20 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[February, 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Those who contemplate setting out small fruit 

 plants or fruit trees should lose no time to per- 

 fect the preliminary arrangements upon which 

 the future success of the fruit garden depends 

 in a great measure. 



In many cases it will be found more satisfac- 

 tory in every respect to plow under the old 

 apology of a fruit garden and start on new 

 ground with improved varieties, than to try to 

 patch up and revive a worn out plantation of 

 worthless kinds ; to consign to oblivion the little 

 square patches of Strawberries and other fruits 

 scattered about the garden without system, 

 and substitute long straight rows from which 

 better results are obtained with less labor. 



The Selection of Varie- 

 ties presents to many a mo- 

 mentous difficulty. They 

 are so afraid of not being 

 able to choose the best kinds 

 or not to receive what they 

 want, that they hesitate, 

 Wait, and often delay order- 

 ing plants till the proper 

 season for planting has 

 passed. Any one at all fa- 

 miliar with the marvelous 

 improvements in fruits dur- Ljfr" ft) "*' "P 

 ing the past half century, ™ 

 and especially the last 

 twenty-five years, must be 

 aware that the number of 

 first-class varieties is now 

 so great that no one who 

 makes the raising of plants 

 a business can afford to 

 cumber his ground with 

 inferior kinds, which 

 just as much to produce as 

 the best. There is no diffi- 

 culty in obtaining the lat- 

 ter, as good 



Nurseries are found in 

 almost every fruit growing 

 section and with improved 

 methods of packing and 

 our excellent mail facilities, 

 plants can be sent cheaply 

 and safely to any part of 

 the country. 



Nurserymen who have 

 an established business and a good business rep- 

 utation, are as anxious to satisfy and please 

 their customers as the dry goods merchant and 

 grocer, so that those who are not themselves 

 acquainted with the most desirable varieties of 

 fruits will generally find it to their advantage 

 to inform a reliable nurseryman of the number 

 of plants and trees they wish to set out, the 

 size of the ground, the character of the soil, the 

 kinds they have already and do not want, and 

 then leave the selection of varieties to him. No 

 one who orders of those whose advertisements 

 are found in the American Garden need fear to 

 be cheated. With many of our advertisers we 

 are personally acquainted, and all of them we 

 believe, will do what they promise. 



Tree Peddlers, as a class, are generally hooted 

 down as frauds and swindlers. We do not par- 

 ticipate in this indiscriminate condemnation, 

 knowing that there are as respectable and hon- 

 est men found among traveling tree agents as 

 in any other business, and rogues likewise. 



THE MANCHESTER STRAWBERRY, 



On the 8th of June last my fellow passenger 

 on a down train of the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R. 

 proved to be an old cultivator of Strawberries. 

 — a man of "three score and ten," I should 

 judge, yet full of life and interesting stories of 

 his beds of Wilson's Albany twenty years ago, 

 when the fruit was sent to Boston at 40, 50 and 

 60 cents a quart, and the demand was far in 

 excess of the supply. He sighed for the good 

 old days gone by and asked, "What variety is 

 there now that will ship as well as the old Wil- 

 son t hat is large enough and good enough to 

 sell at paying prices in the first-class markets 

 of the present day? If you know of such a 

 berry I would like to know the name of it." 



I told him I could not name the berry, yet if 

 he would go with me to New Jersey the next 

 day I thought I could perhaps show it to him. 

 Being unable to go, we parted in New York, 



THE MANCHESTER STRAWBERRY. 



he promising to visit us and see the berry 

 as soon as it should be ripe. 



The next day was wet and rainy, yet I found 

 myself, with a large party of fruit growers, in 

 the original plantation of the Manchester 

 Strawberry, a field of some three or four acres, 

 set five years ago, and having had no cultivation 

 of any sort for four years. Yet there were very 

 few weeds and #rass growing to choke the plants. 

 The soil appeared little better than the white 

 sand of the ocean beach, and wholly destitute 

 of vegetable matter. Yet here were berries— 

 "millions" of them — bright and glossy, of 

 good size and delicious flavor. 



In our party were some of the best Straw- 

 berry experts in America, men well acquainted 

 with every variety in cultivation, and all agreed 

 that the Manchester was superior in almost 

 every respect to any other variety. 



The general question was that, if it will do such 

 wonders on this unpromising beach sand, what 

 will it do on good soil under good cultivation ? 



As few, if any, readers of The American 

 Garden will ever grow Strawberries with such 

 utter neglect or on so poor a soil as where the 

 Manchester originated, I will not fully describe 

 it as grown there, but give its characteristic 

 points as developed on good soil, grown in 

 matted rows under ordinary field culture along 

 with fifty or more other varieties. 



The plant is as strong and thrifty as the 

 Sharpless, although it does not make runners 

 as freely as that variety; foliage rich dark 

 green and very heavy ; has pistilate blossoms, 

 therefore must be grown near some perfect 

 flowering sort. It is the most prolific vari- 

 ety I have ever seen, in fact, much like the 

 Crescent, only more so, the vines being literally 

 loaded with berries of uniform size, while there 

 are but few very small berries, nor many mon- 

 strous ones, the whole product however mak- 

 ing the largest average of any variety I know 

 of. The form of the fruit 

 is perfect, similar to the 

 Cumberland Triumph, col- 

 or rich, bright, glossy scar- 

 let; it has a rich vinous, 

 refreshing flavor, and in 

 quality, I think, ranks 

 among the best. Its firm- 

 ness, as grown on the sands 

 of New Jersey, was pro- 

 nounced by all to be fully 

 equal to the Wilson, and 

 Mr. Idell, the commission 

 merchant that has sold the 

 fruit in New York for' the 

 past four years, is of the 

 same opinion. As grown 

 with us I can see nothing 

 to indicate that it is and 

 will not be just as firm as 

 in its original home. 



It may be a good ways 

 yet before perfection in 

 Strawberries is reached, yet 

 it is my impression that in 

 the Manchester we have 

 come nearer to it than I 

 thought we ever would be. 

 A Strawberry with the vig- 

 or of the Sharpless, the 

 productiveness of the Cres- 

 cent, with fruit of good fla- 

 vor, perfect in form, and 

 firm enough for shipping, 

 is a prize. I believe we 

 have it in the Manchester, 

 and many fruit growers, after they see it, I 

 think, would agree with my old fellow traveler 

 of June 8th who, after looking over the beds 

 for an hour or two, said : ' ' Well, that beats all. 

 If I was a few years younger I would set 

 twenty acres of them next spring if I had to 

 mortgage my farm to pay for the plants. 

 There is a fortune in that berry for a man 

 that will push a little and get ahead of the 

 crowd." J. H. Hale. 



Thinning and Packing of Fruit.— Marshall 

 P. Wilder says : "The importance of properly 

 thinning out fruit trees when bearing redun- 

 dant crops is more and more apparent. To 

 produce fruit that commands a good price in 

 market has become an absolute necessity. This 

 is seen especially in that intended for exporta- 

 tion, apples of good size, fair, and properly 

 packed, commanding in the English market 

 fully double the price of those which had not 

 received such care." 



