FERTILIZERS FOR STRAWBERRIES. 



353 



above, a post might be driven in at intervals of twelve 

 feet, and long canes tied in a horizontal position to these 

 posts. This also forms an excellent trellis. 



Allow only two shoots to grow from each plant, and 

 nip off all others as soon as they appear. When the 

 plants are about four feet in height, nip off the tops of 

 the shoots, and keep all side shoots down. This, to 

 some, may seem troublesome and expensive, but if you 

 follow this method you will be able to put your tomatoes 

 in the market first ; you will have ripe tomatoes in April. 

 When all danger of frost is past, the plants still in the 

 frame should be set out. The tomato will be found to 

 fruit earlier if transplanted two or three times before 

 setting it out in its fruiting quarters. 



Another sowing may be made at the end of February 

 to succeed the plants set out in March ; they will fruit 

 early in June. A sowing made towards the end of March 

 will give ripe fruit from the end of June to the end of 

 July. A sowing should be made about the end of May 

 to carry you through August and September, and you 

 should sow again about the last week in July, or the first 

 in August, for fruit during October and the early part of 

 November ; and if you have a greenhouse and want to- 

 matoes at Christmas, you must sow again about the mid- 

 dle of September. The method of training first de- 

 scribed will answer for the several crops, but if it is 

 thought advisable, wire may be employed instead of the 

 canes. The plants may be set three feet apart in the 

 rows, leaving four feet from row to row. Tie in four 

 shoots from each plant, and allow no other shoots to 

 grow. Tomatoes so far south as this rot badly if allowed 

 to spread over the ground ; and besides, it is very diffi- 



cult to apply fungicides successfully. When the plants 

 are spread over the ground, they prevent the surface of 

 the ground from becoming dry, and thus keep up a con- 

 tinued dampness very favorable to decay. When staked, 

 the cultivator can be kept going among them, and thus 

 the soil is always in a loose and open condition, and so 

 forms the best natural mulch possible. When grown in 

 rows and neatly staked and tied, a patch of tomatoes, 

 when loaded with ripe or nearly ripe fruit, is a very 

 beautiful sight. 



After the crop has done its best, it should be cleared 

 off as speedily as possible, and some other crop put in. 

 Sweet potatoes or corn are good to follow the first crop, 

 and beets, carrots, turnips, peas, snap beans, Irish pota- 

 toes or cabbage might follow the crop cleared off in 

 August. 



1 would plant the following varieties of tomatoes ; I 

 name them according to earliness and excellence. Dwarf 

 Champion, Prelude, Ignotum (this variety must be staked 

 to succeed in the south) ; Jones' Hybrid, Mayflower, Liv- 

 ingston's Beauty, Market Garden, Acme, Lorillard, Al- 

 pha, Matchless, Cleveland, Optimus, Brandywine, New 

 Jersey, Golden Queen, (this is a yellow tomato of good 

 size, and it is a most abundant bearer, but the color is 

 against it). The Shah is another smooth yellow-fruited 

 variety ; the fruit is shaded with red. Mikado is a va- 

 riety much lauded, but it is so deeply furrowed and 

 otherwise deformed as to be nearly useless as a market 

 fruit. When growing tomatoes for market, the aim 

 should not be to produce very large fruits ; those weigh- 

 ing about four ounces have been found to sell best. 



Lotdsiana. H. W. Smith. 



FERTILIZERS FOR STRAWBERRIES. 



^■EW weeks ago we reproduced 

 an article from The American 

 Garden by Mr. Joseph Harris, 

 in which nitrate of soda was 

 highly recommended as a fer- 

 tilizer for strawberries. Ste- 

 phen Powers, editor of the 

 Dispatch, who is considered the best authority on 

 all matters pertaining to strawberries in Florida, 

 says in the last issue of his paper : 



"We hope none of our readers will follow the advice 

 of that eminent authority (for the north), Joseph Harris, 

 and use nitrate of soda on their strawberries. If they 

 do, they will be extremely likely to hear from their com- 

 mission merchants that unwelcome report, "received in 

 bad order, soft, mouldy, rotten." Nitrate of soda will 

 make an admirable growth of foliage in the fall or early 

 winter, but it is potash the plants need now, to develop 

 fruitfulness and render the fruit firm and of a good ship- 

 ping quality." — Florida Agriculturist, Feby . iith. 

 Remarks of Joseph Harris. 

 If potash applied in Florida "now," or when the fruit 



is formed will "develop fruitfulness and render the fruit 

 firm and of a good shipping quality," it is an important 

 discovery. 



The English strawberry growers near London, who 

 produce large berries by the free use of liquid manure, 

 find that it will not do to continue its use beyond a certain 

 time in the growth of the fruit or the quality will be in- 

 jured. And it is found that a large dose of nitrate of 

 soda after the truit is formed may have the same effeft. 



The first time I used nitrate of soda on strawberries I 

 was afraid to put on too much and so I sowed broadcast, 

 perhaps about 200 lbs. per acre. Finding that it did 

 not injure the plants I sowed about as much more, and 

 continued sowing about every time it rained, or I "felt 

 like it " till I must have put on an enormous dressing. It 

 was an old bed, and the effect was wonderful. Of course 

 I do not know whether the fruit would have carried from 

 Florida to New York, but I know it was very good on 

 our own table. And since that time T have used nitrate 

 of soda every year on our strawberries. 



It certainly improves the size and appearance of the 

 fruit, and no one ever found fault with the quality. Mr. 

 Powers says it "will make an admirable growth of foli- 



