166 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



tbe oats and no wheat taken from it. I attri- 

 bute this to the fact that I always get a good 

 seed after wheat when top dressed ; whereas I 

 often get very poor catches after oats. A 

 good seed is as good as a coat of maaure for 

 the next crop. 



I raise a variety called the Soules wheat, a 

 white berry, and for the past eight years the 

 yield has been from fifteen to twenty-four 

 bushels to the acre, averaging 20^ bushels. 

 The yield this year was twenty-two bushels to 

 the acre. The account stands this year as 

 follows, with two acres : — 



PioughlDg and harrowing $ 8 00 



Seed, four buiJiels 12.C0 



20 loads manure, limo, plaster, &c,, $30, half to 



■wheat 15.00 



Drawing and spreading 10.00 



fcstravv and putting on 4 00 



HarvesliDg. $5, threshing, $6 11 00 



Interest and taxes , 13.00 



Total $73.00 



Seventy-three dollars for forty-four bushels 

 of wheat is equal to $1.66 per bushel. Five 

 bushels and ten pounds of this wheat gave me 

 a barrel of first quality Hour, after tolling. 

 At the cost of my wheat my barrel of flour cost 

 me $8.58, and 1 have eighty pounds of good 

 feed. Now which is the cheapest to bsy 

 flour at $15 per barrel or raise it lor half that ? 



I also raised the present season two acres of 

 spring wheat, of the variety called the Tea 

 wheat, which gave 19^ bushels to the acre. It 

 was raised on corn hills, without manure, 

 sowed very early and soaked in brine then 

 rolled in lime, plaster and salt. The cost of 

 raising this was not as much by thirty-three 

 cents per bushel. It will make just as much 

 flotir, but not as white as the winter wheat. 

 The bread, however, is preferred by many, as 

 it is more moist and will keep longer than 

 bread from winter wheat. That the farmers 

 of New England can raise their own flour I 

 am as confident as I am that they have their 

 own hills and mountains. J. * 



Oak Hill, N. Y., Jan., 1869. 



For the New England Farmer, 



NOTES ON" THE STKAWBEKRY. 



.An Essay read before the Concord Farmers' Club, Dec. 

 3, 1868, by Frederick G. Pratt. 



The increasing production of small fruits in 

 Concord, requires a corresponding increase of 

 attention to them as profitable market crops, 

 and any information whereby we can increase 

 those crops should be heartily received. Al- 

 though it is but three or four years since small 

 fruits began to be raised for market to any 

 extent in Concoid, yet Concord berries have 

 already a favorable name in the Boston mar- 

 ket. 



Strawberries are as yet the principal crop, 

 but raspberries and blackberries will soon be 

 grown here in large (juantlties. The straw- 

 berry grows to perfection In ^lassachusetts, 

 and while we hear large stories of the yield of 



this fruit in New Jersey and elsewhere at the 

 South and West, the true state of the case is, 

 that when our berries begin to come to market, 

 the Southern fruit cannot be made to pay ex- 

 penses, and soon stops coming. I have fre- 

 quently seen New Jersey berries selling for 

 ten or twelve cents a quart, while "natives" 

 were selling more readily for twenty-five or 

 thirty cents. It is not entirely because they 

 get here in bad order, but because berries are 

 not as good naturally when grown on the hot, 

 sandy lands of New Jersey, as they are on the 

 more gravelly soils and in the cooler climate of 

 New England. 



The diiferent varieties of strawberries re- 

 quire different soils. Thus the Hovey, origi- 

 nating in a heavy, clay soil, hqs always done 

 best on the clayey lands around Boston. The 

 Agriculturist, starting from light, sandy soil, 

 gives its best results from such light land. 

 And so with all varieties, each having some* 

 favorite soil, and on such, or similar land, 

 they do best. This Is the reason why so many 

 varieties, highly puffed at first, are soon dis- 

 carded. Some peculiarity In the soil where 

 they originated made them do well there, and 

 thinking they would do as well elsewhere, the 

 originators, in honest faith, scattered them 

 over the land. 



One thing all varieties want, and that is 

 manure. At the same time, they are par- 

 ticular as to the hind of manure. Green 

 stable manure is almost poison to the fruit, 

 though the vin'snaxy grow thriftily enough. It 

 will answer much better if old and well decom- 

 posed ; but ashes or some other manure con- 

 taining a large amount of potash is the special 

 fertilizer for strawberries. 



Perhaps as good a preparation of land as 

 could be devised for strawberries, would be, 

 say, thirty or forty loads of stable manure to 

 the acre, plant to corn, and in the fall plough 

 up again, after putting on a heavy dressing of 

 ashes. Set out the strawberry plants early 

 the next spring, the earlier the better, and 

 keep them entirely free from weeds throughout 

 the season. Most growers allow all the run- 

 ners to grow the first year, and cut out the 

 paths the next spring. My own experience 

 leads me to think It a better way to stop the 

 running as soon as the plants are thick enough ; 

 which 1 think would be one foot apart for the 

 feebler growing varieties, and as far as one 

 foot and a half for the strongest. I know this 

 makes the plants look as if they were not 

 neighbors the first year, but when they come 

 to blossom and fruit the next season they will 

 cover the ground, and the extra size of the 

 berries will well pay for the extra work In thin- 

 ning out the plants. The Ilovey will bear the 

 closest planting of any I have experimented 

 with, as so many of the stools are barren ; but, 

 at the same time, with my present experience, 

 I am by no means sure that even this sort is 

 not often injured by allowing the plants to get 

 too thick. 



