254 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



RENEWING STKAWBEKRY BEDS. 



Iris sometimes made ail objection to certain kinds 

 of strawberries, that after])roducin^ a few crops they 

 die out, and leave the cultivator without a crop for 

 the ensuing year. 



It is worth rememberinsr, however, th.at all 

 strawberrit-s bear better, and produce fruit. of bet- 

 ter quality the second year of planting out than at 

 any other period of their live-!, and it is jirobably 

 on the 'wliole better to base one's calculations on 

 renewing beds every second year. 



Tiiis is more particularly desirable where straw- 

 berries are grown in hills — a |)lan which is now fol- 

 lowed by most who seek the best results, and which 

 plan is very liable to be attended by the well 

 known enervating effects of overbearing. 



Many market growers of the strawberry, whose 

 pecuniary interests generally lead them to 

 the most i)rofitable way of raising fruit, renew 

 their beds every third year. They nu\ke a ])hxnta- 

 tion every season, whicli, after bearing two cro])s, 

 is destroyed. A new one planted and an old one 

 abandoned, thus keeps up the annual succession. 

 These are not planted exactly in hills, but in plow 

 rows — the plants, perhaps, twelve inches apart, 

 and the rows two or two and a half teet. Tliese 

 rows are usually lioe-harrowed continuously tlirough 

 the early part of the season, till the fruit is ripen- 

 ing, wlien the whole bed is lett to the undisturbed 

 possession of the runners and the fruit. In Septem- 

 ber, after the new ground has been thoroughly 

 prepared, the runners are taken off and set in pans 

 of water, from which thej'are transferred to tlieir 

 assigned i)ositions in the new rows. All the run- 

 ners not wanted are then cut <ilf with a hoe or har- 

 row, the plants left to bear one more good crop 

 next season, which is usually the best, after which 

 they are destroyed, and the ground planted again 

 with young plants, or left for the purpose of using 

 for some other crop, accordingly as it rnay suit the 

 views or convenience of the planter in ifgaid to 

 rotative cropping. 



This is a general outline of the ja-actice of some 

 of the best growers we know. They each vary in 

 Bome particidar, but the main point is iu the early 

 renewal of the plant, as we have stated. 



The (juestionable point would be tiiis: Granting 

 that a third year's cro|) from the same plants would 

 not be as good as the second year's had been, would 

 the difference be so great as to warrant the in- 

 cretised labor of making new beds? We believe it 

 would. Moreover, the labor is very likely to be 

 overrrated ; for it costs but little more to make a 

 new plantation than it does to cleau out and fix up 

 an old one. 



There are some instances, no doubt, where it can 

 be proved best to let a l>ed remain more than two 

 fruiting seasons, and as long as it will bear well. 

 In the ever varying circumstances under whicJi 

 horticultural rules are to be pracii-ed, tliese ano- 

 malies are continually occurring, but we liave no 

 doubt, as a general thing, it will be found 

 most (irotitable and satisfuctory to make a new 

 plantation every second or third year. — Oardenera' 

 Monthly. 



TuK new bedding Tropeolum, Ball of Fire, is 

 selling at £3 10s. a hundred, and 18s. a dozen, ia 

 London. 



JAPANESE COMMERCIAL NURSERIES. 



The following accounts of Japanese garde 

 given in tlTe New York Tribune: 



We ride across the city fill we reach the So 

 suburl)s — noted for their extensive gardeuf 

 nurseries, which take uj) both sides of the 

 for the distance of a mile. Indeed, no small 

 tion of the norfh-western suburbs — as we le 

 by this and Ful)sequent rides — isdevot(-d to gn 

 frees and plants, l)()th native and exotic, tor 

 These gardens are wholly unlike the Chinese 

 dens, such as the Fati or Puntinqua garde 

 Canton. There is little show of th.at barb 

 taste which delights so mucli in mere grotesqi 

 of sliajie. The Japanese gai-dener, though 

 fond of training his tree to resemble a boat, a 

 or an eleidianf, is fonder still of imitating o 

 of more grace of shai)e, and more in bar 

 with plant life. In the So me-e gardens, littL- 

 be seen of the fantastic, but a great deal of 

 ful cultivation, and a variety and vigc 

 growth delight/ul to witness. A consid.( 

 proportion of the trees and plants are o) 

 eign birth, though the true and proper pride 

 Japanese gardener, worthy of imitation h 

 American gardeners, ajipears fo be to mak 

 most and best of what is native fo his count 

 that by far the most interesting portions 

 these gardeas were theindii,'en(uis growths, 

 the common thistle, as 1 saw for my*elf, i 

 So-me-e gardens, was not neglected, if some 

 efy of blossom, some new form of leaf or 

 was attainable. Hybridization, and theprodt 

 of varieties, or "sports," is the Japanese gardt 

 joy. Thers is nothing, from a blade of grass 

 oaic, that be does not manage to jiroduce, st 

 blotched or mottled in the most curious n,; 

 The general cultivation in these gardt ns is s 

 to that in our nurseries — the young trees gn 

 in thick set rows, the more delicate of the 

 slirnlis or plants in pots. Every variety of g 

 work was iu progress— forcing, training, gr«* 

 huddin-g, &c., as Ave should see it at home. 

 Japanese have no green-houses of glass, 

 winter conservatories are simple : a straw tha 

 shed, open to the sun at day aud closed with 

 at night, and destiiute of any heating appa- 

 carries the fender trees safely through the 

 winter — thanks fo the generally cloudless sk 

 tliat season. The forcing heat is the manure 

 or, more comincmly, rice straw chopped down 

 plenty of wafer, covered up and left to 

 ment. 



What VARiETiEg of Strawberkies to P: 

 The Editor of the Gnrdeners' Monthly— 

 authority — recommends for family use, Wii 

 Albany, Triomphe de Gand, Hooker and I 

 Seedlings, and says: 



Of the kinds named, the Albany Seedling i 

 mo.st certain to produce a large crop of tok 

 fruit; Hooker i)roduces the best quality of fni 

 all you get of them ; Triomphe de Gand the 

 combining quality and productivenes; Hooker 

 excels in every way, but is considered coque 

 This is the general rule with them. 



