246 Sirawherries — their Cultivation, Sfc. 
In order to preserve the fruit clean, the space between the rows 
should be covered just before the fruit begins to ripen, with a thin 
layer of straw. Managed in this way they will continue to yield 
plentifully for four or five years. 
That there are fertile and sterile plants we have every reason 
to believe, from the fact of having, in our early practice, once 
selected plants with the longest and largest leaves, and most vi- 
gorous growth, (which we now think were male plants,) for a 
bed — the consequence was we had no fruit, though they blos- 
somed tolerable well. There seems to be some diversity of 
opinion on this subject, and as we have no pretentions to the 
science of botany, we shall leave this for others to determine. 
"In all the long discussions about barren and fertile straw- 
berries," says the editors of the Cultivator, " the actual amount 
which each variety will yield per acre, w^hich is of great im- 
portance, appears to have been entirely forgotten. To one who 
raises for market, it is quite essential to select such a variety as 
will yield a surplus of a hundred per cent above the cost of raising, 
rather than one that will yield no such surplus at all; and the 
home cultivator wishes to get as much from his labor and land as 
practicable. Only a few statements of the amount per acre have 
ever been made. The Old Hudson, (of Cincinnati,) which is 
probably the most productive of all strawberries as yet much cul- 
tivated, has produced, according to N. Longworth, at the rate of 
5000 quarts, or 156 bushels per acre. Burr's Late Prolific, a 
variety lately originated at Columbus, Ohio, it is stated yielded 
35 quarts on a bed 6 by 20 feet, which is almost 240 bushels per 
acre; it doubtless received the best possible culture. It would be 
very interesting and of great value to know the comparative pro- 
ductiveness of such varieties as Hovey's Seedling, Large Early 
Scarlet, Ross's Phoenix, Swainstone's Seedling, (see cut,) Black 
Prince, and others raised side by side, and treated precisely alike. 
Such experiments would greatly facilitate the selection of the best 
sorts for each different part of the country." The first and third 
varieties are comparatively new, and of American origin. 
In order to show the importance of cultivating the stra\vberry, 
we give the following statistics: — In 26 days of last summer, 
1847, 4572 bushels sold in New- York,— 514 in one day. 80,000 
baskets, equal to 833 bushels, weighing 25 tons, were brought in 
one day over the Erie Railroad. Whole number of baskets sold 
in New-York, equal to 602,640, being an increase of 212,000, 
or 24 per cent over last year, (1846) value |20,000 in a season I 
