o.5. 



Strawberries. — Small Productive Farm. 



163 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Strawberries. 



A Strawberry bed is considered an essen- 



il requisite in the kitchen garden, and the 

 rmer who is desirous of a supply of this de- 

 :ious fruit, should not neglect to allot a por- 

 >n of ground to this object. It is not only 

 delicious fruit, but is conducive to health, 

 id said to be an excellent dentifrice. The 

 rawberry is easily cultivated, is an abun- 

 ,nt bearer, may be readily gathered, and is 

 are luscious than many other cultivated 

 jits. 



The strawberry is cultivated with great 

 •riety of success, and it is to be suspected 

 e failures that have occurred, in most in- 

 inces, have been for want of a knowledge 

 'the Dioecious* character of the plants cul- 

 /ated, and of the proper management of 



ch variety. 



The Magazine of Horticulture for the pre- 

 at year, contains two communications from 

 . Longworth of Cincinnati, Ohio, together 

 Ith some judicious observations by the ed- 

 or, tending to establish the Dioecious char- 

 ter of all the large fruited variety of the 

 rawberry ; and directions how to manage 

 '.em, so as to insure an abundant crop of 

 rge fruit. He says, "there is no straw- 

 ?rry that produces abundantly and very 

 rge fruit, where the stamens and pistils are 

 Wfect in the same blossom." 

 1 "In raising from seeds, both kinds are pro- 

 iced ; but if suffered to run together, as the 

 'aminate vine is the more vigorous, it will 

 ake ten new plants where the pistilate vine 

 roduces one, and will soon root out all the 

 taring plants." That "neither will pro- 

 jce a perfect fruit when separated from all 

 :hers, nor would either ever produce a plant 

 [ a different character." That "in all the 

 lonthly and white varieties of the strawber- 

 j, that I have seen, the pistils and stamens 

 re perfect in every blossom, and as a natural 

 Dnsequence the fruit is never large." 



"That no good fruit can be expected where 

 lere are no stamens or where there are sta- 

 lens only. 



"Perfect flowers answer as well for fer- 

 lizing the stile bearing plants, as flowers 

 /ith. stamens only, and as they give fruit 

 re more profitable." 



"In cultivating any of the large variety, 

 jch as Hovey's seedling, the Hudson, Meth- 

 en, Downton and some others, it is only 

 ecessary they should be set in a bed with a 

 dw of early Virginia, or some other fruit 



* Dioecious plants, are those which have the stamin- 

 !e and pistilate— that is, the male and female, flowers 

 a distinct plants.— Ed. 



bearing plants of a favourite small variety 

 among them." 



In preparing the ground, for a new plan- 

 tation of strawberries, it should be made loose 

 and fine, cleared of weeds, and particularly 

 of the roots of white clover and other grasses, 

 as they are a great annoyance in the after 

 culture. 



The roots may be planted in either spring 

 or autumn, as most convenient. If planted 

 in the spring, unless a large quantity of earth 

 is removed with the roots, they cannot be re- 

 lied on for much fruit the first season, but 

 will become well established, and if kept 

 free from weeds, grass and the runners, will 

 rarely fail to produce an abundant crop the 

 second and succeeding years. 



If planted in the autumn, they are liable 

 in some places, to be raised out of the ground 

 by the frost, the first winter. My neighbour 

 B. considers the offsets of the old plants much 

 better for a new plantation, than the plants 

 produced by the runners. These offsets he 

 separates and plants about the twenty-fifth 

 of the eighth month, preferring this time that 

 they may become established before winter, 

 and produce a good crop the next year. — 

 About the middle of the ninth month he 

 clears his beds from the accumulated runners 

 and the plants growing from them, together 

 with all other impediments to a neat cultiva- 

 tion and appearance; and but few farmers 

 succeed in raising them better, or in produc- 

 ing a more abundant crop. M. 

 Bucks County. • 



Small Productive Farm. 



I raised, the past year, from 30 acres of 

 land, 700 bushels of potatoes, 80 bushels of 

 barley, 25 bushels of beets, 15 bushels of 

 wheat, 10 bushels of beans, 4 tons of mowed 

 oats, 6 tons of English hay, 10 tons of mea- 

 dow hay, 40 bushels of corn, 20 bushels of 

 carrots, 75 chickens and turkeys, and a great 

 variety of garden sauce. I have killed one 

 hog, weighing 390 pounds, made 400 pounds 

 of butter, kept three cows, a pair of oxen, 

 two heifers, two steers, eight sheep, and four 

 hogs. I have been on the place but two 

 years, and have laid six acres of land to grass ; 

 the land a clay loam, easy to work, I have 

 no convenience for my hogs to graze, neither 

 do I believe it economy, for the extra manure 

 that can be made by yarding them, will pay 

 the extra feed. I mix lime with my com- 

 post, and plaster my corn, potatoes and grass. 

 I sort my potatoes before sale, and by that 

 means save half a peck per bushel, which 

 would be lost to me if not sorted. Finally, 

 I cook every thing I give my hogs, and feed 

 warm and keep warm. A. T. Perkins. 



Maine Farmer. 



