540 



A STRAWBERRY AFTERMATH. 



note the difference. They look like an altogether differ- 

 ent lot of fruit when they arrive in market after being 

 thrown about in loading and unloading at the train, and 

 after being jostled in a hurry over the stone pavements 

 of the city. We shipped berries in both ways, and found 

 that it made a difference of nearly two cents on a quart 

 in favor of sending by wagon. 



Setting Plants in Dry Weather. — It is easy enough 

 to give directions for setting out celery and other vege- 

 table-plants in hot and dry weather. "Plant in freshly- 

 stirred soil ; firm the ground well about the roots, etc ;" 

 all this is easily said. But when you come to set the 

 average quality of celery-plants, with the sun blazing 

 down from a cloudless sky day after day, and see fine 

 plants, taken out of a dish of water beside you, wilt in 

 your hands before you can put them in the ground, you 

 realize the difficulties of the undertaking. To over- 



come them we first try to get the best kinds of plants — 

 those with good roots and comparati\'ely little top. Plants 

 of this kind we can grow, but rarely buy. The average 

 vegetable-plant is top-heavy, but we have to set that kind 

 occasionally. When this is unavoidable we watch the 

 weather-reports, and plant at a time when cloudiness or 

 showers are announced for the next diy or two. Still, if 

 ready to plant we plant even in cloudless weather, taking 

 all reasonable care with the job. The plants receive a 

 copious watering after they are set, and are left until 

 the next morning. It the day promises to be clear we 

 cover the plants, or the whole plant-bed, if planted closely 

 as we now set our celery, with a thin sprinkling of hay. 

 It is left on for a number of days, or until the plants 

 have taken good hold on the soil, and is then removed, 

 preferably "on a cloudy or wet day, when the tenderlings 

 will miss its protection least. 



A STRAWBERRY AFTERMATH, 



experiences gleaned here and there from a wide territory. 



■ T WOULD be strange, indeed, if among 

 the many new and fine varieties of 

 strawberries so constantly being sent 

 out, none, after thorough trial, should 

 prove to be of superior merit ; and 

 strawberry - growers would stamp 

 themselves a slow-going guild if no 

 progress in methods of cultivation had been made of late. 

 We wished to have all the advances made during the past 

 season pointed out to our readers, and asked a number of 

 experts for brief replies to the following questions ; 



Have the liighly-lauded new sorts of strawberries proved satis- 

 factory? 



What varieties do you r.ow consider most desirable and profita- 

 ble for home and market? 



What new points worthy of general adoption in regard to the 

 planting, cultivation, picking and marketing of strawberries have 

 come under your observation the past year ? 



Some replies to these questions are given below : 



WILSON and WARFIELD IN WISCONSIN. 



The strawberry season just closing has, to me, been 

 most unsatisfactory. The season of i8gi was one of 

 almost unprecedented drouth in this portion of the 

 state, and my beds — about four acres set for this season's 

 crop— were caught by it before they had fairly started. 

 Besides, I neglected to water them at the proper time, 

 and, as a consequence, they made no fine growth of either 

 stools or runners. Under such circumstances I had no 

 right to expect a large crop of fruit, and I have not had 

 it : but my crop of experience will last a long time. 

 Moral : Fine crops of berries grown successively and 

 successfully for many years do not warrant carelessness 

 in berry-growing. 



During the last season's drouth, the Wilson, the 

 Bubach, Jessie, Haverland, Manchester, Crescent, Mon- 

 adnock, Oregon, and a number of other varieties seemed 

 to suffer about alike. Warfield stood the drouth mvch 



better than any of the varieties above named, and it 

 is the only variety that has given me a fine crop of 

 fruit this season. The Beder Wood, Enhance and some 

 other new varieties have not fruited with me. At one 

 time I was much pleased with the Manchester, and rec- 

 ommended it to others, but I now believe that I must 

 throw it away. It is a large and beautiful berry, and 

 with me has been a splendid bearer ; but it is difficult 

 to get its blossoms fertilized. Twice within five years 

 they have failed to get well fertilized, and, of course, 

 were not at their best. Another objection is that they 

 will not bear shipping any considerable distance. Still, 

 if I were growing berries for my own family only, I 

 should not like to do without Manchester. Next season 

 I shall probably plow under nearly or quite all of the 

 varieties that I have fruited, except Wilson and Warfield, 

 and, possibly, the Bubach. 



We have just finished picking our fourth or fifth crop 

 of Warfield berries, and I must say that I am delighted 

 with them. They really threaten to drive my magnifi- 

 cent Wilsons out of the garden. It is more than thirty 

 years since I obtained my first Wilson plants, and I am 

 certain that I speak within bounds when I say that I 

 have spent more than $ 1,000 in time and money in try- 

 ing to get something better, for the variety is not fault- 

 less. But no strawberry that I have ever grown threat- 

 ened to outrival it as does Warfield. The last sprirvg set- 

 ting of the two varieties are growing side by side, and the 

 Wilsons are certainly the finest plants for their age that 

 I ever saw, though Warfield makes a splendid showing. 



I am following pretty much my old system of cultiva- 

 tion. We make the land very rich, put it in the best 

 of order in every way, and set the plants early in the 

 spring. They are cultivated thoroughly, and when the 

 ground is frozen so hard that a team and wagon can go 

 over the beds without breaking through the frozen earth, 



