Special Methods of Culture 265 



hen manure is placed in a burlap sack and dropped into 

 a barrel of water until the water is the color of weak tea ; 

 this is poured on the ground between the plants, not upon 

 them. An ounce of saltpeter in ten quarts of water gives 

 almost as good results. A gallon of liquid manure to the 

 square yard may be used each day without injury. 



An effort should be made to prolong the period of ripen- 

 ing, so as to pump more water into the berries. This is 

 accomplished by shading the plants with muslin or lath 

 screens. Shade must be used with discretion, or color, 

 firmness and flavor will be sacrificed to size. Select two 

 or three of the best berries on each truss and cut off all 

 others; this disbudding should be done as soon as a 

 number of perfect-shaped berries have formed. Exhibi- 

 tion strawberries are shipped in cotton wadding — not 

 in cotton batting, which sticks to them. Put one berry 

 in each compartment of an egg crate. Never touch the 

 berries, always handle them by the stems. 



Strawberries may be preserved for exhibition purposes 

 in wide-mouthed jars with tight-fitting glass stoppers. 

 The berries should be of good color, but not fully ripe, 

 stems on and very firm. If they are dipped quickly into 

 melted paraffin, this helps to keep their shape. According 

 to W. R. Ballard, a ten per cent solution of formalin and 

 acid potassium sulfate is a fairly satisfactory preservative, 

 but the berries lose their color in two or three years.^ 



STBAWBEKRT BARRELS 



The barrel is an interesting novelty for the amateur. 

 In 1898 J. P. Ohmer, of Dayton, Ohio, who was especially 

 successful in barrel strawberry-culture, gave these direc- 



> Proc. Soc. Hort. Sci., 1910, pp. 60-2. 



