HARDINESS AND CULTURE OF STRAWBERRIES. 25 



imens sent to Mr. Hovey when it was first introduced took fifty- 

 four to a pound. Napoleon III, introduced by him direct from the 

 raiser, is of poor quality and very soft, though large and showy. 



Robert Manning stated his belief that Mr. Hovey could not 

 have had the true Napoleon 111. As he had tasted that variety it 

 was of the finest quality — nearly, if not quite, equal to Lennig's 

 White. The plant is, however, exceedingly difficult to carry 

 through the winter. 



Joseph H. Woodford said that he was an amateur cultivator, 

 and gave his experience with a bed of Jucundas, of which he 

 spaded up all but a strip a foot in width, and applied saltpetre as 

 a fertilizer. The vines grew so vigorously that the fruit was all 

 smothered. He had grown President Wilder and found that they 

 should be allowed to run over the whole ground, and in this way 

 you can get a splendid crop. Jucunda and Trioraphe de Gaud 

 should be grown in hills. Mr. Woodford emphasized the point 

 that new varieties could surely be produced by planting a stami- 

 nate variety alongside of a pistillate. He had planted two frames 

 with President Wilder for early fruiting, choosing this variety on 

 account of its stubby growth. He took the runners of the pre- 

 vious 3'ear and planted them in the frames in spring. He will 

 give the results of this experiment. He had found the lawn clip- 

 pings, recommended in Mr. Smith's paper for covering the beds, 

 objectionable, as the grass sticks to the strawberries and fingers 

 in picking. 



Mr, Hovey thought that if Mr. Woodford had set his plants in 

 a row as long as from here to New York, so as to give them plenty 

 of room to spread, he would not have got a crop. No fertilizer 

 will produce anything but foliage, and the foliage smothers the 

 fruit. In regard to mulching he adhered to the material suggested 

 by the name of the plant, and used straw, passed through a cut- 

 ter. He uncovers the beds about the first of April. 



Mr. Wilder spoke of the advantage of having strawberries early, 

 and said that to secure them he took a seven light frame, and 

 filled with plants twelve by nine inches apart, keeping the runners 

 cut oflf. They are now covered with leaves, and he expected to 

 have a bountiful suppl}' a month before we can get them in the 

 open ground. 



Mr. Woodford said that he got the information which induced 

 him to try the experiment described, from Charles Garfield, who 



4 



