NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



387 



HOVEY'S SEEDLING STRAWBERRY. 



THE STRAWBERRY. 



Strawberry plants may be set in tbe spring or in 

 the month of August, and will do well set at either 

 time if properly cultivated. The land should be 

 prepared by liberal manuring with any of the com- 

 mon kinds of manure, deep plowing and thorough 

 pulverization. They should be set fifteen to twen- 

 ty inches apart each way, according to the quali- 

 ty of the land, and so as to leave room to work 

 among them. 



In his fruit book, Mr. Cole advises "the first 

 season to keep the land well cultivated, and fret' 

 from weeds, stirring the soil often. The next 

 spring thin the plants when too thick, destroy all 

 weeds, and stir the soil, but not after the plants 

 blossom. After hoeing, and before the plants have 

 grown much, spread among them straw, saw-dust, 

 sea-weed, or leaves, to keep the berries free from 

 grit and the land loose and moist. This will de- 

 cay and form manure." In rich and rather moist 

 land, where the soil is deep and the surface kepi 

 loose and free from weeds, a good crop of straw- 

 berries'may be expected with as much confidence 

 as a crop of beans or peas. 



There are many varieties, but only two or three 

 much in use. The variety represented at the head 

 of this article is extremely large, the flesh firm, 

 with a rich sprightly flavor, and producing fruit 

 from the twentieth of June into July. It is a great 

 bearer, hardy and vigorous, and easy to pick. The 

 Early Virginia is usually cultivated with Hovey's 



Seedling. It is rather large, very juicy, and of ex- 

 cellent flavor. Mr. Cole thought it the best early 

 strawberry known irf this section. Then there is 

 the Boston Pine, the Duke of Kent, the Wood, 

 the Black Prince, Jenney's Seedling, and many oth- 

 ers, but most of them hardly worth experimenting 

 on. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 WHAT KILLS THE BUDS AND TREES? 



Mr. Editor : — I have been interested in the 

 above inquiry by your associate, and also in an 

 article of your own, in the last number of the 

 Farmer, relative to "the effects of the late severe 

 winter upon vegetation." If very strongly op- 

 posed to agitation, I should come out against the 

 farther discussion of this subject in lata. It is no 

 great favor to be continually reminding or e of his 

 buds that wont blow, and of his trees dead past all 

 recovery. After we have got some of the finest 

 of our trees fairly packed away at the bottom of 

 the brush-pile, can there be any particular use in 

 so often touching up one's recollection by inquir- 

 ing "what killed urn?" But the subjects are now 

 disinterred, and we may as well see that they are 

 fairly dissected. 



After a careful examination of my own trees, as 

 well as taking some pains to learn the experience 

 and conclusions of others, I have come to be 

 pretty well satisfied that the results under consid- 

 eration are mainly attributable to long protracted 

 severe cold. The following are some of the rea- 

 sons that have led me to adopt this opinion. 



The buds and trees never fail after a mild win- 

 ter, unaccompanied by severe cold of considerable 



