Editors Letter- Box. 63 



A. B., Worcester, Mass — Taking into consideration hardiness, size, beauty 

 of form and color, flavor, productiveness, and length of time during which it is 

 in eating, what is the best strawberry to raise for home-use alone ? What kind 

 of soil is best suited to it ? Does it need high culture ? Is one kind of 

 dressing better than another? if so, what is the best? Should it be kept in 

 hills ? or should it be allowed to run ? If in hills, at what distance should they 

 be from each other? or if in rows, at what distance should the plants be set 

 from each other in the row ? and how far should the rows be apart ? Do they 

 require covering in winter ? if so, when should the covering be applied ? when 

 removed ? and what is the best material to use as a covering ? Is it necessary 

 to set new plants every year to secure the best crop possible ? At what season 

 of the year should the plants be set to stand the best chance of success ? In 

 setting them out, shall I be likely to get better results if I dig a hole for each 

 plant, make a cone in the centre, and spread the roots carefully around it before 

 filling in the earth about them, as I have somewhere, at some time, seen advised 

 in print ? 



Hovey's Seedling is the best for your section, and best answers your require- 

 ments. A good, rich, and tolerably moist soil is best adapted to it. It needs 

 high culture to realize the very best results. There is a difference in dressing, 

 of course. The best we have found is old, well-rotted horse-manure. It should 

 not be grown in hills : it does not do well when so grown. It should be allowed 

 to run. Plant the rows four feet apart, and the plants in the row three or four 

 inches apart. Some plant a double row, and put the plants six inches apart 

 each way, breaking joints. We have seen the Hovey's Seedling planted in rows 

 eight feet apart, and the plants four inches apart ; and they covered all the land 

 at the end of the season. The land was manured at the rate of four hundred 

 dollars' worth to the acre. They ordinarily do much better if covered in winter. 

 We have known beds left without covering to do well when they were covered 

 with snow most of the winter. It should be applied about the ist of Decem- 

 ber, or before the weather becomes very cold ; and removed from the ist to the 

 loth of April, after the ground ceases to freeze. The best thing we have ever 

 found is coarse, strawy horse-manure. Care should be used not to cover them 

 too deeply. When strawberries are grown in beds, and allowed to run, we think 

 it is very much better to plough them up after one year's fruiting. The best time 

 to set JDut plants is the very last of April, or first of May. At this season of the 

 year, all the plants live, and the frequent showers of spring help them to become 

 quickly established. A separate hole should be dug for each plant with the 

 fingers or with a trowel ; but we should not advise any person to take the 

 trouble to form a cone or mound on which to set the plant : we doubt if it will 

 pay to take so much trouble. We like to have the roots spread out as nearly 

 as possible as they were before being taken up. Some careless planters simply 

 make a hole, and force in the roots all in a bunch, and then wonder that it takes 

 so long for the plants to get a start. We wish our friend the best success ; and, 

 if he wants to plant another variety, put in a few of the Brighton Pine. If a 

 variety is wanted for market-purposes merely, then plant the Wilson ; for there 

 is not probably a strawberry in the whole list that will pay better than this. 



