282 



Garden and Forest. 



[Au(;usT 8, iSSS. 



dark flowers. The sepals and petals are dark purplisli l)ro\vn, 

 having a regidar border of pale green ; there ;ire no bars, as 

 in the case of the parents. The broad, round lip is of a bril- 

 liant purple, veined at the margin ; tlie rulf a bright bluish 

 purple. It is very distinct from any other ZygO])etalum, thougli 

 approaching Z. Alackayi in habit. 



This pkmt was originally imported by Mrs. Morgan, l)ut it 

 never flowered until in the hands of its present owners. 



New Y(. ill. Kiiiily Louise Tapliii. 



Cultural Department. 



Strawberries. 



"\ X ^E have tried most of the leading kinds of Strawberries 

 • * here and have now twenty-eiglit varieties in our trial 

 bed, but never have had a better Strawberry tor our ground 

 than Sliarpless. It is a vigc>rous grower and retains its foliage 

 in good contlition througliout the summer; it is a heavy 

 cropper, and its berries are exceptionally large, handsome 

 and well coloi'ed, and witli us it always ripens to tlie tips. 

 But, e.x'cept under high cultivation and in deep, rich, moder- 

 ately moist land, it is not as desirable as some others. Our 

 first berries this year were pronounced by connoisseurs as 

 "most delicious," but this quality in Sharpless is unusual. In 

 May aljundant rain fell witli no very kigh temperature — 

 just such weather as is most suitable for Strawberries ; June 

 opened dry and warm, tl>e Ijest weather for ripening fruit, 

 and to these causes are attributed the fine quality of the early 

 berries. But the l6th of June brought hail and rain, and 

 soon after the Sharpless berries assumed their characteristic 

 sourness. Henderson, Hovey, Belmont and Wilder are of 

 much Ijctter quality, but each one of them with us has some 

 fault — lack of vigor, uneven ripening, small fruit, or other 

 drawback — and even Louise and Mineola, both delicious ber- 

 ries and raised not far from here, do not, after a two years' 

 trial, warrant us in using them for a main crop. As a heavy 

 cropper and for use as preserves, the Crescent has Ijeen our 

 favorite ; liut in its fresh state it is much more acid than 

 Sliarpless, and not nearly so large or handsome. For flne 

 quality and aroma, our American varieties are not as good as 

 the European Strawberries, but, unfortunately, these are of 

 no use here. All tlie finest English varieties have been 

 imported and grown on this place, and every one of them has 

 been a failure. 



Farmers and market gardeners, as a rule, grow their Straw- 

 berries in the open field, in rows two and one-lialf to three feet 

 apart, and after the first year allow the runners to grow and 

 remain, so as to form matted beds. But we have no room 

 for horse cultivation. Farmers generally plant their Straw- 

 berries in spring; we always plant in August. And from this 

 planting we not only get an excellent crop of fruit the next 

 June, but we always get our very finest and largest berries 

 from these young plants. And we so manage it as to renew 

 half of our plantations ex'ery year; the young or one-year- 

 old plants yield the finest berries, the two-year-old plants 

 the heaviest crop. 



Strawberries for home use should have the very best 

 ground in the garden. Plan in spring where the ne,\t Strawberry 

 bed is to be made, and then plant the ground with Peas, Snap 

 Beans, Cauliflower, Beets, Onion-sets, or any other early crop 

 that has time to mature and be off the ground before the end 

 of July. It is not advisable that Strawberries should succeed 

 Strawberries, still we have a piece of deep, moist land, so well 

 adapted tor Strawberries, that we have cropped it with them 

 continuously for several years, but, notwithstanding the most 

 liberal treatment and annual renewing, the plants are showing 

 signs of enervation, and are not now as lu.xuriant as they used 

 to Ije two or three years ago. After clearing off the summer 

 crop apply a coating, two to three inches deep, of well-rotted 

 farm manure, then double dig the ground with forks, being 

 careful to break it up very fine and loose and keep the manure 

 not deeper than four or five inches under the surface of the 

 ground. Now measure and mark off the patch in rows twenty 

 inclies apart by drawing drills an inch or two deep. You may 

 plant at once or delay till your pkints are ready or con\enienc'e 

 will permit. 



Set out the plants eighteen inches apart in the rows, or, if an 

 extra heavy crop is desired the first year, instead of setting 

 them out singly set them out two together. Water well after 

 planting, and in the event of dry weather, continue to water 

 the plants two or three times a week while the drought lasts. 

 The stronger the plants Ijecome before winter sets in, the 

 larger the crop of berries they will bear next summer. 

