20 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Straivberries. — The season draws to its 

 close, and those who have had an insufficient 

 supply of berries, and have neglected to set 

 out new feeds during the spring, will be anx- 

 ious to learn how to provide a sufficiency for 

 another year. Under the old plan, the ground 

 for a new bed would have to be prepared dur- 

 ing summer, and the plants set out in Sep- 

 tember, producing about one-third of a crop 

 next season ; but now, thanks to the Potting 

 System, operations may be commenced at 

 once, and nearly a full crop of first- 

 class berries realized in less than a 

 year. 



These Potted Plants, which are 

 now sold by most plant-growers and 

 dealers, are produced by sinking 

 small flower-pots in the ground, di- 

 rectly under the Strawberry-plants 

 just forming. Thus the young plant 

 strikes root in the soil within the 

 pot, and when, a few weeks later, 

 it is detached from its parent, not 

 only every root and fiber is pre- 

 served, but remains in the same 

 position in which it grew — an ad- 

 vantage which is not attainable in 

 the ordinary way of planting. 



For shipment, the plants are 

 shaken out of the pots with the en- 

 tire ball of roots and soil intact, each 

 one wrapped in a piece of paper 

 and packed like other potted plants, 

 in which condition they will stand 

 safely a journey of two weeks or 

 move. On receipt of the plants, 

 they should, if found to be dry, be 

 watered freely before being taken 

 out of the box, to prevent the 

 crumbling off of the soil. The 

 little balls are then dug into the 

 previously thoroughly prepared 

 ground, not deeper than to be barely 

 covered with soil. In dry weather, 

 a thorough soaking with water, 

 after planting, is desirable. 



The after treatment does not 

 differ from that of spring-planted 

 Strawberries. The ground has to 

 be kept loose and mellow and free 

 from weeds, and, if berries of the 

 largest size are desired, all runners 

 must be cut off before they become 

 rooted in the soil. A piece of 

 ground from which Early Peas or 

 Potatoes have just been removed 

 offers a most suitable place for a 

 new bed ; and even an old Strawberry bed, if 

 no other spot is available, may, after thorough 

 working and manuring, be successfully re- 

 planted with potted plants. 



Raspberries and Hhtrkbcrrtcs require similar 

 treatment. The suckers, which spring up all 

 around the stools, have to be cut off with a 

 sharp hoe, or scuffle-hoe. Of the new shoots 

 from the main plants, not more than four 

 should be left for next year's bearing ; and 

 these, unless tied to stakes or trellises, should 

 be topped when about three and a half to 

 four feet high. This induces the formation 

 of strong upright stems, which will be stout 

 enough to uphold the fruit without support. 

 For immediate propagation, the young suck- 

 ers maybe transplanted during rainy weather. 



THE BID WELL STRAWBERRY, 



As " to-morrow never comes," so it seems 

 that the coming Strawberry never comes, but 

 is constantly coming. The air still resounds 

 with the roar of the coming Sharpless, when 

 already the mighty boom of the coming Bid- 

 well is heard in the near distance. Its ad- 

 vance guard showed itself last year on the 

 exhibition tables of the New York Horticult- 

 ural Society, in the shape of a plate of mag- 

 nificent berries. We were so favorably 

 impressed with their good qualities that we 

 requested the exhibitor, Rev. E. P. Roe, to 

 give his experience with this variety to our 

 readers. He writes as follows : 



" It is my practice to obtain about every. 



THE BIDWELL STRAWBERRY. 



thing new in the way of small fruits from year 

 to year, and to set them out in trial beds, where 

 their comparative merits can be seen at a 

 glance. Too often their demerits or medi- 

 ocrity are so clearly and promptly shown that 

 I quietly dig them under, and, as far as I am 

 concerned, relegate them to the obscurity 

 they so richly deserve. Among these can- 

 didates, however, here and there one will 

 assert its superiority, and occasionally one 

 will give such promise as to invite the widest 

 trial. About three years ago I received some 

 plants from Mr. T. T. Lyon, of Michigan, 

 under the name of the Bidwell, and they 

 were treated as the others. With Mr. Lyon's 

 assistance I am trying to trace the origin of 

 this variety, but will not give the information 



in my possession until we can speak more 

 definitely. As far as I can judge from two 

 years' trial, it is a descendant of our hardy 

 native species— the Fragaria Yirginiana — and 

 will therefore prove to be adapted to a wide 

 range of country. At any rate, it soon took 

 the lead of all my novelties, and during the 

 past year of unparalleled drought I failed to 

 see wherein it was surpassed by any of the 

 standard kinds. Mr. Charles Downing and 

 Mr. Peter B. Mead, who saw it in bearing, 

 were prompt in saying it was more promising 

 than any of my new kinds. Every plant was 

 literally loaded with fruit, which averaged 

 as large as that of the Sharpless, and was 

 brighter colored, better flavored, and firmer. 



Of the question of firmness, how- 

 ever, I shall not yet speak un- 

 hesitatingly, for all berries are 

 comparatively firm in a dry sum- 

 mer, and I do not believe in indis- 

 criminate praise any more than in 

 sweeping censure. The perfect 

 Strawberry has not yet been dis- 

 covered, and probably never will 

 be. As is true of nearly all the 

 larger varieties, the first berries 

 are occasionally cockscombed ; but 

 the great bulk are very uniform in 

 the shape indicated by the cut, and 

 the entire crop averaged large. A 

 tendency to a green tip, when the 

 rest of the berry was red, was the 

 only fault mentioned by Mr. Lyon — 

 a fault that did not occur during 

 the last hot, dry season on my 

 place, but which, on general princi- 

 ples, is almost inseparable from 

 long, conical berries. I am satis- 

 fied of this, however, that the Bid- 

 well will redden thoroughly if left 

 on the vines until ripe. I have 

 never seen the slightest tendency 

 to a hard, tough end, that deforms 

 some kinds. It is not according to 

 nature that a conical berry should 

 color at the tip as soon as near to 

 the calyx, and all fruits deserve 

 time to ripen. On my place the 

 Bidwell is an early berry, following, 

 but a few days later, the Duchess 

 and Wilson, and thus it does not 

 interfere with the larger and later 

 berries, and supplies the need of 

 an early showy market berry. One 

 of its peculiarities is a tendency to 

 make an enormous stool, even in 

 the propagating beds. Under hill 

 culture on rich land it would pro- 

 duce a superb crop of magnifi- 

 cent berries, that would bring the 

 highest price. Is this the coming 

 Strawberry? I don't know. I think it is, 

 and I prove my faith by planting it more 

 largely than any other. Only after it has 

 been grown successfully from Nova Scotia 

 to Florida, and from Maine to California, 

 can we know whether it is the coming 

 berry. I can only say, it is the most promis- 

 ing novelty that I have seen. The fact that 

 the Bidwell endured last summer's unparal- 

 leled drought better than any variety on my 

 place, and thrived splendidly on light soils, 

 speaks well for its prospects in the South as 

 well as the North." 



[We have lately received most favorable 

 reports from other localities, and the mag- 

 nificent berries at recent exhibitions seem 

 to justify Mr. Roe's expectations. — Ed.] 



