1894 



QLEANING8 IN BEE CULTURE. 



559 



There was such little hoeing done in the patch 

 that the expense did not seem to amount to 

 much if any thing. You will remember that 

 this is Terry's plan of raising strawberries as 

 well as potatoes. In the fall we took some 

 pains to place the runners so as to have the 

 licst matted row. withont having the plants too 

 close. This plot was intended to be entirely 

 for frnit. We did not intend to sell plants from 

 it at all; but during the great call for Jessie 

 and liubach last spring, we did, for accommo- 

 daiion, take quite a few plants from these two 

 varieties. But, weren't the plants just beau- 

 tics? It seemed too bad to take them up, and 

 I t lioughl one row of Jessies was thinned out so 

 Mvcrely that it could hardly produce any kind 

 of crop of fruit. Along in the middle of June, 

 however, I began to realize we were going to 

 have something wonderful up there over the 

 rye. Some relatives visited me, and I wanted 

 to show them the possibilities in the way of 

 high- pressure gardening. They were greatly 

 delighted in going over the grounds; but when 

 tiiey came to this show of fruit, their admira- 

 Tion knew no bounds. All present confessed 

 not only that they had never seen any thing 

 like it, but they did not know before that such 

 a thing was possible. We ate berries, and 

 talked, until we could eat no more. And now I 

 want to talk to you something about varieties: 



I should be very glad indeed to be able to 

 submit to you some specimens of those grown 

 up by the windmill; but you will have to take 

 my word for it. 



if the Jessie always behaved as it did up 

 there, I should almost want to place it at the 

 head of strawberries; and with its tremendous 

 amount of bloom, from early till late, I think I 

 will any way put it at the head of perfect- 

 tldwering varieties for fertilizing others. By 

 till' way, friend Pierce suggested the other day 

 that we should use the word " pollenizer " in- 

 stead of "fertilizer " in referring to strawber- 

 ries. What do our horticultural professors say 

 in regard to this use of the word ? The strong 

 points of the Jessie are, that it is exceedingly 

 early, of large size, and that its red cheeks, 

 reminding one of a ripe peach, make it bring 

 till' very highest price. The berry is so sweet 

 \\ hen perfectly ripe that many like it just as 

 well (or rather better) when it is white on one 

 side; and if we pick them at this stage they 

 are in advance of almost every thing else except 

 the extra earlies. The Jessie holds on well to 

 the last. Its disadvantages are, that if the soil 

 is not just to its liking it gets feeble, and does 

 not bear much fruit; and its blossoms are like- 

 ly to be injured by frost. 



The Parker Earle has behaved poorly during 

 the present season. It did not stand the great 

 amount of sunshine and the extremely hot 

 days. Every plant on our premises set a very 

 large amount of fruit — perhaps the largest 

 amount that I ever saw on any variety of 

 strawberries. Only the first ripened fully ma- 

 tured, and those at the close of the season were 

 deficient in size and flavor. At the Ohio Ex- 

 I)iTiment Station, which I visited June 31, they 

 tiild me that, if the ground were made exceed- 

 ingly rich, and moisture supplied when rains 

 were lacking, it would perfect all its fruits. 

 That may be true. When I visited Matthew 

 Crawford, at Cuyahoga Falls. Summit Co., O., 

 .'une 23, I found his Parker Earles behaving 

 just as mine do. 



The Bubach sustains its good reputation, but 

 it does not give us berries quite as early as the 

 Ji'ssie, nor quite so late, and it must be placed 

 near a pollenizer, for it is imperfect. 



The Haverland fully sustains its good repu- 

 tation as a tremendous bearer. I believe the 

 Haverland has produced more bushels of ber- 



ries, for us, than any other strawberry we ever 

 tried. Its faults are, that tin; berry is watery, 

 and therefore too soft for shipnuMit. It is also 

 generally considered rather insipid in llavor 

 compared toothers. But with an abundance 

 of sunshine, some of the berries have colored 

 up and proved to be of a vcrtj tine llavor, whi're 

 the plants do not stand too thickly. Several 

 times, when thirsty, and it was quite a pierce to 

 the spring, I have gone to a d(!nse bed of Haver- 

 lands and slaked my thirst with great luscious 

 berries picki d out deep down among the leaves, 

 where they were still cool from the dews of the 

 night. The Haverland is all right if you can 

 hand it to your customers the same afternoon 

 or the same forenoon that they are picked. 

 You had better not try to keep it over night 

 unless the nights are very cool. The Haver- 

 land gives us berries moderately early, and they 

 hold out well uniil the last. 



The Sterling, we have decided to drop -not 

 because we have any thing against it, so much 

 as that another well-known berry has pretty 

 nearly all its good qualities. I refer lo the 

 Warfield. We once had it in our catalog, and 

 dropped it; but this year it has given us such 

 an abundance of beautiful dark-red berries, 

 with its sprightly acid flavor, that I have before 

 spoken of, that I am glad to call it back. By 

 the way, just go out in the morning to a bed of 

 Warfields ; and as the rising sun sparkles 

 among the dewdrops on the strawberry leaves, 

 just watch the efl'ect as these rays strike the 

 rich ruby-colored fruit nestling among the 

 green leaves. At one time in my life I was a 

 jeweler, and I used to admire garnet clusters. 

 Well, these Warfield strawberries are vei'itable 

 clusters of garnet. Friend Terry said he did 

 not know any thing about wine; but he felt 

 sure he should find the juice of these well- 

 ripened berries more luscious to him than the 

 choicest wines that the vine ever produced. 

 And there is not any danger of looking upon 

 these berries "when they are red;" no, there is 

 not any danger, either, in eating them to your 

 heart's content, four or five times a day, or 

 even more; for if any danger ever lurked there, 

 I should not be as well and strong as I am while 

 the boys are picking the last of our strawber- 

 ries this 35th day of June. 



Now, there is one more berry that we once 

 had in our list, and dropped. It has done so 

 grandly this season that I really feel grateful 

 to the man who gave it to the world. It is the 

 Edgar Queen. We had two rows of them, 

 planted about three years ago. I dro43ped 

 them, as I told you, because they were of such 

 a bad shape; but it was in consequence of mv 

 stupidity in not providing an adequate number 

 of pollenizing plants near by. Well, this year 

 these same two rows have again given us 

 bushels and bushels of tremendous great ber- 

 ries, and finely colored, and rather firm for 

 handling and shipping. When I am in a hurry, 

 and feel hungry for strawberries, I just start 

 for the Edgar Queen, because these great whop- 

 pers, that are found in such abundance every- 

 where, satisfy my appetite in a very little time. 

 Sometimes I start off with my hands full, and 

 eat them on the way. 



Now, these are the strawberries I have select- 

 ed to offer you during the coming months. Oh, 

 yes! I should not forget the Timbrell. I did 

 not let very many plants produce berries at our 

 place, but pronounced them very satisfactory; 

 but at the Experiment Station, both W. J. and 

 E. C. Green declared that people would object 

 to them because they were fully ripe before they 

 were fully red all over. Well, this would not 

 be a very great objection, for our old friend the 

 Jessie, as well as the Sharpless. is often mar- 

 keted with one side almost entirely white. But 



