THE WILSON STRAWBERRY. 



517 



me in obtaining much better average crops from it than 

 from any other variety that I have tried, and they have 

 been many. Firstly, it requires very rich land, and I do 

 not think it possible to grow a large crop on poor, or 

 even on a moderately rich soil. Secondly, it is not a 

 strong grower as compared with Crescent, Warfield No. 

 2, or even the Bubach or Jessie ; hence the necessity of 

 setting the plants closer together than most, if not any 

 other variety that I have ever grown. Thirdly, I can 

 make the beds yield but one large crop ; hence the 

 necessity of setting new beds every year. By large 

 crops I mean not 

 less than from 

 200 to 300 bush- 

 els per acre. 

 For quite a num- 

 ber of years past > 

 the average yield y 

 has been consid- 

 erably more 

 than the amount 

 first named. 

 Fourthly, I can- 

 not make them 

 yield a large 

 crop by reset- 

 t i n g the same 

 ground year after 

 year, but use the 

 land for other 

 crops two or 

 three years be- 

 tween the straw- 

 berry crops. 

 Neither do I 

 take runners 

 from plants that 

 have been ex- 

 hausted by bear- 

 ing a large crop 

 of fruit. I set 

 plants in the 

 spring, and 

 when they come 

 into bloom, as 

 many of them 

 will, I remove 



all the blossoms and keep the entire growth in the young 

 plants until they commence throwing out runners. 

 These runners are trained around the parent plant at 

 nearly equal distances, thereby preventing their being 

 crowded together. The result is a set of strong healthy 

 plants, and from these beds are taken my plants for 

 the next spring's setting. They are cultivated very care- 

 fully and are protected during winter. Such, in brief, 

 is my plan with the Wilson. I have only once failed to 

 have at least a paying crop, and then it was my fault, and 

 not that of the plants. My sons, as well as myself, con- 

 sider the stock stronger and better in every way than 



Grown in New York in i 



when we obtained it in 1861. It has been my main re- 

 liance ever since it came into bearing, and seems likely 

 to remain so, and if I could have but one variety, I 

 should not hesitate for a moment to take the Wilson." 



From T. T. Lyon, South Haven, Mich. — " The Wilson 

 strawberry has, from the incipiency of commercial 

 small fruit culture in this Lake Shore region, stood 

 nearly or quite at the head of the list of profitable 

 varieties, and has not yet quite lost its hold upon grow- 

 ers and dealers. For years the dissemination of newer 

 varieties has been slowly, but surely, undermining the 



p o p u 1 a rity of 

 this old favor- 

 ite, prominent 

 among which 

 have been the 

 Crescent, the 

 Sharpless, the 

 Mt. Vernon and 

 more recently 

 Haverland No. 2 

 and possibly 

 Jessie. Still 

 there are yet 

 many planters 

 who adhere with 

 unyielding tena- 

 city to the old- 

 time preference 

 for the Wilson. 

 It has almost in- 

 variably been 

 grown in matted 

 rows, three or 

 four feet from 

 center to center, 

 with a space be- 

 tween, kept open 

 by the cultivator, 

 wide enough for 

 the accommoda- 

 tion of pickers. 

 Occasional 

 growers, how- 

 ever, especially 

 on light soils, 

 keep the plants 



in hills, planting in checks, rowing in both ways and cut- 

 ing off the runners, and admitting of cross-cultivation. 

 The preferred practice seems to he to secure but a 

 single crop of fruit from a plantation, which is then 

 plowed under, a new plantation having been made, in 

 spring, upon fresh ground for the succeeding season's 

 crop. The persistent attacks of certain fungi, to which 

 this variety has been liable, may have much to do with 

 its alleged 'running out, ' and these attacks may, per- 

 haps, be largely due to neglect in cultivation. The fact 

 of the eminent success of J. M. Smith, of Wisconsin, 

 as well as that of various other superior cultivators, 



