1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



253 



Ontario is so much lilie Sharpless ttiat it 

 is not easy to get true stocli. I am sure 

 some of the plants sent me are Sharpless; 

 the rest differ slightly in being less tlattened 

 and more ribbed and ripening to the tip. It 

 may, however, be classed with the Sharp- 

 less, being no great change or improvement. 

 Sharpless is one of the five or six best as 

 yet, of high flavor, immense size and bears 

 well on strong soil, It requires clean culture 

 but endures a good deal of shade if necessary. 

 Downing never did anything remarkable 

 on my grounds and I have about dropped it. 

 Bidwell may as well be left out hereafter. 

 It goes into the characterless list. 



I am sorely disappointed in Itaska. It 

 grows poorly, bears enough berries, average 

 size, below medium, with a few large 

 berries. It is a hopeless failure here. 



Why anyone should plant Hoffman I can- 

 not see. It lacks pretty much everything. 

 Indiana is early, small, inferior and has 

 no claim to one foot of soil. 



I am trying Pearl and find it grows well 

 and promises well. The plant is strong. 



Ohio for late is at least a good berry and 

 better than Kentucky, but I cannot yet 

 report fully as to its merits. 



If I were to name the berries richest for 

 eating I should say Cumberland first and 

 Summit next but might change my mind 

 easily. If I wished to select the three or 

 four handsomest I would take Summit, 

 ■Tessie, Bubach, Prince of Berries. Triomphe 

 de Gaud, however, in flavor alone, is almost 

 or quite superior to any named. And un- 

 doubtedly the most delicious berry I ever 

 tasted is Lennig's White, but you cannot 

 get from it even a decent crop. 



Now if I were about to set a garden of 

 half an acre I would select the following if 

 looking for profit: (1) Haverland, (3) Jessie, 

 (3) Summit and Bubach, (4) Cumberland, 

 adding a small proportion of Logan for 

 later, (."J), Sharpless or Ontario, more proba- 

 bly the former, (6) Manchester and Ohio for 

 late. For home use I would add a row of 

 Prince of Berries; if planting only for home 

 use, would take about the same list in 

 smaller proportions. 



I am testing and shall plant Miami, 

 Cloud and Pineapple at once, with pre,iudice 

 much in favor of all of them. Of Eureka I 

 have also formed a high opinion and intend 

 to plant freely. Vick is no longer fit to hold 

 a place in our gardens, as also Wilson; they 

 are insufferably acid and indigestible. 

 Henderson is firm in flavor but bears 

 slimly. The Wilder was highly flavored, 

 but not good enough for a permanent place. 

 Later Notes. Itaska and Bomba grow 

 in compact clumps, especially the former, 

 and stems and leaves crowd each other. 

 Their style of growth is bad. They do not 

 make good runners or good stools. Both 

 should be at once discarded. But Bomba in 

 best cultivation is prolific. 



Summit is one of the berries never quite 

 praised enough. Mr. Crawford never 

 exaggerates what he offers the public. Let 

 me tell you that in the Summit we have a 

 new style of berry, more like a Pear than a 

 Strawberrry. It is solid, compact, heavy, 

 almost the size of a Seckel Pear. It ripens 

 very slowly, one side colored several days 

 before the fruit is fully ripe. It is high and 

 full flavored. If Haverland lacks, it is in 

 intensity or strength and fullness of flavor. 

 Summit bears in such a way as to cover 

 three weeks for family use. I like it better 

 each time I examine it. Am inclined to 

 prefer it as a fruit to Jessie and Bubach. 



Now let us go over the rows carefully and 

 study growth. Nothing can be finer than 

 Bubach with its tall leaf stalks, large 

 foliage, bluish-green color, easily distin- 

 guished among a hundred sorts. Prince of 

 Berries has short leaf stalks and brittle; and 

 the masses are too close to the ground, 



but the fruit stands up on stiff stalks among 

 the leaves and is seldom dirty. Sharpless is 

 a grand grower of fine foliage but the fruit 

 gets dirty if it can, resting its great [weight 

 flat on the ground. Summit stands on stiff 

 stalks in spite of weight and its foliage is 

 simply medium. It is a fairly good grower 

 of fine leafage. Jessie gets more dirty, but 

 the foliage is abundant. The meanest foli- 

 age of all is that on Itaska and Bomba. 

 Cumberland has a habit of holding up its 

 stalks, and hanging its berries face down- 

 ward. It is not so easy to see the ripe ber- 

 ries and they incline to a pinkLsh red. The 

 Cumberland make a mat of plants speedily. 

 There is hardly a doubt but the best 

 method of growing the Strawberry is in 

 matted rows. I succeed decidedly better by 

 planting in the spring. As a rule one should 

 raise his own plants and so not seriou.sly 

 disturb them in transplanting. But if set 

 in the fall I prefer early September and 

 after well watering mulch each plant with 

 a double handful of manure. Then lay 

 three or four flat stones about the plant to 

 keep the hens off and the ground cool. 



It does not pay to grow small fruit or 

 poor fruit. There is a quick demand for all 

 fine fruit and a slow market for the poor. 

 So you will find it best to select and grow 

 carefully and the former only. 



The Strawberry makes a neat border for 

 fiower beds and gives you profit as well as 

 beauty. Use Cumberland for this purpose. 

 Always have an alley way outside the bor- 

 der for the hoe. 



