622 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



muck, leaves, charcoal and things of that kind. These peculiar substances 

 have the character of attracting from the atmosphere the elements that are 

 required to nourish the plant. They not only give color to the soil, but 

 also flavor to the fruit. 



Let a piece of ground, twenty feet square, be prepared, one-half with 

 carbonaceous matter in the soil and the other half without it, or in the 

 ordinary way, and it will be found that the fruit in the half that contains 

 the carbonaceous material will be very high flavored, while the other will 

 be ver}"- inferior. He spoke confidently, as he experimented in this matter 

 for years, and he therefore would recommend this carbonaceous matter for 

 all kinds of plants and soil, whether it be a clay soil or pure sand, and if 

 stimulants are to be used they should be of light manure that has laid for 

 years and become very rotten. Soil prepared as he indicated requires 

 very little stimulants to grow strawberries in great perfection. The 

 Hooker, La Constante and Triomphe de Gand are good kinds of strawber- 

 ries to plant, and there are some few other kinds that will probably take a 

 place by their side. In selecting plants we should discard every kind ot 

 acid fruits. The strawberry should contain the sweetness within Itself. 

 It should not be that to make it palatable it must be smothered with 

 sugar, particularly as the present price of that article forbids its liberal 

 use. The true strawberry should be sweet without any sugar at all. 

 They ought to be the same as the apple that you can make one or two 

 bites of, according to the size. He would then discourage the planting of 

 strawberries that possess a large amount of acid. There are many kinds 

 that are as full and productive, and some a good deal better. They are 

 sweet and very palatable. The Wilson is a very productive kind of straw- 

 berry, and he would not exactly discourage its cultivation; but there are 

 many kinds that are better, and more that are a good deal better. Select 

 strawberry plants for flavor alone, and be sure to get those that will endure 

 the heat of summer and the cold of winter. The foreign varieties will not 

 do this, as he found them to fail in this respect. The Triomphe de Gaud and 

 the Bonte de St. Julien are good for hardiness, and are very suitable to 

 plant in a garden. 



Now, as to the best time for planting, some will tell you the spring is 

 best, and others will say the fall; and again, some will tell you to plant 

 whenever you can get them. In the main they are all right; but in a cer- 

 tain measure they are wrong. If a strawberry plant is taken up in the 

 fall, with ordinary care, it may be transported 400 or 500 miles and bear 

 in the spring, but we should prefer to cut the fruit stalk out. They can be 

 planted in the early spring with the certainty of having ninety-nine per 

 cent of them thrive well,. and they may be planted in the fall, say the mid- 

 dle of September, provided that on the approach of winter the plants are 

 covered with a litter of some kind to prevent them from being thrown out 

 of the ground by the frost, for the roots of new plants do not attain a hold 

 in the ground during the first season to prevent this from taking place 

 during the winter, and, for the want of a little straw placed over them in 

 winter, many fine plants have failed. There is no reason why even one in 

 a hundred should die. For his part, he preferred the month of September 

 to any other month of the year. He had planted strawberries until the 



