June, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



IX 



vies, and nearly all of them have been for- 

 gotten. Among those that have retained their 

 popularity we note especially the first big 

 berry that we ever got, the Sharpless, the 

 Bubach, the Jessie, the Michel Early; and 

 we ought to remember the Cumberland Tri- 

 umph, the best berry I ever grew to take care 

 of itself. I asked Mr. Crawford, one of our 

 strawberry kings, to name the three best 

 strawberries, and he gave me Senator Dun- 

 lap, Kitty Rice and Latest. This was three 

 years ago, and I am not sure that he names 

 any one of these as the best to-day — unless it 

 be Kitty Rice. This Kitty Rice is proving 

 to be a great berry in the South and the West. 



M. T. Thompson, a great berry grower, 

 names, and very justly too, as among the very 

 best his own Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, Mark Hanna, 

 Deidler. My own experience with Mark 

 Hanna is that in my grounds it is about the 

 best thing that I ever planted. Among my 

 seedlings I have three or four that are hard 

 to beat, and one of them gave me large double 

 flowers. The following will be a pretty good 

 list of fairly selected cosmopolitan berries: 

 Climax, Commonwealth, Gandy, Glen Mary, 

 Kitty Rice, Mead, Miller and Mrs. Miller, 

 New York, Sample, Senator Dunlap, Texas, 

 Mark Hanna, William Belt and Bubach. 

 Mr. Munson, of Texas, has a new berry of 

 great promise called Goree, which I am going 

 to try. I have left out three or four specially 

 good market berries, like Clyde, Crescent, 

 Warfield, and a few more because of their 

 extreme acidity. I exclude Excelsior for the 

 same reason, although it is a remarkably good 

 berry in light soil. Climax in the South is 

 rivaled mainly by Klondike and Lady Thomp- 

 son. Parker Earle, which does not satisfy 

 us in our northern gardens, is a capital 

 southern berry, as also Hoffman. Gandee 

 holds its own fairly well yet as the best of all 

 late berries, although several new rivals are 

 entering the fields. Of the greater new ber- 

 ries just now beginning to compete, Mr. 

 Allen, who is highest authority, recommends 

 Cardinal, Chesapeake and Virginia. The 

 Chesapeake is a very stout grower and very 

 promising, while Cardinal is praised by every- 

 body who has grown it. Sample and Will- 

 iam Belt are two remarkably trusty berries. 

 I have no inclination as yet to omit them from 

 my grounds. Mr. Munson speaks well of 

 Splendid and Challenge. But I am already 

 outrunning my limit. My habit of growing 

 a test bed inclines me to include many sorts 

 that the common garden can not grow. You 

 will be very happy with Kitty Rice, Mrs. 

 Miller, Sample, Mark Hanna, William Belt 

 and Bubach. Add Gandy for very late. 



The continuation of a strawberry bed de- 

 pends partly on variety and partly on what 

 they are grown for. Large growers, as a rule, 

 prefer to replant every second year; and in 

 the southern states I find, especially in 

 Florida, that strawberry beds are allowed to 

 burn out during the summer, and are re- 

 planted early in the fall. As a rule those 

 who grow small beds for home use can avoid 

 this frequent replanting by heavy mulching. 

 Cover your bed all around the plants with a 

 good compost of half rotted straw or weeds, 

 or whatever may be in your pile. Cut off all 

 the runners that you do not need for plant 

 making, and keep your bed clean. In the 

 South I cover my bed almost entirely with a 

 thick mulch, and in this way a strawberry 

 bed may last for three or four years in pretty 

 good shape. 



Until recently I have been able to avoid 

 most of the strawberry enemies, but now the 

 borer has succeeded in getting a footing in 

 my grounds, and I have to move my beds 

 every year. The most troublesome enemy of 

 the strawberry is the grub of the May beetle. 

 It lives in the ground two years and emerges 



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