1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
5o7 
Notes from the Rural Grounds. 
NEW STRAWBERRIES. 
The season was one of the most backward in 50 
years, this, too, after a winter during which the tem¬ 
perature frequently fell to 15, occasionally to 18 and 
once to 20 degrees below zero. The plants, however, 
on well-drained land were not injured. The early 
season was wet, and then a severe drought set in, not, 
however, to prevent a full yield of the earliest and 
early kinds. But the late and latest varieties suffered, 
and, in fact, nearly failed. They set lots of berries, 
but many dried up and others sunburned and rotted. 
The season was not one in which to test late varieties. 
June 5.—Rio. Received April 27, 1892, from Cleve¬ 
land Nursery Company, Rio Vista, Va., as Thompson 
No. 9.—First ripe berries picked this date. It is nearly 
the earliest variety of our collection, and for the 
earliest, the berries are the largest and best quality. 
Scarlet, medium firm, hivh quality, broadly ovate, 
somewhat fan-shaped uow and then, but not cox- 
combed. Bisexual. 
Leviathan (bisexual).—Medium or second early. 
Irregular shape, Sharpless type; light-colored flesh, 
mealy and rather insipid. 
Brandywine (bisexual), fiom Edward T. Ingram, 
Marshalton, Pa., August, 1891.—This is the variety 
that we last season praised as being one of the most 
promising varieties ever tried here. Largest size, 
broadly ovate, darkish red (not crimson), firm, fine. 
Just ripening. 
Lovett's Early. —First picking. 
Brunette (pistillate) from G. Cowing, Muncie, Ind. 
April 7, 1892 —Flowers perfect. Vines medium vigor, 
not unusually prolific. High quality, that is, intense 
flavor—much acidity and much sweetness with a 
strawberry flivor. The average of the berries in this 
dry season is undersize. 
Wentzell from F. R. Wentzell, Monroeville, Salem 
County, N. J., April 20, 1892.—Second early. Berry 
medium size, good quality, not firm—ordinary. 
June 11.—Arkansas Traveler, now ripening. Tall 
petioles, dark green leaves, vigorous. Fairly pro¬ 
ductive. Berries broadly heart-shape and generally 
trial. In height of ripening now. Color medium red. 
Auburn. —Medium as to productiveness, medium as 
to size, heart shape, regular, medium red, good quality. 
Often white tips. Nothing specially to commend it. 
June 16.—Arkansas Traveler. Long peduncles as 
well as long petioles. Berries medium size, heart 
shape, the tips sometimes broadened or flattened. 
Scarlet, medium as to firmness, medium as to quality. 
Medium to late as to ripening. Fairly prolific. 
Princeton Chief, from F. W. Poscharsky & Son, 
Princeton, Ills. April 1, 1892. Very late. None ripe. 
June 18.—Swindle is not worthy of introduction as 
grown here. That is description enough. There is 
nothing remarkable about Southard and Street. We 
do not see that Arkansas Traveler fills any space not 
better filled by other kinds. There is nothing ex¬ 
traordinary about Auburn. 
June 21.—Princeton Chief is very late. Tall pedun¬ 
cles, fairly productive. Berry of medium size, fait- 
quality, firm, medium red. Tall leaves. Form of 
berry ovate-conical, regular. Thompson No. 8, crim¬ 
son, broadly ovate, firm, good quality. 
June 6 to June 9.— First ripe berries from Street, 
received from G. H. & J. II. Hale, South Glastonbury, 
Conn., April 1, 1892.—Berries large in size and not 
very regular; scarlet, yellow-seeded, ovate-conical, 
tips generally pointed or nipple-shaped, and often 
white. Quality fair. An early berry—not earliest. 
Plants of medium vigor, flowers perfect or bisexual. 
Rio.—As a first early berry this is well worthy of 
trial, because of its size, shape, quality and color, as 
above stated. The quality is ex¬ 
cellent. We know of no better —-- 
quality in so early a berry. Color, 
bright, glossy scarlet, calyx leafy. 
June 8.— Princess (pistillate), 
from M. Crawford, Cuyahoga 
Falls, 0 , April 6, 1892.—First ripe 
berries this date. Vines healthy 
and exceedingly productive. Ber- 
ries large, solid, but irregular, 
crinkly in shape. The shape is 
like Sharpless, but more crinkled. 
Quality mild, fair. Second early. 
Productiveness its best quality. 