 Throughout the fall keep the young plants free from runners 



and the ground perfectly clean and well hoed. About the 

 middle of November lireak up some barn-yard manure fine and 

 scatter it broadcast over the Strawberry ground, say an inch or 

 more deep. Then again, about the middle of December, or 

 after a firm frost sets in, and betore lasting snow may be 

 looked for, scatter some sea thatch, sedge or salt hay two inches 

 deep over the plants, and so as to cover the whole patch. This 

 mulching and covering prevents the plants from being' thrown 

 out of tiie ground by frost, and also saves the crowns and 

 leaves from being injured by hard frost, searing frosty winds, 

 or warm sunshine. 



In field, cultivation tliis straw covering is alloxved to 

 remain permanently, and the Sti'awberry leaves and flowers 

 come up through it in spi'ing, and it also serves as a summer 

 mulching to keep the fruit clean. This is not our plan. The 

 covering is removed early in April, the ground is cleaned 

 and cultivated two or three times, and then about the 

 ist of May mulched again with strawy material. In cultivating 

 the ground use a prong-hoe; this loosens and breaks up fine 

 the ground between the plants and allows a ready ingress 

 for rain and air. Its eflect upon the plants is shown in their 

 vigorous condition. Of course, any time liefore the fruit be- 

 gins to ripen is soon enough to apply the summer mulching, 

 but by doing so early in May there is not the danger of injuring 

 foliage or flowers, which there would be were it delayed till 

 the end of the month. 



Strawberries usually begin to ripen here about the loth 

 of June and kist fill tlie end of the month; this year we did not 

 pick our first dish till the 14th of June, but they lasted till the 

 4th of July. Some days before they begin to ripen the cat- 

 birds and robins are particularly voracious and peck every 

 softening fruit. In private gardens, where these birds find 

 shelter amongfruit and shade trees, shrubs, bushes and xdnes, 

 they are more numerous and destructive than in the open 

 fields. We circumvent their attacks by erecting a temporary 

 frame around and over thejieds, and spread over it some 

 netting, as described on page 176. As soon as the strawber- 

 ries are gone the frame is remox'eil. The netting is folded 

 up and laid indoors till the first of September, when it is 

 brought out to cover the grape-vines ; the stakes are needed 

 at once for Dahlias, Hollyhocks and Sun-flowers. 



After the busy season is over the one-year-old plantations 

 are thoroughly cleaned; weeds and straw mulch are removed, 

 and the surface is loosened with a prong-hoe, care being 

 taken not to injure the runners. This allows them to root 

 readily. The two-year-old plantations are dug out and 

 remox'ed at once. 



Before the end of July many of the runners are large and 

 sufficiently rooted for setting out, and, the ground being 

 ready, had better be transplanted at once. By using potted 

 runners we can plant at any time, in dry or moist weather, 

 and if the ground is not yet ready for the new plantation, we 

 can lift and store the pot plants close together somewhere by 

 themselves, and, in this way, are enabled to strip and clean the 

 plantation from which they were taken. We use three and 

 one-half and four inch pots; a double row of these is plunged 

 in every second alley to the depth of half an inch below their 

 brims; half fill them with sandy soil, then place a runner crown 

 in each pot, bending the thread of the runner in, too, and then 

 fill up with tlie same sort of soil. It is very easily and quickly 

 done. The runners root readily in the fresh soil and in foui- 

 teen to twenty days have filled the pots with roots, and 

 may then be severed from the parent plants, and the pots 

 lifted out and removed from the beds. From this time till 

 fruiting time next summer not a runner or a weed should be 

 allowed to grow in the plantation. 



Glen Cove, N. Y. ]]'m. FalcoHcr. 



The Currant and its Cultivation. 



'T'HE currant crop has been a good one and the demand has 

 -•- been equal to the supply. It is not strange that so 

 excellent a dessert fruit wlien fully ripe and so fine a 

 canned fruit either alone or with nispberries for xvinter 

 use should be in heavy demand. And yet in too many in- 

 stances the quality and size of the fruit is allowed to suffer 

 from the attacks of the Currant worm when a little hellebore 

 and its timely application will prevent the loss. It is no un- 

 common spectacle ex^en in gardens ordinarily well kept to see 

 Currant bushes entirely stripped of their foliage, and the fruit 

 ripening prematurely exposed to the full rays of the sun, in- 

 ferior in size, and deficient in flavor. Such fruit is not fit for 

 table use in a fresh state, neither can it be asgood for canning. 

 A tablespoonful of xvhite hellebore to a two-gallon pail of 

 water sprinkled on the bushes, will rid them of the pest and 

 the fruit will ripen in perfection. 



