GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



OUR STRAWBERRY REPORT FOR 1898. 



Darling and Earliest are both extra early; 

 but like their parent, Michel's Early, they are 

 shy bearers. A year ago I was misled in the 

 matter because we had a few plants of the 

 Darling that gave a great lot of berries; and 

 this i-^ true even now. By picking out certain 

 plants, and putting them in a bed by them- 

 selves, I could make a wonderful showing of 

 the Darling. Not one in four gives a good 

 yield, and, like the Gandy, quite a few plants 

 do not give even a single berry the first sea- 

 son. If you want to catch the very earliest 

 market, these are all right; but the yield is 

 small, and they will be gone entirely when 

 other good berries are at their best. 



Carrie is certainly an improvement, both in 

 size and firmness, on its parent, the Haverland; 

 but at present we are not sure that it is as 

 great a yielder as the Haverland. 



The Nick Ohnier is all I have claimed for 

 it, but I am afraid it vtdll not give us as many 

 bushels as some of the smaller ones do. 



Margaret is much like the Nick Ohmer, but 

 not of as good shape. 



The Marshall is a splendid all-round berry. 

 It is fairly productive, commences ripening 

 with the earliest, and holds out to the latest. 

 In color and shape it is equal to almost any 

 thing we have. 



Brandy wine is a beauty; and for hill culture 

 it is about the handsomest plant, when you 

 consider both foliage and berries, of any thing 

 I ever saw. The shape is fairly good, the 

 color is perfect, and it is the firmest berry by 

 all odds 1 have ever had any thing to do with. 



The \Vm. Belt is a good companion to the 

 Brandywine. It is a little earlier, but not of 

 quite as good shape. Both are splendid 

 yielders. 



Of the newer berries that I have not reported 

 on before, we have two worthy of mention. I 

 would call special attention to the Clyde. 

 The berries are large and fine, the plants are 

 strong and thrifty, and just now I should call 

 it the largest yielder of good-sized berries of 

 an)- thing I have ever come across, not except- 

 ing our old friends Beder Wood and Parker 

 Earle. The Clyde is certainly an acquisition ; 

 but, like other great bearers, it must have 

 plenty of manure and plenty of water. 



The Star is a strong grower, and resists 

 drouth remarkabh- well, as has been claimed 

 for it; but otherwise it is so much like the 

 Sharpless (only it is not as sweet) that I don't 

 know but I might mistake one for the other. 



The Louis Gautier, the French berry intro- 

 duced by our friend Goldsborough, is a large 

 beautifully shaped berry, almost white. I 

 was showing our pastor through the new 

 strawberries yesterday ; and when I handed 

 him one of the Gautiers he remarked, "But 

 would this new berry sell on the market, with 

 its color so nearly white ? ' ' 



"Taste it, please, and then answer," I said. 



He took a bite from the berry, and then, 

 with a smile, replied, " Oh! I take it all back 

 — I take back every word of it. This would 

 sell anywhere if one just got a taste of it." 



The berry is of large size, as round as a 

 peach, and pretty nearly white, with the ex- 

 ception of a peach pink on one side — some- 

 times a little pink all over; and the funniest 

 part is, it has a distinct peach flavor. I am 

 afraid it is not going to bear very many ber- 

 ries, however ; but I have tested it only in a 

 raised bed, and for the past two weeks we 

 have had scarcely a drop of rain, so our raised 

 beds are all suffering. 



By the way, I have demonstrated this spring, 

 as I never saw it demonstrated before, that 

 you can have a paying crop of strawberries 

 from a piece of ground where a crop of some- 

 thing else has been removed as late as Sep- 

 tember. Put out your plants with the trans- 

 planting-machine I have figured, then give 

 them perfect cultivation, working in manure 

 in abundance, and in nine months from the 

 time the plants are put in the ground you can 

 harvest a paying crop of beautiful fruit. 



June i^. — Our drouth of two weeks has been 

 broken by repeated thunder-showers until the 

 strawberries and every thing else are now just 

 booming. But business is also still booming, 

 and every man and boy available has been 

 crowded into the saw-rooms, packing-rooms, 

 or somewhere else to help get off orders. The 

 strawberries are ripening grandly, but every- 

 body is wanting vegetable-plants just now, 

 and Frank and George have not a minute to 

 spare to pick the berries ; and for almost the 

 first time in my life I am short of help, and 

 there is none visible — that is, none I should 

 want to trust among the plants and berries. 

 The price has gone down to 5 and 6 cents ; but 

 we still get 7 cents for choice ones. To-day 

 being Monday I thought there was going to be 

 an oversupply ; but by a little looking around 

 I managed to engage most of them ; but just 

 now, at .3 p. m., the women are all ready to do 

 the canning, but the berries are not picked, 

 and there is nobody to pick them. I got tired 

 of working in the office, and told one of the 

 boys I would pick berries for a while, and I 

 actually did pick four quarts. I enjoyed do- 

 ing it, because it gave me an opportunity to 

 test the yield of the new and old varieties. 

 And which one do you suppose pleased me 

 most in my picking ? Inasmuch as I have 

 been accused of always wanting something 

 new, I feel a little pleased this afternoon to 

 give my testimony in favor of our old tried 

 friend the Bubach. There is this thing I like 

 about it : Whenever you see a good strong 

 plant with plenty of big leaves you may al- 

 ways be sure there will be great luscious ber- 

 ries to match ; but on a great many other va- 

 rieties, you find every little while a plant with 

 a great mass of luxuriant foliage and 7iot a 

 berry. This is especiall}' true of our new 

 friends Darling and Earliest, and it is also true 

 of our old friend Gandy. But the Bubach, 

 with its rich dark-green foliage, never disap- 

 points you. The berries are a little soft, and 

 the plant is imperfect ; but otherwise I believe 

 the Bubach justly stands at least pretty nearly 



