THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



207 



and ask the experience of their fellow 

 fruit-growei's. 



Although I have tried kinds enough 

 to entitle me to the name of an experi- 

 mental grower, it would be out of place 

 in me to enter into what has been so 

 thoroughly done in their descri])tion. 

 Of just three kinds I will venture a 

 remark. 



Early Ca/irfc/a.— Although a poor 

 berry, and liable to be destroyed by 

 late sjiiing frosts, I consider it valu- 

 able. S[)ring of 1884 I liad half a 

 crop of them destroyed by the frost of 

 2yth May. Discouraged by this, I this 

 year ]>lanted of them only iu the jjro- 

 portion of one row in 30. Director 

 Smith is a good hand at reminding us 

 of our mistakes, let him add the follow- 

 ing to Ins spicv list in Report 1884:, p. 

 150:— 



Tills year my Early Canadas were in 

 the market, a line ci-op, two weeks be- 

 fore the Wilson, and found a ready sale 

 at 12^ cents while I had to take 8 

 cents for the others. So severe a fi'ost 

 at that season we might not have for 

 many years, and I would i-ather risk it 

 than the chances of a glutted market, 

 as we had this yeai', with the price 

 down to 4 and 5 cents per basket. 



tShmyless. — Tempted bv their size 

 and beauty I planted this year a large 

 projtortion, but soon found out to my 

 cost that Mr. Robinson's words are no 

 mistake when he says, " It's one of the 

 best beriies to lose money on I ever 

 tried." Besides their lack of llavor, 

 }0u can't carry them farther than the 

 table. I I'ooted out a large patch of as 

 thriving plants as I could desire, 

 jilanted this spring, considering the 

 lirst loss the least. That was mistake 

 No. 2. 



(Jlendule. — Sometime.s called the lazy 

 maJi's berry, thriving with so little 

 care. Appropriate name enough — a 

 lazy man he would be to grow no bet- 

 ter. A basket of these has a little 



tasteless fruit and any amount of hnsks. 

 Good, methinks, for such as have prodi- 

 gal sons. 



Matted Bows v. Hills. — I think the 

 majority of large growers have iavored 

 the former ; Mr. Robinson, however, 

 does the hills, and his remarks, evi- 

 dently ])enned as the result of careful 

 trial, are worthy of much consideration 

 and his system of unprejudiced trial. 



Mr. C. M. Purdy favors a system 

 between the two, " The Hill and Row 

 System," keeping the runners off till 

 late in the season, and then running 

 into rows. It looks well on paper. 



But there's another sy.stem, the same 

 author calls it '' 1"he Slip-shod System." 

 May he it's the best o' them a'. The 

 Editor will laugh when he hears the 

 Scotchman's story ; but let him not 

 misunderstand the word story — its a 

 fact, a stahborn thing. As sJudr as 

 daitli, I'll vouch for it. 



In our neighboi'hood lives a good 

 honest man. With no px-etentions to 

 gardening he bethought him to try 

 some of these wonderful methods books 

 tell us of, of making money easy, and 

 he has well succeeded. Report I'eacheil 

 me of a wondei-ful crop of strawberries 

 he had on a very suiall ])iece of ground. 

 Curiosity led me to visit him and satisfy 

 myself in the matter. I found his 

 strawberry patch in a nearly square 

 piece of ground measuring 48 x 28 

 yards. That Editor of ours is good at 

 figuring, he'll tell you it's a trifle over a 

 quai'ter of an acre, but so little that for 

 convenience sake we'll call it that. Off 

 this he sold this summer 1,500 baskets, 

 besides used iu the family and giftetl 

 200; say 1,700 ba.skets he sold at 8 

 cents = §13G, i. e., at the rate of G,800 

 baskets :=; ;5544 per acre. 



His plants were all Wilson's, set in 

 the spring of 1884, in rows 3 feet 

 apart, 1 8 inches a])art in the rows. As 

 soon as tlie runners a})peai-ed they were 

 left unmolested and ^ o ui covered the 