If you grow Grapes you may easily have a 

 row of Strawberries underneath each trellis 

 and so increase your profit. I think the 

 vines serve as a nmlch and shade to the 

 roots and thus benefit the vines. But there 

 must be free hoe work. 



Cut Worms and How to Managre 



Them. 

 Few, if any American gardeners are spared 

 the sorrow of having to make more or less 

 intimate acquaintance with the cut worm 

 and its work. Prof. C. P. Gillette of the 

 Iowa State Experiment Station, in Bulletin 

 5, gives a most excellent resume of the best 

 methods of treating the pest. 



Every man, he says, must adopt the rem- 

 edies that seem to him, in his particular 

 case, to be most practical. Prevention is 

 always better than cure in the treatment 

 of cut worms. 



Proper Rotation of Crops. It has been 

 found that the worms are seldom harmful 

 even on sod, unless the field has been in 

 grass for more than two years in succession. 

 The worms, feeding on grass roots are most 

 numerous in old pastures and meadows. 



If such land is turned over in the spring 

 and put to Corn, Sorghum, Tomatoes, Cab- 

 bages, Beans and the like, there will be so 

 many hungry worms to feed and so little 

 for them to feed upon that they will soon 

 eat off every green thing. Then, in order 

 to prevent cut-worm depredations, the rota- 

 tion must be so managed that no crop to 

 which the cutworms are partial is ever 

 growing on land that has been for more 

 than two years previous to grass. 



Plowing. If the ground be plowed before 

 the first of September, and kept thoroughly 

 tilled from this time until cold weather 

 comes on so that no green thing can grow, 

 the few worms that may come from eggs 

 that were laid before the plowing will all be 

 starved to death, as will also the web worms 

 and wire-worms that may be present. 



If early plowing cannot be employed, 

 plow in the fall, the later the better. When 

 cold weather comes on the worms go a few 

 inches below the surface and spend the 

 winter in earthen cells. If the plowing be 

 done after these cells have been formed, 

 freezing and thawing will destroy many of 



the worms and many will be picked up by 

 insectivorous birds. The cut-worms are 

 nearly always worst on ground plowed in 

 the spring. 



Copperas Remedy. This remedy is to be 

 used when cut-worms are supposed to be in 

 the soil at planting time. Put the seed in a 

 tight tub or barrel, and pour in enough 

 water to keep it well covered when it swells. 

 For each bushel of Corn add a pound or a 

 pound and a half of copperas dissolved in 

 warm water. Stir well, and allow the Corn to 

 remain in the copperas water 'M or Hi) hours. 

 Stir several times while soaking. Then take 

 it out and sprinkle a small ([uantity of land 

 plaster over it— enough to keep the grains 

 from sticking together— and plant. When 

 prepared as directed, if a change should 

 occur in the weather to prevent planting, 

 the Corn may be spread out on a Uoor and 

 allowed to remain imtil good planting 

 weather. It will turn black in color, but 

 that will not matter. I believe this applica- 

 tion would be a remedy against the ground 

 .squirrels also. 



Trapping the Worms, There are two 

 methods of trapping the worms that are 

 much prized by some. One of these consists 

 in walking through the field and thrusting 

 a pointed stick two or three times into the 

 ground by the side of the plants. The 

 worms in their wanderings are said to fall 

 into these holes out of which they are unable 

 to climb. A boy is sent over the field to 

 thrust the same stick Into the holes the next 

 day following. The other method is to scat- 

 ter over the field a great number of little 

 branches of Clover or other green material, 

 under which the worms will gather for food 

 and protection and where they may be easily 

 gathered and destroyed. These green bun- 

 dles may also be poisoned with Paris green 

 or London purple. The Grass should be 

 tied in small compact bunches so as to hold 

 moisture and the application should be 

 made several days before the Corn or other 

 plants are up to furnish food for the worms. 

 Inclosing the Plant.s. Tomatoes, Cab- 

 bage and like plants may be very easily and 

 cheaply protected by inclosing the plants 

 with stiff paper or tin. Old tin fruit cans 

 or a stiff quaUty of paper may be used or 

 paper may be wrapped about the roots when 

 the plants are set out so as to project above 

 the surface and exclude the worms. Tins 

 may be preserved and used year after year. 

 Trapping the Moths. All of the cut- 

 worm moths are night-fliers and lovers of 

 the sweet. Collectors take advantage of 

 this fact and smear the trunks of trees late 

 in the afternoon and then go out in the 

 eveniug with their lanterns and catch the 

 moths while feeding. 



Ways and Means of Utilizing^ Our 

 Fruits. 



The ease with which fruit crops can be 

 produced under favorable conditions in this 

 glorious country brings the problem of 

 " What shall we do with our fruits ? " face 

 to face with every grower. While it is true 

 that we never yet have had, or are likely to 

 have, an unmarketable surplus of really 

 first-class fruits, the competition of poorer 

 grades is often ruinous. The remedy conse- 

 quently, would be in the direction of pro- 

 ducing more of the good, and less of the 

 poor article. 



Mr. P. .J. Berckmans treats the subject of 

 utilizing our surplus fruits in Southern 

 Farm, and his suggestions are well worth 

 considering and heeding. 



If fruit growers will pay strict attention 

 to the following points connected with pre- 

 paring their products for market he says, 

 they will greatly aid in preventing the nuir- 

 ket being overstocked and keep prices u^) to 

 a paying point. 



