330 
SOUTHERN C U L 3^ r V A T 0 R . 
THE strawberry PATCH. 
The best soil for tliis delicious fruit is a sandy or even 
a gravelly Ioann, naoist, and rich in vegetable manure. An 
e.xcellent compost for an acre of ground would be 60 
bushels ofleaf-mould fiom the woods, 20 bushels of leached 
ashes, 5 bushels lime, and 5 or 4 quarts of salt. (This 
same proportion maybe observed for any given quantity 
of land ) Mix thoroughly, let it stand two or three days, 
scatter broadcast and plow in. Then harrow or rake the 
surface, making it fine, and set your plants in rows 3 feet 
apart, and 1 foot or 15 inches in the row. Or, if planting 
for market, on a large scale, set your plants in 3 rows one 
foot apart, and leave a 2 foot alley between every strip of 
this kind— said alley to be kept clean and open with the 
horse hoe. After the plants have become well rooted, 
cover the whole with partly decomposed leaves from the 
forest, or even chopped up pine or broom straw, leaving 
nothing exposed but the leaves and fruit-stalks of the 
plants. Our choice varieties have been heretofore raen- 
Pistillates. Staviinates, n?- 
tioned, but we will briefly recapitulate : Pistillatks, (or 
female blossom,) Hovei/s Seedling, McAcoy's Extra. Red, 
Crescent Seedling, Black Prince, McAvaifs Superior, 
Crimson Cone. St.mvh.vatk, or Hkrmaphrodite, (male, 
or “perfect” blossom,): Eongvxrrth's Prolific, Boston 
Pine, Walker's Seedling, Early Scarlet. We have also 
many new varieties on trial, such as Jinny Lind, Scott's 
Seedling, Lucy F'itch, Hooker's Seedling, Beverly, the 
Bush Atpinc-i,&.c., &c., but are not yet prepared to report 
on their merits. 
We have abandoned the planting of Pistillate plants 
among Stami nates, for the reason that they grow so ram- 
pantly that they soon mix up with, overrun, and crowd 
out the bearing plants. A proper admixture of Stami- 
nates(orimpregnators) beingabsolutely essential. however, 
we re-publish the following diagrams, which set forth the 
proper system of planting to secure the largest crops and 
keep the different varieties entirely separate and dis- 
I tinct : 
Herns aph rodites. 
Pistillalcs. 
No. 1. ' No. 2. Ab. 3, 
It willbe seen that Nos. I and 3, containing Pistillate plants, are fertilized or impregnated by the Staminate plants 
in the centre bed. No. 2, from which they are separated by alleys 6 feet wide— these alleys to be kept scrupulously 
free from all runners, especially those thrown off by the Staminate plants in the centre. The beds maybe made 
of any required size. The stars (*) represent the plants in 3 foot rows, 12 or 15 inches apart in the row. 
BEEP PLOWING, BUT SHALLOW CULTURE-'- 
“’BROOMSEBGE’S” REPLY TO “W. E.” 
Editors Southern Cultivator — It is refreshing to 
meet one who is willing to come to the point, and, as 
Davy Crocket would say, “take the bull by the horns ” 
We like the sjDirit with which “W. R.” comes up to the 
mark, and defends his position. Truth is all we should 
be after, yet it is too often the case that writers have one 
idea which they would establish, and they can see noth- 
ing else. Nearly every farmer has a sort of Procrustean 
bed upon which he would place every fellow, and cut his 
proportions down, or stretch them out to conform to its 
length, 
“W. R,” misunderstands our position. We will yield 
to no man in the ardor of our advocacy for deep plowing 
in the preparation of all soils, but after the crop is planted 
the ki^s the roots are disturbed the better, provided the 
grass can be kept down and the ground mellow and open 
to the action of air, dews and rains. On some soils and 
during some seasons, it is next to impossible to do this 
without deep plowing, but that by no means proves that 
cutting roots does good. It is only the least of two evils. 
If the soil be tenacious, or if it be packed together by 
dashing rains, it must be opened at the expense of the 
roots, for really it can be plowed no other way. During 
the year 1855, we cultivated our crop with the cultivator 
almost exclusively, and made one of the best crops ever 
grown on the plantation. During the present season we 
have not had a cultivator in the field, using only the turn 
plow and scooter, and we have the poorest crop, save 
one, ever grown on the place. This by no means proves 
that the cultivator is the best plow. Every rain of the 
past year has been a storm, and left the soil in such a 
condition that as soon as it became dry enough to plow, 
it was as hard as a brick-bat, 
“W. R.” has certainly put the cart before the horse in 
his “trimming back” argument in fruit growing. The 
“heading back” system is to reduce the quantity of fruit, 
but improve the quality: to give you three big peaches in 
lieu of six little ones. There is no analogy between cut- 
