176 
October, 1890. 
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The Middlefield Strawberry. 
Among the very recent introductions of 
value may be mentioned the strawberry 
here illustrated and which is being brought 
out this autumn. It is named for its place 
of origin. Middlefield. Conn. . and is a chance 
seedling. Like many other new varieties 
its flowers are pistillate, and that will be re- 
The Autumn Setting of Small Fruits. 
October affords splendid opportunities for 
the performance of work that would other- 
wise crowd us to do properly in spring. 
When people have learned generally the 
benefits to be derived from fall planting, 
and practise it, there will be more time to 
perform spring operations well. There are 
certain precautions to be taken, however, 
in fall planting, the neglect of which it is 
that makes the failures so often attributed 
to unseasonable planting. Let us see what 
are the details of fall planting. 
Having decided what to plant, we order 
berries, currants, gooseberries, etc., in the 
usual way, we place upon the soil around 
the plants a shovelful of well-rotted stable 
manure, and cut back the canes of the 
raspberries and blackberries to within six 
inches of the ground. Then at the approach 
of freezing weather we mound up the soil 
completely over the plant ; and we also 
mound up the soil in similar manner around 
the stems of the young, newly-set currant 
and gooseberry bushes. This not only 
affords protection to the roots, but prevents 
the plants from heaving out of the soil and 
being loosened by heavy winds, which is 
The Middlefield Strawberry. 
garded as a defect by some people, but we ! 
think this prejudice against pistillates is a 
serious mistake and one that prevents many 
people from growing the most productive 
varieties in existence. The plant of the 
Middlefield is promising, being both strong 
and healthy, with dark foliage free from 
rust, and some good authorities, who have 
fruited it, pronounce it prolific. The berries 
are quite large, nearly conical, and very 
regular and uniform in size and shape; it is 
of a brilliant, dark glossy crimson, and col- 
ors evenly, with no green tip. It is a showy 
berry of good quality and one of much 
promise, ripening its fruit about midseason, I 
the stock, but do not desire it dug and 
shipped until the wood has fully ripened 
and leaves have fallen, which will be after 
the first sharp frost — about October 10th to 
15th in this latitude. If we are not ready 
to plant when stock is received we carefully 
“heel” it in — that is, open a trench suffici- 
ently large to receive the roots and a goodly 
portion of the canes, and cover all up well 
with earth — where it may remain until 
planted, or may be there wintered over 
until spring by the addition of more earthy 
covering when freezing weather sets in, if 
not convenient to plant in fall. 
Having set out our raspberries, black- 
especially the case with trees. The mounds 
are, of course, leveled in spring, and the 
plants, being firmly established in their 
places, start to grow at the earliest possible 
moment, with no check to their growth like 
that given by transplanting in spring, and 
with no rough handling to injure and break 
the new sprouts which start so early. It is 
very seldom the case, indeed, that we can 
get plants in the ground in spring whilst 
perfectly dormant, and it often happens that 
our season opens so late that they are well 
advanced before they can be planted, hence 
the advantage of having them already in 
the ground in their proper places. 
