To grow Strawberries in perfection the bed should be exceedingly well prepared beforehand by digging or 

 ploughing thoroughly and deeply, turning under a liberal coating of well-rotted stable manure. The Strawberry 

 delights in a moist, rich soil, hence in selecting location choose that which is the most retentive of moisture and 

 yet not wet. It will, however, succeed almost anywhere if well manured, and soil that is not naturally 

 moist should be kept well mulched after the spring rains. Avoid the shade of trees. If possible, give the soil a 

 good topdressing of ground bone before planting and harrow it in. When the plants are coming into bearing 

 apply unleached wood ashes or muriate of potash along the rows ve7-y early in spring, just before a rainfall. 



It is better to wait for rain than to set layer plants in the time of drought. Herein lies one of the advantages 

 of pot-grown plants. They can be planted at any time with entire success; and it frequently occurs that there is 

 little or no rain-fall during the whole of July and August. In setting layer plants during warm weather water 

 copiously as soon as planted, shading each plant for a few days with a handful of coarse litter, or better yet, 

 if one has them, with berry baskets or boxes. In setting pot-grown plants in a dry time, dip the "ball " in water 

 before planting. Always make the soil very firm about the plant in setting, pressing it with the full weight of 

 the body poised upon the closed hands placed either side of the plant. Do not plant too deep ! Plant even with 

 the surface, or as the plants stood before being dug; no deeper. It is best always to plant at least three varieties 

 — early, medium and late — to expand the season to its full limits. 



For hill culture in the family garden set the plants in rows two feet apart and the plants fifteen inches apart 

 in the rows, or if to be worked by horse and cultivator make the rows two and a half to three feet apart and the 

 plants one foot apart in the rows. In either case cut oft" all runners as they appear. If to be grown in matted 

 rows plant in rows from three to four feet apart and the plants a foot apart in the rows, permitting the runners 

 to grow at will. Keep the soil mellow and free from weeds by frequent hoeing or cultivation. Mulching is indis- 

 pensable to the best results and should always be practiced. At the approach of winter, as soon as ground is 

 frozen, cover the rows completely with salt hay or other loose, light material. Light strawy manure is excellent 

 for this purpose as the soluble poi'tion leaches into the soil and affords nourishment to the plants. Evergreen 

 branches are very useful for securing the coveiing in place and are themselves a protection. When the plants 

 start in spring rake the mulch from off the plants sufficiently to permit them to grow up, and leave it on the sur- 

 face about the plants to protect the fruit and keep it clean, and also to keep the soil moist and cool. 



POT-GROWN PLANTS. 



These are indispensable to summer planting and the only sure way of getting fruit next year when we have 

 failed to plant last spring. A properly grown potted plant will furnish a good crop of fruit the following season 

 and the berries will be of the largest and finest; the plants, moreover, will make other plants by running, if the 

 soil is good, and these also will bear fruit the following season. True, their cost is somewhat greater than that of 

 layer plants but their advantages are so many that there can be no comparison in value between them for sum- 

 mer planting, whilst the fact of the potted plants so quickly increasing in number by running, reduces the cost 

 to very little above that of ordinai y layers. There is no shock in transplanting pot-grown plants, but they start 

 to grow at once. Layer plants are not to be procured until late in the season but potted plants may be had at 

 any time in summer and autumn, and planted in any weather, even though it be hot and dry, without check or 

 hindrance. Herein is their chief value, and they ai"e now almost universally' used for summer and early autumn 

 planting, with general satisfaction. The plants we offer are strong and healthy, grovm from young beds specially 

 planted last autumn for the production of young plants and will be found immensely satisfactory. 



FERTILIZATION OF THE BLOSSOMS. 



The blossoms of all strawberries in cultivation are either hermaphrodite (perfect) or pistillate (imperfect) and 

 the vai'ieties nanied in this pamphlet are perfect except those 

 marked with the letter P, which are pistillate. The pistillate 

 flowers differ from the hermaphrodite or perfect ones in being 

 destitute of stamens, or nearly so, and unable, therefore, to 

 properly fertilize themselves with pollen. It is consequently 

 essential, when pistillate varieties are grown, that a perfect 

 flowered variety be planted near them in order to pi-operly 

 fertilize their blossoms, in the proportion of about one row of 

 perfect flowered plants to about every three or four rows of 



pistillates. When thus properly fertilized the pistillate vari Pistillate, or mpcrfect. 

 eties are often the most, productive, and there is really no good reason for the preju- 

 dice that often exists against them. If but one variety be grown, however, it is, of course, essential that it be a 

 perfect-flowered sort and not a pistillate one. 



Bi-sexual, or Perfect 



