Strawberry Culture. — A very intelligent correspondent of the Pennsylvania, Farm 

 Journal gives tlie results of his experience as follows : 



"StrawV)erries bein£j the earliest fruit to i-ipen, can have no competition in the market, and under 

 ordinary treatment will yield larice profits to the producer, though varying in magnitude accordicg 

 to the variety grown, the quality of the soil, and the cultivation they receive. The kind most 

 generall V cultivated as a market crop is Hovcifs Seedling, with about one-tenth their number of large 

 Early Scarlcf, distributed throughout the plantation as fertilizera The McAvoy^^ Superior is a more 

 vigorous and hardy pistillate plant, and yielded a larger crop of large-sized bei'ries than any other 

 that came under my observation this year. The Genesee and Canihridgc are hermaphrodite plants, 

 and bore a full crop of large early fruit, ripening on the 28th of 5th month la.st, and many of the 

 berries measured from 3 to 34^ inches in circumference. If they continue to be as productive as 

 they were this season, they will be valuable fertilizers. 



"Having a variety of soil in cultivation, I have grown strawberries on all kinds, from light 

 blowing sand to stiff timothy bottom, and have learned to avoid either extreme, and now select a 

 good loam of medium texture, tolerably high and undulating, so as freely to carry off the surface 

 water, cover it with manure, which should be well incorporated with the soil ; early in the spring 

 mark tlie rows four feet apart, twelve to fifteen inches distant in them. Put one hermaprodite to 

 every ten of the pistillates, rejecting the male, or barren pdants, which produce no fruit, but blos- 

 som and grow vigorously, and soon overrun and crowd out the more fruitful ones. 



'•The beds should be kept mellow and free from weeds the first season, the runners carefully dis- 

 tributed over the ground so as to form the beds with regularity ; after which but little culture is 

 needed. I use a subsoil plow, which mellows the alleys without throwing earth on the plants, the 

 benefits of which are clearly shown, especially in a dry season, by the superior vigor and produc- 

 tiveness of the plants near the edge of the bods over those in the centre ; the circumference 

 extending from twelve to fifteen inches on either side, and the beds being three feet in width, 

 allowing one foot for alleys, the plants nearly all receive nourishment from the moisture and atmos- 

 pheric infiueuce absorbed by the soil in the alleys thus deeply pulverized. 



"In 1850 I planted six acres of Honey's Seedling on the plan above described, in stiff clay land, 

 one-half of which was low meadow ground, the other ascending to upland, from which were gathered 

 and marked last year over 300 bushels of fruit ; but in the latter part of summer the timothy and 

 herd grass proved better adapted to the low ground by taking possession, and this year the straw- 

 berries there were abandoned, and the grass mown for hay, leaving three acres of upland in straw- 

 berries which were dressed, viz : the alleys loosened \vith a subsoil plow, and the stools of clover, 

 weeds, Ac, taken from the beds and placed in the alleys, which served the double purpose of 

 retaining moisture and keeping the berries clean; the yield was 154 bushels of fruit, for which I 

 received 5?4 per bushel, and p^aid 64 cents for picking, and 50 cents (12^ per cent, commission) for 

 selling. Twelve dollars per acre would be a full compensation for the little culture they received, 

 making the account stand thus : 



To interest on three acres of land, at $100, $18.00 



" culture, 80.00 



" picking 154 bushels, at 64 conUs, 9S.56 



" Vl)4 per cent, commission for selling, 77.00 



$239.56 



By 154 bushels, at $4 $616.00 



Expenses, 229.56 



Profit on three acres, $386,44 



Equal to $128.81 per acre. 



" The first year the plants are set there are no returns, but the value of the plants at the close of 

 succeeding years would be a full remuneration. Were I to draw an estimate from some of my 

 specimen beds, a few rods in length, whieh are thoroughly cultivated, the results above stated 

 would appear like a failure ; but for large farmers, where land is plenty, and laborers scarce, the 

 great question is not how much per cent, profit can be made on 07ie acre, but by what mode can 

 tlie most clear money be made on all the land they have to cultivate with the laborers at their 

 command. Over 100 bushels of corn may be grown on an acre of ground. Yet more clear money 

 can be made on twenty acres yielding 50 bushels each. 



" One of my neighbors having but a few acres of land, devotes proper attention to something 

 le=8 than three acres of strawberries, keeping the ground well manured, mellow, and free from 

 weeds ; the expense of which he has not been able to furuish, but he informed me that he received 

 over $1100 dollars for the fruit this year. William Parry. — Ciimaminson, N. J. 



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