196 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



LEGISLATIVE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Reported fob the Farmer by D. W. Loturop. 



The tenth meeting of the series was held on 

 Monday evening last at the State House, -when the 

 continued subject of Fruit Culture was discussed. 

 Mr. C. M. HoVEY, editor of the Magazine of 

 Horticulture, being present, was invited to pre- 

 side. 



lie accepted the position of chairman with 

 pleasure, and proposed to speak of the strawberry. 

 Small fruits had been sadly neglected in our gar- 

 dens ; but the strawberry was of easy cultivation, 

 took up but little room, was healthy and agreeable 

 to the system — no one being able to eat too many 

 — and was prominent among the small fruits much 

 needed in the summer. He gave a brief history 

 of the strawberry in this country and in Europe. 

 There were but few kinds generally cultivated 

 there, till the introduction of the American straw- 

 berry about a hundred years ago. When the 

 London Horticultural Society Avas organized, a 

 new interest in this fruit was awakened. Messrs. 

 Keen, Wilmot and Knight raised many new va- 

 rieties, and some of them very good. In 1824, 

 the London Society took steps to test the kinds in 

 cultivation, and out of two hundred varieties, only 

 fifty-four were regarded as distinct. The Amer- 

 ican strawberries are different from the English. 

 The Wood, heretofore a distinguished variety, 

 had not been changed or mixed. About the year 

 1834, another impulse was given to strawberry 

 culture in England, and while some of the varie- 

 ties did well there, they would not succeed here. 



In this country, we have no definite records 

 upon this subject. The Virginia and the Wood 

 seemed to have been the first and the only varie- 

 ties cultivated in this country for many years. Mr. 

 William Prince, of New York, however, imported 

 many new varieties from Europe, and Keen^s 

 Seedling and Wilmot^s Superb were introduced 

 here. Mr. Hovey observed that he procured many 

 sorts from Mr. Prince, but was disappointed in 

 them, as they were not fitted for our climate. In 

 1833, Mr. H. commenced to raise strawberries 

 from the seed, and produced the well-known vari- 

 ety called Tlovet/s Seedling, which soon began to 

 supplant the old Virginia and Wood. It was the 

 first seedling in the country, and attracted great 

 attention — many amateur cultivators commenc- 

 ing to raise from seed, as it was an exciting and 

 novel matter. 



Mr. H. spoke of the different species of the 

 strawberry ; of its classification by Linna;us with 

 respect to its self-fructifying power, having perfect 

 flowers, containing both stamens and pistils ; of 

 kinds that would mix and those that would not. 

 The Chili strawberry was large but insipid ; yet 

 ours are acid. By a mixture of these, many good 

 varieties had been produced. Strawberries of 



different habits, as to running, &c., require differ- 

 ent treatment. 



The chairman also spoke of culture, which was 

 simple. It should be good to produce large fruit, 

 but required care rather than labor. Some had 

 neglected the new kinds and had met with dis- 

 appointment. The large vai'ieties need more 

 room than the old, small varieties — room in pro- 

 portion to their size. He spoke of Mr. Knight's 

 method of planting vines in the spring and letting 

 them run in the summer to produce vines for the 

 next season ; they should then be dug up and a 

 new bed formed. Plant in rows four feet apart. 

 The celebrated Cobbett had taught a doctrine sim- 

 lar to this. As to manure, stimulating manure 

 was hurtful. Manure should be applied when 

 the bed is set out, and then again when reset. 

 The annual system, now practiced by our Belmont 

 cultivators — that is, of raising only one crop be- 

 fore digging up the bed — he thought the least la- 

 borious and productive of the best results. Plant 

 in rows in the spring four feet apart, and let them 

 grow the first summer. In October hoe out an al- 

 ley and cover the vines. In fifteen months, the 

 crop is picked. Then turn the bed over, and so 

 arrange the cultivation that while some beds, or 

 parts of beds, are forming vines, the others will be 

 bearing — thus yielding fruit annually. Plants of 

 a bushy habit should be planted in single rows ; 

 they are good for the amateur, but should not be 

 suffered to grow thick. A gentleman in Pittsburg, 

 Pa., cultivates these varieties with a horse culti- 

 vator. Guano was a dangerous manure in some 

 hands ; but a little wiU do for strawberries. Wa- 

 tering the plants in England was common, as 

 moist as their climate is ; yet size was produced 

 at the expense of flavor. Our vines in some sea- 

 sons need watering, but let it be done in a thor- 

 ough manner, not an occasional dribbling. Good, 

 well-rotted manure is best, laid on the soil before 

 the runners are planted, or dug in when the old 

 bed is turned under. Mr. H. recommended straw 

 under the vines as a mulching ; but tan was objec- 

 tionable, as it harbored injurious insects. 



As to profits, the chairman observed, that 

 though large stories were often published, we 

 should not make the cultivator think he could get 

 rapidly rich. He spoke, too, of the cost of cul- 

 ture ; of the carelessly picked strawberries in the 

 Cincinnati market, Avith their hulls upon them ; 

 of the number of bushels to the acre which it 

 had been stated were raised ; of 4000 quarts per 

 acre by some of the Belmont cultivators, and even 

 greater, seven-eighths being Hovey's Seedhng. 

 Gathering in Philadelphia had been stated to cost 

 one and a half cents per box ; but in Belmont five 

 cents is paid to men who understand the busi- 

 ness. How many boxes could be picked in a day 

 depended upon the size and varieties. The im- 



