CUMBERLAND (B). 
EARLY TO LATI-:. It is that great big crimson ber- 
ry so sweet that even an invalid can eat it. Many peo- 
ple who cannot eat a sour berry can eat of this to their 
fill. Splendid berry for comimny when you serve with 
stems. Not a very good shipper and will look dull, if left 
in sunshine for a considerable time after picking. Pedi- 
gree of nineteen years selection and restriction. 
BIG PLANTS VS. LITTLE PLANTS. 
Some people judge a plant purely by its 
size. You might as well judge a machine or a 
watch in the same way. The value lies in the 
perfection and strength of its internal organ- 
ism. 
When you cut a runner on one plant it will 
at once throw out another runner because of a 
weakness in its seed forming organs. Anoth- 
er plant of the same variety, but which has 
been kept under restriction and has a strong 
fruit organism, having the runner cut throws 
up a second crown and forms another fruit 
bud. Now, if you want fruit, the latter plant 
would be far more profitable. 
On an average, these thoroughbred plants 
will run about twice as large as common plants 
because they are not crowded and are perfect- 
ly balanced in all their parts, but if any one 
ordered a number of varieties and expected 
them to be all the same size plants, he would 
be disappointed. The Warfield and Senator 
Dunlap as well as most of the extra early 
sorts cannot be made to make as large plants 
as Marshall, Haverland and other late sorts, 
because their habit of runner making is dif- 
ferent. 
A big plant is merely one in which the vege- 
table parts are developed. The best plant is 
one evenly balanced in its organism and fully 
matured so it will undergo the hardship of 
shipment and transplanting. "By their fruit 
ye shall know them." 
LOCATION AND VARIETIES. 
The leading topic in our correspondence is 
about adaptability of varieties to certain lo- 
calities and soils. To all these inquirers I have 
to say that the strawberry is the most uni- 
versal fruit in the world. Unlike the tree and 
bush fruits, hardiness is not a factor since all 
OLYE (B). 
MEniU.M K.ARLY. There must be plenty of fuel 
under its boiler (niaiuire rich in nitrogen) and then it 
will astonish you. No berry is more productive, but if 
land is not rich it is impossible for the plant to ma- 
ture all its fruit. It will do its work, if a liberal supply of sta- 
ble manure has been used, or about one bundrcd pounds of 
nitrate of soda to the acre is sown alongside the row 
in the spring so the rains will wash it into the soil. 
This stimvilates leaf growth. Berries are crimson color, 
true as a top, great big fellows and just pile up around 
the plants. Sbips well and always sells like hot cakes at 
a county fair. Tenth year of selection and restriction. 
varities are hardy. The finest strawberries 
in the world are found in Alaska even near 
the Artie Circle and along the Hudson Bay 
and the same varieties flourish in Florida, 
Cuba and Mexico and even in South America, 
Europe and Asia. It is not fastidious but it 
does enjoy good food and generous tillage. 
It succeeds on all good garden soils where 
general farm vegetables will grow. 
Tt is true that varieties, like all other plants, 
differ in their behavior on different soils and 
methods of culture. One variety makes long 
roots and penetrates the soil deeply and will 
therefore succeed on droughty land where 
another with short roots will require a heavy, 
naturally moist soil with an extra allowance 
of food. Some varieties do have a stronger 
constitution just as animals have and will 
therefore stand more hard usage. Some soils 
contain a certain element tliat one sort is 
especially fond of and this will flourish while 
another variety not caring for that particular 
substance would not do so well. 
There are some sorts so constitutionally 
strong in their vegetative parts and so vigor- 
ous in their seed organs that they will do well 
under almost any circumstances and these are 
the fellows we are all looking for. We call 
them well tested and by that we mean they are 
have been grown all over the country on all 
kinds of soils and under every mode of till- 
age and yet they all show up with bounteous 
crops of delicious fruit. 
They are the safe varieties to plant largely. 
It is niy business to keep tab on all these 
things and ascertain the extent to which a 
variety has been tested and its record, of fail- 
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