208 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
nure before setting out the plants. On poor soil, 
an occasional top-dressing of manure may be 
given. The fruit wholesales in this city this year 
at 25 to 30 cents a quart, and retails at 37 to 50 
cents. We have no doubt that the berries can be 
raised, on a large scale, profitably dt 5 to 6 cents 
a quart, and there will always be an almost un¬ 
limited demand everywhere, at prices much above 
this. They have been profitably employed at 
25 cents per quart, for making blackberry wine. 
We have tasted an excellent wine made by add¬ 
ing 12 quarts of water and a little sugar, to 6 
quarts of juice obtained from 8 quarts of berries. 
THE RASPBERRY. 
This valuable fruit should be cultivated in every 
family garden. Raspberries follow the Strawber¬ 
ry, are excellent in flavor, and are esteemed health¬ 
ful to people of all ages, children in particular. 
They are not only a delicious dessert after dinner, 
and a simple, convenient accompaniment to the 
tea-table, but they make a rich jam, or preserve. 
They furnish a choice syrup for mixing with 
water, thus making a grateful drink in hot weath¬ 
er; and in pies and puddings, they are always a 
luxury. They are simple in cultivation, and if 
of hardy kinds, give little trouble in tending. 
From 25 hills, 4 stalks in the hill, set out only 
last year, on a plot 12 by 20 feet, we gathered a 
daily family supply during over four weeks, 
the present year They were not measured, but 
must have yielded one quart to a hill. The pro¬ 
duct will of course be larger hereafter. 
The common black and red varieties of the- 
fields, are very well in their way, but so full of 
seeds as to make them woody to the taste, and 
their small size is troublesome in serving them 
up, either for the table, or for cooking. Of the 
cultivated, or artificial varieties there are many. 
Yet those, for some reason or other, nearly all 
require Winter protection ; that is, they have to 
be bent down and covered with earth, as standing 
out all Winter, either kills the canes outright, or 
so injures the buds as to prevent their bearing. 
Perhaps, for marketing, the true Red Antwerp is 
the best, but it requires such constant Winter 
protection, and in the process so many of the 
canes are broken in bending them down, that it is 
a serious injury. The new varieties which have 
been introduced within few years, by our pains¬ 
taking cultivators, are many of them excellent, 
but they are seldom hardy, and require Winter 
protection. They have size and flavor to recom¬ 
mend them, and are well worthy of cultivation 
when properly managed. 
As a market fruit, the chief difficulty with every 
kind of Raspberry, is their liability to crush in 
carriage. This is inherent in the fruit itself, from 
its being hollow. If they could be picked with the 
stem upon them, the difficulty would be obviated. 
But when ripe—and the fruit is not fit for picking 
before—the berry cleaves from the core, which 
remains on the cane, and thus, the flesh being soft, 
surrounding an open cavity, if packed in any 
quantity over a pint, is crushed, of course, and 
there is no way to help it. Consequently, all who 
can grow them in their own garden, should do so 
to have them in perfection. 
We have seen in our late Summer travels, a 
Raspberry, so superior in some of its qualities that 
we have strong confidence in its cultivation as a 
domestic garden fruit—the “Allen” Raspberry, 
for ten years past cultivated by L. F. Allen Esq., 
in his farm gardens near Buffalo, where we saw 
them in great luxuriance and perfection. They 
are of the Red Antwerp family in appearance, 
both in wood and fruit, but are not the true An¬ 
twerp, being hardy as a currant bush without 
Winter protection, and throwing up a stout, vig¬ 
orous cane of six feet high and upwards in a good 
soil. The fruit is roundish, of full Antwerp size, 
prolific in bearing, bright red in color, and of de¬ 
licious flavor. Where they originated, Mr. Allen, 
could not tell us. He obtained them in his own 
neighborhood, from a once choice garden, being 
broken up we believe, and took all the plants left in 
it. Neither are they in cultivation in his vicinity, 
excepting a few lately taken from his own plants. 
Finding them so valuable, he last year author¬ 
ized his gardener to offer his surplus canes for 
sale, which he did to near ten thousand in num¬ 
ber, and so much was a hardy, good flavored 
Raspberry demanded, that all plants which 
could be spared were taken in parcels from ten to 
a hundred each, and many of them sent into dis¬ 
tant States. By reference to our advertising col¬ 
umns, our readers will see that they are.again 
advertised for sale; and as Fall planting is best 
for the Raspberry, those desiring will have an 
opportunity of transferring this excellent variety 
into their own gardens. 
STRAWBERRIES—CHAPTER VI11. * 
Some Practical Directions for Planting New Beds 
in September. 
This month is a good time for making new 
Strawberry beds, and we propose to bring togeth¬ 
er here a few plain, practical directions on pre¬ 
paring the ground, selecting plants, and setting 
them, though this may require a partial repetition 
of some things previously written in this series 
of articles. But let us inquire who need these 
directions. Last year we proposed to our read¬ 
ers to help make up five thousand strawberry 
beds and a large number joined in the enterprise, 
as we have learned from time to time from them¬ 
selves. This year we extend the proposal. 
