1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



49 



will readily drain off, in which stand the cab- 

 bage just as it grows, sinking it up to the head. 

 The rows can be as closely together as the 

 size of the heads will admit of. Cover over 

 with corn-fodder, straw, or bean-haulm. Then 

 set four posts so as to foim a pitch, placing 

 the head against a wall or board-fence. Form 

 a roof by bean poles, when boards are not at 

 band, cover this with cornstalks or straw. If 

 ordinarily well done the cabbage will keep as 

 long as is desired, having usually kept ours 

 untS April and May. — Oermantown Tel. 



STRAWBEBBIES. 



We have not found It profitable to cultivate 

 strawberr es on light lands, Tae expense is 

 too great and the product too small. We 

 think strawberry culture reaches its highest 

 profit only where large crops can be readily 

 obtained, and these come only on heavy loam 

 or clay land, well drained and heavily man- 

 ured. Sandg soils will ripen up many small, 

 very early berries, but the main crop is not 

 large, and does not hold out well. Our 

 method for the treatment of all light lands 

 would be to grow nothing the first or second 

 years. Simply seed the ground down to 

 clover, let it grow as thick as possible until 

 the summer of the second year, then plough it 

 all under. If we had a muck bed close at 

 hand, we would haul upon the field 200 loads 

 per acre, and let it decay during the winter. 

 The next spring the soil, with light ploughing, 

 would be in fine condition, full of natural 

 vegetable, and able to bear heavy crops. 

 Vege able manure is indispensable in the cul- 

 tivation of the strawberry, and, as sandy soils 

 are always deficient in it, we can easily see 

 why it IS impossible to make such light land 

 highly profitable. 



VV^e have always contended that the most 

 import int part of tie fruit business lies in 

 proper marketing. However well the grower 

 may cultivate his fruit, unless he is equally 

 Cireful in sending it to market, he will surely 

 fail in all his plans. 



The profits of strawberry culture have been 

 greatly exaggerated. Estimates of $500 to 

 $1,000 per acre are rarely realized. Steady 

 prices of thirty to fifty cents per cjuart do not 

 come to general cultivators. Our experience 

 in strawberry culture for the New York mar- 

 ket, justices us in saying, that no grower 

 should undertake strawberry culture without a 

 capital of $2oO per acre, exclusive of land. 

 Of thid bum he will need $100 for berry bas- 

 kets, and the balance must he etjuiilly divided 

 between manure, plants, and labor of cultiva- 

 tion. After his bed comes into bearing, he 

 must calculate seven cents per quart for mar- 

 keting. In some localities it will be eight 

 cents, in others but five cents, of whii;h two 

 cents is for picking, two cents for freight, and 

 th^ee cents for coaiinissioners, labor, assorting 

 and lost baskets. The average production in 



New Jersey is but 1,200 quarts per acre; in 

 Delaware, is but 1,500 to 2,000. The past 

 two unfortunate seasons, both East and West, 

 are sufficient to show how easily the small 

 fruit business may be overdone. We know 

 there is always a great demand in the large 

 cities for fruit, and that it will increase yearly, 

 but commission men admit every season de- 

 velops some new features that did not exist 

 the year before, and many a fruit that was 

 profitable last year is a dreg this ; and others 

 sell splendidly now which lagged the year be- 

 fore. Every grower must expect such pecu- 

 liarities, and occasional losses are inevitable. 

 New Fork Horticulturist. 



Materials for Floors of Horse Sta- 

 bles. — The floors of city stables are of various 

 kinds of material. The stable proper, its 

 stalls, loose boxes, &c., are usually covered 

 with wood laid in various ways. This mate- 

 rial is perhaps less objectionable for such pur- 

 poses than any other in use, since floors laid 

 with wood last longer and need less repairing 

 than do those laid with stone ; however, some 

 persons object to wood on account of its be- 

 coming saturated with urine and other animal 

 fluids in a short time. Concrete is another 

 substance now used in some rare instances 

 for floors of stables, but from what we have 

 seen of it we cannot truthfully recommend it for 

 such a purpose, as it is very apt during the 

 hot season to become lull of holes and very 

 uneven on its surface ; its chief composition 

 being, we believe, gas tar mixed with sand or 

 gravel. Cobble and Belgian pavements are 

 also in use for stable-floors, but more frequen- 

 ly for the floor of the carriage-house or on that 

 part of it upon which carriages stand while be- 

 ing washed. — McClure's Stable Guide. 



An Illinois Pig Shelter. — A correspond- 

 ent of the Western Rural, after having tried 

 different ways of wintering hogs for the last 

 twenty years, finds nothing etjual to the fol- 

 lowing plan. I take two forked posts and set 

 them in the ground, leaving them about four 

 feet above the surface ; next, I put on a ridge 

 [Kile, and then get some pieces of plank, or 

 scantling, or slabs, six or seven feet long, and 

 set them slanting from the ground on each 

 hide and let the ends meet on the ridge pole ; 

 cover them with straw or anything that will 

 not let the dirt fall through, and then put a 

 thick covering over this, of earth. I dig a 

 trench around this shelter, to keep out water. 

 The shelter should face the south or east, and 

 be ventilated about the middle. For this pur- 

 pose I use a small piece of stove pipe. In 

 the Fall, I gather up forest leaves and fill it 

 lip. The hogs work them up^mong the dry 

 t-arih and form a dust. This is all they want. 

 In the coldest weather they will come out dry 

 and comfortable. 



