134 
August, 1891. 
/ ORCHPiRD '/rnd \ O RRDEN \ 
Success in forcing strawberries. as with al- 
most everything else, depends largely upon 
starting right, and by this we mean getting 
the plants properly grown for forcing. The 
variety with which we have been the most 
successful is the Sharpless, although we 
have had good success with the old Seth 
Boyden, Jucunda and Triomphe de Gand. 
From its habit we think the Parker Earle 
would force admirably. 
Early in August small rose or thumb pots 
should be sunk in the soil even with the 
surface, filled with soil and the young 
plants that are just beginning to emit roots 
placed in them and held in position by a 
clod of earth placed upon its stem, as 
shown in Fig. 33. In about two weeks, or 
A Layered Plant. Fig. 33. 
as soon as the plants have made sufficient 
roots to hold the soil in a ball when remov 
ed from the pots (see Fig. 30), and before 
they have become potbound, they should 
be taken up and repotted into four inch 
pots in a soil composed of well-rotted sods, 
leaf mould and old cow manure. A soil 
made of sandy loam and cow manure is the 
best, but any 
good potting 
soil will an- 
swer. They 
should then be 
placed in a 
partially shad 
ed place and 
watered when 
A POTTED PLANT. Fig. 30. eVCT the SOi l 
becomes dry. It is injurious to permit the 
plants to become so dry that the leaves 
wilt, the object being to form large crowns 
that will produce strong and numerous fruit 
stalks. An occasional wetting with liquid 
manure will be found very beneficial, es- 
pecially if made from old cow-manure gath 
ered in a pasture. Of course all young 
plants or runners should be removed as they 
appear. Continue to repot the plants at 
intervals, as often as the plants fill the pots 
with roots, that is to say as soon as the roots 
touch the sides of the pots; using each time 
pots a size larger than the ones from which 
the plants are taken, until six inch pots are 
reached which is as large a pot as should 
be used. It is important that the plants 
should not be removed at once from the 
pots in which they were first layered, to 
the large sized pots, as the soil would sure 
ly become sour and water-logged owing to 
the necessary amount of fertilizers and 
water employed. 
If there is no strawberry plantation at 
hand from which to start the plants, good 
pot grown plants may be had at many nur- 
series, which will produce equal success; as 
the plants as first grown are simply pot- 
grown plants the same as those offered by 
nurserymen. 
Early Berries. 
Our long rain storms followed by inter- 
vals of fierce heat have been quite discour- 
aging to berries this season. Even the 
strawberry was drowned out in some sec- 
tions, though here we had an abundant har- 
vest, and now the vines are scorching 
brown. 
The earlier raspberry blossoms were kill- 
ed by frost, but the aftermath set plenti- 
fully of fruit, which was just beginning 
to ripen well into fine juicy cups when a 
month of parching drought dried them up, 
half ripened, upon the stem. Cuthbert 
came on early so as to escape this drought 
and so did Golden Queen, but the native 
black-caps and Greggs suffered severely. 
Shaffer stood up well in spite of it and ri- 
pened part of its fruit. A row of Shaffers 
set out late in April gave some fine berries. 
I ought not to have let them bear, had no 
idea they would, so they surprised me. The 
Shaffer is a favorite with us. It is not a 
good market berry as every one knows, be 
cause it is so soft, and of an unattractive 
purple color, but for flavor, size and pro 
ductiveness it is unsurpassed. Buyers who 
once have tasted the flavor of the Shaffer, 
in home markets, will have no other rasp 
berry, and for canning it is excellent, not 
being so dry as most raspberries; it is good 
to mix with black-caps to give them of its 
juice and flavor. 
Cuthbert is a handsome berry and never 
fails to sell well. It is also fairly produc- 
tive, but does not seem well adapted to our 
soil, or perhaps growers are too careless 
about their time and manner of setting it. 
I have heard some of them object to its fla- 
vor as being “woolly,” but I should not give 
it that name. 
Blackcaps grow thick and fine upon our 
hillsides in a wild state; so also does a yel 
low raspberry resembling Brinckle’s Or- 
ange, and people who do not care for fine 
flavor in fruits are well content to buy these 
from small boy pickers and peddlers, who 
sell them at 20 cents a gallon. 
Blackberries, so large and finely flavored 
that you could not tell them from your fav- 
orite Lawsons, are being sold now every- 
where for 10 cents a gallon, gathered from 
meadows and pastures everywhere. No one 
thinks of growing blackberries in gardens 
— Nature does it better for them. They 
would scout the idea as ridiculous! 
Juneberries were early and scarce, be 
cause of frosts, currants likewise. Too lit- 
tle attention is paid to the growing of cur 
rants and gooseberries in North Carolina 
They are among our finest fruits. In some 
of our colder mountain counties their 
growth and productiveness is wonderful. 
Huckleberries are in season now, (July 
6th). I find they are later and not so abun- 
dant as usual. We have not yet given up 
the attempt to transplant them to rows in 
our gardens, but a shaded, well drained 
spot must be given them, and they are best 
transplanted in Autumn, cutting off the 
tops even with the ground. — L. Greenlee, 
North Carolina. 
August. 
OUNG trees and nursery 
stock require to be kept 
in thrifty growth by fre- 
quent cultivation which 
is the best safe-guard 
against injury from 
drought. Bearing trees, 
however, should be cul- 
tivated but little as it may stimulate them 
into late growth which would be an injury 
should the winter prove severe. All bear- 
ing trees should go into winter quarters 
with well matured wood and buds to bear „ 
a good and full crop of fruit. For this rea- f 
son we usually recommend seeding down 
an orchard in clover or grass as soon as it 
comes into fair bearing. It also has a ten- 
dency to check twig-blight which is quite 
common in the West, on rich soil, with 
some varieties of apples, pears and quinces. 
Thirty years ago, when this country was 
new and the land very rich, we could not 
grow the pear with success, and many va- 
rieties of apples suffered likewise by the 
blight, Now, since our orchards are set in 
grass and land is not so rich and the growth 
not so rapid, we scarcely ever see any blight. 
We fear it no more and we can grow all 
kinds of pears with success. Young trees 
and stock may be grown under high culti- 
vation in rich soil but bearing trees cannot, 
with any degree of success. 
Summer apples and pears will now be 
ripe and should be disposed of as soon as 
possible as they decay rapidly in hot weath- 
er. Wild Goose plums should be gathered 
and sold as soon as they ripen. For ship- 
ping they should be gathered before they y 
are too ripe and packed in boxes or crates 
like strawberries; this method has given 
satisfaction. The Wild Goose so far is the 
best early plum we have; Forest Garden 
comes next in order, then the Miner and 
Kickapoo, the latter the largest and fin- 
est of all. The Quaker is also good. 
Budding may now be done and continued 
so long as the bark slips. It is best to pre- 
pare for budding a few weeks beforehand 
by first trimming up the stocks and giving 
them good cultivation so that they will be 
in thrifty growth when the work is done; 
then bud on the north side, if possible, and 
there will be a good chance of success. 
For our climate the stocks should be bud- 
ded low down so that the buds may be cov- 
ered with earth for winter protection, oth- 
erwise the work may be in vain. We only 
bud the peach and quince, as we find graft- 
ing a better method for all other kinds of 
fruit, except in some rare instances wlier€^ 
stock is short or varieties rare.— J. Stay- 
man. 
Thin out so that when fruit is fully grown 
no two specimens will touch each other. 
