ioo HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



because nowadays we grow these berries along with 

 our plum trees and pear trees. The strawberry 

 only requires a place under the head of gardening. 

 And gardening it is, for of all the plants that we 

 grow, not one requires more care and work to get 

 good results than the strawberry. The soil must be 

 friable or mellow, thoroughly cultivated and clean, 

 and easily irrigated. When the plants are growing 

 they must be fed well, and you have to move your 

 beds about every two or three years. In spite of 

 all this a small strawberry bed is an absolute essen- 

 tial to a happy country home. 



I think I have planted nearly all the new sorts 

 of these berries that have come out,' all the way back 

 to Wilson's Albany, still sold as the Wilson. Some 

 of these were superb berries, and one of them, the 

 Cumberland Triumph, still creeps around in my or- 

 chard. The Sharpless appeared about 1880, and it 

 was the first revelation of bigness and goodness com- 

 bined a literal mouthful, and destined to be the 

 parent of a wonderful progeny. 



From that day we have had a succession of start- 

 ling strawberries, each new one always seeming to 

 reach the very climax of evolution. We could have 

 got on very nicely if nothing better had turned up 

 than Jucunda and Green Prolific. But human am- 

 bition was aroused, and horticulturists had discovered 

 what they could do. I think not less than one hun- 

 dred kinds of strawberries followed in rapid suc- 

 cession, each one displacing the other, until at last 



