240 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Mat, 1911 



cut in September. It is well to use the 

 land a year or two for other crops before 

 being put back to strawberries, and re- 

 member, strawberries should not follow pas- 

 ture, because the white grub, which lurks 

 in the grassy ground, is a serious pest of 

 the strawberry. If plants wilt from its 

 attacks pour a tablespoonful of carbon 

 bisulphide over the crown. It will kill the 

 grub surely. 



After the berries are picked, a disc 

 cultivator, with each pair of discs set to 

 span a row of plants, should be run through 

 the field every few weeks to cut the runners 

 and destroy them. Those in the row, be- 

 tween the plants, should be cut by hand. 

 It is important to keep the runners from 

 taking vitality from the plant. 



RAISING NEW PLANTS 



If home-grown plants are preferred to 

 bought ones, runners from the one-year 

 old plants should be set out in spare ground 



and cultivated just as ordinary plants. 

 These should not be allowed to fruit, the 

 blossoms being destroyed before they open. 

 This will send all of the vitality into the 

 runners and it is these runners that should 

 be used for the new plants. In this way 

 several dollars can be saved each year. 



Taking one acre as a basis, these are 

 the items of cost of production: 



Setting $ 5.00 



Cultivation 12.00 



Fertilizer 14.00 



Straw and scattering . 6.00 

 Crates (150 at 25c) . . . 37-5° 

 Picking (at ic per quart) 48.00 

 Packing and delivery to ship- 

 pers 15.00 



$i37-So 

 150 crates at $2.25 . . $337. 50 



Cost 137-5° 



Profit $200.00 



This does not count in the initial cost 

 of new plants, taking it for granted that 



home-grown plants are to be used. If 

 they are bought then, the price in spring is 

 quite low — one and a half cents each. 

 Bought in August, pot-grown plants, which 

 are the only ones to be used are worth 

 several times this price, but they can be 

 fruited the next year under high cultiva- 

 tion. 



CHOOSING THE VARIETY 



In every locality there is one variety 

 that is the leader. In the Chadbourn 

 belt of North Carolina, Lady Thompson 

 is used almost entirely, for it is a heavy 

 producer, excellent shipper and has a sea- 

 son of five to six weeks just when the 

 demand is at its height. Lady Thomp- 

 son plants cost $1.50 a thousand and 

 nine to ten thousand are required per 

 acre. About the Irvington District of 

 New Jersey, Marshall is a favorite. 

 Always find out the local preference of 

 the variety. 



Extending the Strawberry Season — By H. s. Adams 



Connec- 

 ticut 



TT IS of very small interest to your 

 -*■ true lover of the strawberry to know 

 he can get hothouse berries in December, 

 or Floridas in February. To him the 

 strawberry will never be "in season" 

 -excepting during those rare few weeks of 

 the year when he may either gather them 

 lipe from his own garden patch or secure 

 them from a nearby point. 



The only real strawberry problem, there- 

 fore, is to extend the local season. A 

 distinct, new note has been sounded by 

 the introduction of the so-called alpine 

 strawberry, which has made its way across 

 the ocean so quietly that few are aware 

 of its presence. 



It was within a week of the close of July 

 last year when I came upon a large bed of 

 these berries. I was on a flower quest 

 that hot and sultry day, and I confess 

 that the last thing I expected to be offered 

 was strawberries. But I was offered some, 

 right from the plants, and ate thereof with 

 a satisfaction that was a satisfaction. 



Then I began asking many questions; 

 I ascertained, first of all, that these long 

 rows of very flourishing strawberry plants, 

 with a considerable amount of ripe and 

 ripening fruit on them, were all seedlings. 

 The seed had been picked in Switzerland 

 by the grower, from plants of the " Quatre 

 Saisohs" type. This is the small straw- 

 berry that is so abundant in Paris, where 

 it is no uncommon sight to see the little 

 hand-carts of street vendors piled high 

 with the much admired fruit. It is simply 

 one of the alpine varieties bred up in size 

 and general perfection. 



I found also that from this patch of 

 "Four Seasons" the family had been kept 

 fully supplied with fruit all through July 

 — the alpines coming in when the ordinary 

 garden berries gave out. The fruit, which 

 is a sort of glorified edition of the American 



wild strawberry, has the same concentrated 

 sweetness, but more of it. Being different 

 from the ordinary cultivated strawberry, 

 it has the advantage of coming to the 

 table with a note of freshness — inaugur- 

 ating a little season of its own rather than 

 extending a season already, perhaps, be- 

 ginning to pall on the appetite. 



The plants, which run about eight 

 inches high, began to bear last year on the 

 twenty-third of June and were picked 

 for the table every day for four weeks. 

 So that, if they are not strawberries of 

 "four seasons" literally, they have an 

 unusually long fruiting period. They are 

 very prolific, and very hardy. In short, 

 they seem to have everything to recom- 

 mend them to the average home garden, 

 with nothing to be said adversely. 



This strawberry is grown in somewhat 

 lighter soil than the ordinary kind. Plenty 

 of manure is used when the plants are 

 first set out, and then no more until a new 

 bed is made. The plants fruit the first 

 year, but much better the second. They 

 are good for three years. By setting out 

 runners every year, after the first, a com- 

 plete succession of prime bearing plants 

 is insured. 



While seed may be used to get a stock 

 of plants started, runners are a better 

 means of perpetuation after that. Sow 

 seed in early spring! With the American 

 winter as it is, very little is gained by autumn 

 sowing and always there is danger of mice 

 injuring the plants. In either case the 

 seed should be sowed in a coldframe; 

 but it may be sown outdoors in well pul- 

 verized soil in April or May. Sow in a 

 greenhouse in January. There are some 

 varieties of alpine strawberries that have 

 no runners; these must be perpetuated by 

 dividing the plants or by seed. 



Of the "Quatre Saisons" type alone 



there are several varieties. In the exper- 

 ience of the grower of the strawberries 

 referred to these are the best of them at 

 one time or another. They are the most 

 reliable, and that is the main point. 



One of the finest of the improved " Four 

 Seasons" type is, he says, the Louis 

 Gauthier — now popular in France. It 

 is large, whitish and very sweet. There 

 are some alpines very rich in flavor, actu- 

 ally white rather than merely whitish, 

 and they are quite as easily grown. 



After a trial in both the Berkshires and 

 central Connecticut, the grower mentioned 

 (Mr. J. F. Huss) has abandoned the variety 

 known as St. Joseph. It has fine fruit but — 

 for his use; others may do better with it 

 — he says that it does not bear abundantly 

 enough to warrant the time and space 

 given to it. This early variety is between 

 'the alpine and garden types and is, I 

 understand, synonymous with Fragaria 

 rubicunda. It is practically "perpetual," 

 fruiting from June to September when the 

 conditions are ideal. An improvement 

 on it is called St. Antoine de Padoue. It 

 has a musky flavor and some do not care 

 for it on that account. In England Belle 

 de la Perrandiere is very highly recommend- 

 ed by one of the best authorities. It is 

 an alpine and there fruits in September. 



The St. Joseph and the St. Antoine de 

 Padoue are sold in this country, each with 

 the claim that it bears fruit of fine flavor, 

 color and size, and in abundance. Two 

 other varieties offered are Leon XIII and 

 La Constante. They cost more than the 

 ordinary garden berry — one dollar a dozen. 

 Seed of the ordinary "red alpine" straw- 

 berry is quoted at ten cents a package. 



Alpine strawberries ordinarily ought 

 to be sweet enough to eat without sugar. 

 If anything is put on them, it would better 

 be a little claret. 



