1878.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



i63 



SHARPLESS SEEDLING STRAW- 

 BERRY. 



This is an entire new variety, and is tlio 

 largest and finest strawberry in cuUivation ; 

 raised by Mr. J. K. Sliari)I('ss, of Calawissa, 

 in 1872. It is now under cuUivation and for 

 sale by Ellwanger & Barry, Mount Hope 

 Nurseries, Kocliester, New York, at the M- 

 lowiui; i)ricos : Twelve i>Iantsfor S2.0() ; twenty 

 for $3.00 ; fifty for J.^.OO; one liundred for $8. 

 Pot-grown plants may be obtaineil for .SH.OO 

 per dozen, or S12.00 jier hundred, but cannot 

 be sent by mail. From our illustration and 

 the following description our readers may 

 form almost as practical an idea of this maw- 

 ficent fruit as if they had the berry actually 

 before them. 



Size. — Large to very 

 large, an average speci- 

 men measuring one and 

 a half inches in diame^ 

 tor, cither way. A speci- 

 men exhibited at tlie 

 Nurserymen's Conven- 

 tion, held in Rocliester, 

 N. Y., in June, 1878, 

 weighed one and a half 

 ounces and measured 

 seven inches in circum- 

 ference. Form. — Gen- 

 erally oblong, narrow- 

 ing to the apex, irregu- 

 lar, often flattened. 

 Color. — Clear light red, 

 with a smooth, shining 

 surfiicc. Flesh. — Fine, 

 sweet, with delicate 

 aroma, fr.^t in quality. 

 Plant. — Vigorous and 

 luxuriant, hardy and 

 prolific. 



The ]>arties having 

 this berry under culti- 

 vation and for sale say : 

 "This variety having 

 fruited with us several 

 seasons we have no hesi- 

 tation in reconnnending 

 it as the largest and best 

 .strawberry now in cul- 

 tivation. The plant is 

 vigorous, hardy a n d 

 luxuriant, surpassing in 

 this respect even the 

 Monnrrh of (he TFfs(,-" 

 and in corroboration of 

 this an intelligent cor- 

 respondent of the Coiiii- 

 try -Genthman, from 

 Catawissa, Pa., the 

 original home of the 

 "Sharpless." vouch- 

 safes a most elaborat e 

 and emphatic endorse- 

 ment ; and the veteran 

 editor himself remarks : 

 "The Sharj^less excited 

 nuich attention at the 

 Rochester Convention, 

 on account of its enor- 

 mous size, .some of the 

 largest berries weigliing 

 about an oimce and a 

 half eatli. " Some speci- 

 mens of this berry have 

 been known to measure 



nine and a half inches in circumference, but 

 of course it is not pretended that this size is 

 anything like an average, nor yet a very com- 

 mon occurrence, nor yet is it essential that it 

 should be, in order to give character to it, for 

 independent of its size, it possesses a combina- 

 tion of (jualities rarely found in any other 

 variety of the strawberry. Finally, altliough 

 we need not care much where a fruit origi- 

 nates, provided it can adapt itself to our soil 

 and climate, yet it may be flattering to our 

 State i>i-ide to know that this variety is due to 

 Pennsylvania. 



THE HESSIAN FLY. 



In the first annual rejwrt of the Pennsyl- 

 vania Board of Agriculture, Prof. S. S. Kath- 

 von, of Lancaster county, has the following 

 summary of the characteristics of the great 

 pest of the wheat grower : 



1. The preponderating weight of evidence 

 .seems to be, that the Hessian fly (CtcAdinnyiir. 

 dealruelor,) was introduced into America from 

 the Continent of Europe during the American 

 llevolution, or about one hundred years ago. 



2. It belongs to a family of "Gall Gnats," 

 belonging to to the order of Diptcrn, which 

 includes all the various two-winged flies. 



3. Then; are least tivo broods in the latitude 

 of Pennsylvania ; and further south there 



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 as we are badly in need of money to pay the 

 printer. 



may be three or more broods, owing to longer 

 summers, earlier springs, later autumns and 

 a more rapid development. 



4. The second brood— and the main brood 

 with whicli the farmer can contend — deposits 

 its eggs on the blades of the young wheat dur- 

 ing the months of August and September, 

 and some retarded individuals may delay it 

 even into the month of October. 



.5. This deposition of eggs by the second 

 brood lays the foundation for the first brood, 

 which will make its appearance in fly form at 

 the end of April or the beginning of May, the 

 following season. 



0. The first brood deposits its eggs on the 

 j'oung wheat, rye, barley, or oats, during the 

 month of May; its first preference being wheat. 



7. The eggs thus dciiosited by the first 

 brood develop the second or sumniei- brood, 

 which makes its appearance in Augu.st and 

 September in the fly form, when it deposits 

 eggs on any young wheat that may be above 

 ground, or, in the absence of wheat, it mi- 

 grates, or deposits on other cereal vegetation. 



8. As this is really tin; only brood that it is 

 necessary to circumvent— for with its destruc- 

 tion a subsequent brood would be impossible — 

 therefore farmers should harvest as early as 

 po-ssible, leave a long stubble, turn it deeply 

 down with a subsoiler, or burn it off with fire. 



9. If they neglect or decline to do this, then 

 they should not sow the fall crop before the 

 l.'Jth of October, and if the crop i)rovcs "back- 

 ward," thou bring it orward by fertilizers and 



cultivation in the fol- 

 lowing spring ; or, 



lU. If they have not 

 done this, and the crop 

 is found to be badly in- 

 fested, then turn it 

 under with the plow, 

 harrow it and roll it, 

 and put in a crop of 

 spring wheat the next 

 .season. 



11. By the first of De- 

 ' ember the fly, or rather 

 the maggot, the first, or 

 \\ inter brood, will have 

 assumed the impervious 

 ■llaxseed" form, after 

 which no external ap- 

 plication could be of 

 much avail, and in this 

 form it is able to stand 

 the rigorsof the severest 

 winter. 



12. By the 1st of No- 

 vember, and still more 

 so by the first of Decem- 

 ber — if the autiunn has 

 been favorable to the 

 growth of the wheat — 

 the Hessian fly, in what- 

 ever form it may be at 

 that period, (excepting 

 the possible fly-form,) 

 will be located on the 

 stalk sufliciently far 

 above its original loca- 

 tion to fall a prey to 

 sheeii or cattle tliat may 

 be put to pasture in the 

 wheat fields. Tiiercfore, 

 if the wheat is vigorous 

 enough to bear this pas- 

 turing, and is still in- 

 fested by the tly, in this 

 manner enough of them 

 may be destroyed to 

 obviate the uecessity of 

 turning the crop down 

 with the plow, and a 

 reasonable yield may be 

 the result. 



13. If any liepud, dust 

 or powder should be 

 used to kill the young 

 larva of the fly— whether 

 those known now, or 

 those that may be dis- 

 covered hereafter — they 

 should be applied before 

 the insect assumes the 



flaxseed form ; for, as that condition seems to 

 be expressly designed for the protection of 

 the insect from contingencies and casual- 

 ties, after tliat i)eriod external applications 

 could have but little eflect. 



14. All precautions, circumventions, inter- 

 ventions, or external ajiplications should be 

 simultaneous and general in the insect-infected 

 district, or the results can only be partial, 

 temporary, and limited or local. 



15. By cutting the grain close to the ground 

 many of the summer brood are carried to the 

 bani or stack, beyond tlie reach of remedy, 

 and from which the fly would emerge before it 

 is threshed, (and might even pass through a 

 machine without injury,) and in this manner 

 it has been circulated throughout the coimtry. 



