 tliey are nearly worthless. Some become as dry and 

 mealy as a baked potato, and not near so good ; 

 while others rot at the core, though seemingly sound 

 on the surface. It is because most of the summer 

 pears are allowed to ripen on the trees that many of 

 the best varieties have been pronounced unworthy 

 of cultivation. * * * The only requisite is that 

 the fruit should have attained its growth, and the 

 sooner it is picked afterwards the better. This may 

 be known to the cultivator by the change which 

 takes place in the appearance of the fruit. Some of 

 the defective specimens will assume a smoother and 

 paler surface ; the coloring on the sunny side will 

 be brighter, and the stem will become swollen, par- 

 ticularly at the junction with the tree. These indi- 

 cate that the period of maturity is approaching, and 

 the fruit may be gathered and ripened. We have 

 found that very few early pears will ripen well when 

 exposed to the air on open shelves, even in a tolera- 

 bly close fruit room. At this season of the year 

 the atmosphere is too dry, and the currents of air 

 too great, and the juices are too rapidly exhausted. 

 It is far better to place the fruit in boxes of mode- 

 rate size, and let them stand in the fruit room or 

 some other cool and dark place, where they retain 

 their juices better than if exposed on shelves. * 



" As a general rule, we should advise all early 

 pears to be placed in boxes or drawers, covered with 

 one or two thicknesses of paper, and kept excluded 

 from light and air, where the temperature is cool 

 and as even as possible at that season. A damp, 



cool cellar is not so favorable a place as a cool, dry 

 room, as the former checks the ripening process too 

 suddenly ; such a situation will do for the autuma 

 and winter pears, but not for the early kinds. 



"Apples. — Some of these are about as goed 

 when they fall from the tree as by any process of 

 keeping. The Eed Astrachan, Porter, and some of 

 the more acid kinds, seem to acquire their highest 

 flavor in this way. But as a general rule they should 

 be gathered a few days before eating. The sweet 

 varieties, particularly such as the Bough, Golden 

 Sweet, and some others, become too mealy if allowed 

 to hang too long. 



"Peaches and Plums, except clingstones and 

 prunes, are only fit to eat as they drop from the 

 trees. The only objection to this mode of gather- 

 ing, is, that it bruises and disfigures the fruit. They 

 should not, however, be picked unless they part from 

 the stem upon the least touch. Clingstones and 

 prunes may be kept in the fruit room for one or 

 more months." 



a » 



Transplanting Evergreens Early in Autumn. — 

 In an account of the Fair of the New Jersey State 

 Agricultural Society, in the October number of our 

 last volume, we noticed a number of beautiful ever- 

 green trees, exhibited by S. J. Gustin, of Newark. 

 They had been taken from the nursery, and were 

 "laid in by the heels" on the show grounds. Mr. G. 

 informs us that at the close of the exhibition, the 

 evergreens, some twenty in number, were sold to a 

 gentleman of Newark, and planted on his grounds. 

 Only jive of the number died. They were taken up 

 in hot, dry weather, about the 10th of September, and 

 transplanted twice in the course of a few days. Mr. 

 G. thinks that " this shows that evergreens may be 

 successfully transplanted early in autumn." 



"Why Weeds Grow Apace.— There may be 130 flow^ 

 ers having seed-vessels on a single plant of groundsel, 

 and in each seed-vessel there are 50 seeds. Thus, oae 

 groundsel seed is father to 6,500 sons, more than tliere 

 are of visible stars in the firmament. Many of these 

 settle where tliey cannot live ; many exist to be eaten 

 by birds. It is not meant that all seeds shonld pro- 

 duce plants — very many are as much bread to the birds, 

 as seeds of corn are bread to us. If, however, by ac- 

 cident, every son to which a thriving groundsel seed 

 is parent, grew up, throve, and produced new seed m 

 the same proportion — an impossible assumption — the 

 descendants of a seed of groundsel in the second gene- 

 ration would exceed in number 40,000,000; the tele- 

 scope itself has not enabled us to see so many stars. 

 Chickweed is less prolific, though, indeed, even that 

 may produce as many as 500 seeds upon each plant. 

 But, then, look at tiie red poppy. It can yield 100 

 flowei's from one lOot, and from each flower can de- 

 velop not less than 500 seeds ; 50,000 may, therefore, 

 by chance, be the number of its offspring. Black 

 mustard and wild carrot produce families of magnitude 

 about equal one to another. One may, when in ]■>€?- 

 fection, produce 200 flowers with six seeds in each, the 

 other 600 flowers, with in each two seeds. One dan- 

 delion root may have 12 flowers, while each dandelion 

 flower yields 170 seeds. The seeds of one sow-thistle 

 may number 25,000. One plant of stinking chamomile 

 may yield 40,000, one plant of mayweed 45,000 seeds. — 

 Dickens' Household Words. 



Knight found that the bark of the birch tree con- 

 tains more sugar the farther it is taken from the roots. 