What say you to the proposition, that the pres¬ 
ent readers of the Agriculturist form a Strawber¬ 
ry party, and make up this Fall thirty thousand 
beds among themselves 1 Or, allowing for 
those who have them already, and those who can¬ 
not attend to it, if there be such, let us strike this 
year for 
TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND STRAWBERRY BEDs! 
These can just as well be secured as the same 
number of cabbage plots. And what greater 
luxury than a plot of improved Strawberries. 
Reader, did you ever eat a bowl-full of Longworth’s 
Prolific, or Hovey’s Seedling, or McAvoy’s Supe¬ 
rior? If you have not, you have not yet enjoyed 
the finest, the best luxury that the soil produces. 
The wildlings gathered from the field, or the best 
of any kind you can purchase in the market, are 
scarcely more like what you may pick fresh in 
your own gardens next season, than a turnip is 
like a peach. Try at least one small plot this 
year. The cost and trouble is far less than you 
imagine. With a very little care in the selection 
of kinds, and in the management of a bed, you 
may enjoy daily, for three or four weeks, “ ripe, 
blushing Strawberries, eaten i'rom the plate or 
served with sugar and cream.” And the home cost 
need not exceed fifty cents to a dollar a bushel! In 
“ Our Basket ” you will note that Mr. Scott, of 
Plainfield, actually produced a bushel to the 
square rod, and these sold at an average price of 
20 cents per quart. But we desire you to raise 
them for your own enjoyment. And now to the 
way of doing it. 
SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 
Almost any good garden soil will answer. If 
possible, select the ground that is neither very 
light nor very heavy. A sandy or gravelly loam 
is about the best. If nothing better than a stiff 
clay can be had, don’t despair—only dig in plenty 
of half decomposed straw, or litter of some kind, 
or coat it with sand. Avoid a shady situation ; 
the Strawberry does best in the open sun. Trench 
the soil, that is dig it, to the depth of eighteen 
inches or two feet. Put at the bottom plenty of 
barn-yard manure, well rotted, if you have 
it, if not use such as you have. Cow-dung 
is about the best for Strawberries. If the 
ground is in pretty good condition, the bottom 
manure is enough ; if poor, dig in near the sur¬ 
face some fine rotted manure, or leaf mold, (rot¬ 
ten leaves,) or rotton wood. Lime, ashes, and a 
little salt, may be well mixed and added, if con¬ 
venient. A moist soil will produce the finest 
fruit as to size, but, it must not be wet. 
SELECTION OP KINDS. 
We will not here discuss the sexual charac¬ 
ter of the Strawberry. That has been done suffi¬ 
ciently already. We will only now remark that 
some whole varieties, (that is, every plant of some 
kinds,) are imperfect, and will not bear fruit un¬ 
less planted in the vicinity of perfect kinds. 
Other varieties are perfect, that is, every plant 
is complete, and does not require the presence of 
any other kind to make it productive. 
We give the names of some of the most noted of 
each of these two classes, but do not wish to 
be understood that these are the only good kinds. 
There may be others really much better. We 
are not now writing for amateurs, but for those 
who may be but little acquainted, as yet, with the 
culture ofthe Strawberry, and we will only name 
such as we know have given satisfaction. 
Class I.— Perfect Pi.ANTs-(having both stamens and 
pistils .)—Not requiring any other hinds with them. 
Longwoi til's Prolific, Large Early Scarlet, 
Boston Pine, Iowa, 
Hooker's Seedling, Wilson's Albany , 
Peabody's Seedling. Jenny Lind. ’ 
Class II.— Imperfect Plants— Lacking themaleorgans 
(stamens,) and needing some other varieties with them. 
Hovey's Seedling, Jenney's Seedling, 
McAvoy's Superior, Ciimson Cone, 
Monroe's Scarlet, Burr's New Pine. 
I he first of these two classes we will simply 
call perfect. The second, imperfect. Those be¬ 
longing to the defective class must be planted in 
the vicinity of some of the perfect,—while the 
perfect may be planted alone. If yoo plant but 
one kind, it is evident that it must be of the 
first class of perfect plants. There will be an 
advantage in selecting from both classes, on ac¬ 
count of having a succession of fruit. Of perfect 
plants, Longworth’s Prolific, and the Large Early 
Scarlet, will ripen ten days earlier than any of 
those named in the imperfect class, while Ho¬ 
vey’s Seedling and the Crimson Cone will con¬ 
tinue as much later in bearing. If we were re¬ 
stricted to but one kind, we would choose Long¬ 
worth’s Prolific. If to two kinds, Longworth’s 
Prolific and Hovey’s Seedling. Where Long¬ 
worth’s Prolific cannot b’e had, the Large Early 
Scarlet may be selected. These varieties can 
now be obtained of nurserymen in almost any part 
of the country. They can, however, be brought 
from a longdistance if necessary. 
PROCESS OF PLANTING. 
Care is necessary at this season ofthe year, in 
taking up the plants and preserving them from in¬ 
jury until they are securely placed in the ground. 
If they are only to be removed a short distance, 
the roots can be preserved from injury by simply 
covering them with earth or wet moss, as soon as 
they have been raised out of the earth. If to 
come from a distance, they should, on taking up, 
be immediately puddled by dipping the roots in a 
mud-hole made for this purpose. This mud ad¬ 
hering to the roots will keep them moist for sev- 