Leviathan (bisexual), from 
Crawford.—Of the Sharpless type, 
though more productive. Second Gen. Putnam. Fig. 174. 
early. 
Auburn (nearly pistillate), 
Crawford.—Of the Sharpless type, It 
vigorous plants. Berries large 
to largest. Better shape than 
Sharpless and of as good quality. mES 
Note. —We discard Michel and 
Racster (Beder Wood) and choose 
Rio and Gen. Putnam in their 
places. There is but a day or so 
difference as to the main crop in 
ripening and they bear large ber- 
ries of good quality. A berry is 
no longer valuable because of 
earliness alone. It must have 
size and quality. Pkincess. 
Arkansas Traveler, from T. 
G. Michel, Judsonia, Ark., the 
originator of Michel’s Early, 
March 22, 1892.—Extra tall and vigorous vines, gen¬ 
erally about heart shape ; scarlet, firm ; quality mild, 
fair—bisexual. 
Street. —Leaves medium size. Color scarlet, irregu¬ 
lar in shape, tips often wh ; te ; medium to large in 
size. Rather sour. 
Southard, from G. H. & J. H. Hale, April 1, 1892. 
—Perfect flower. Vines of m :dium vigor. Color of 
berry between scarlet and crimson. Rather sour. 
Irregular in shape, medium as to size and time of 
ripening. 
Gen. Putnam, from the Messrs. Hale, April 1, 1892.— 
Healthy vines, medium as to vigor. Light scarlet in 
color, heart shape, regular, quite firm; mild, fair 
quality. A fine early berry. Usually berries of so 
light a quality are not so firm. 
Swindle, from the Messrs. Hale, April 1, 1892.— 
Vines of medium vigor, dark green. Lots of berries 
set, but in this dry season comparatively few can 
ripen. Begin to ripen this date (June 8 or 9). Variable 
in shape; very firm ; scarlet inside and out. Low 
quality. 
Rio.—Still bright scarlet, glossy, in full bearing. 
Broadly heart shape, firm ; no neck; large, leafy 
calyx. Good quality. 
June 10.—Princess.—Vines healthy, medium in 
vigor. Flowers pistillate, low peduncles, Sharpless 
type, but more crinkly, as stated. Color red, somewhat 
dull. Leafy calyx. Flesh red inside. Vines prolific. 
Berries medium as to quality. 
Auburn. —Vines vigorous and tall, prolific. Color 
medium red, leafy calyx ; red flesh, excellent quality. 
symmetrically so. Color light scarlet, rot in the least 
crimson. Quality good ; fairly productive. 
Southard. —The originator of this might be par¬ 
doned for not caring to throw it away and for desir¬ 
ing that a general trial be made. It is here no better 
than many old kinds. 
Princess. —Very productive. 
Brandywine is wonderfully productive, and begin¬ 
ning to ripen. The size is of the largest, heart shape 
Brandywine is the best late berry we know of. Good 
shape, good quality, firm and productive. 
Brunette is of good quality and promising. 
Timbrel finds it hard to endure the exceeding' 
drought. 
June 24. —Brunette still bearing a few. The berries 
of Brandywine are smaller now, but of regular form 
and good quality. 
Auburn, Leviathan and Princess still bearing a few. 
Parker Earle is a medium late 
-— kind. It fully holds its early rep¬ 
utation here. 
P v We have this season on trial 
V/ 71 varieties, many of them planted 
this spring. 
It seems a useless task to repeat 
the reports of previous years. 
Those new kinds which are not- 
ably worth a trial have been fully 
described. They may be counted 
on fingers of one hand. 
mm 
IPf 
Princess. Fig. 175. 
Brandywine. Fig. 176. 
Auburn. Fig. 178. 
at its best, often sharply angular, without being cox- 
combed or crinkled. A fine keeper and shipper. 
Quality excellent, though not best. 
Iowa Beauty (bisexual) is a perfect berry as to 
form—heart shape, never irregular or angular, and 
nearly perfect as to quality. The berry, too, is firm, 
and of a glossy crimson color. It is now ripening 
freely. The vines are not very productive, but the 
variety is richly entitled to a place in every garden 
for the perfection of form and excellence of quality 
of the berries borne. They remind one of the old 
Jucunda. 
Parker Earle beginning to ripen. 
June 14. —Brunette. Medium size ; the flesh is part 
white, part red—quality excellent. Vines medium as 
to vigor. Ripens midseason. The vines are at this time 
prolific—the berries fat, that is, roundish, and not 
pointed at the top. Not very firm. Color, a medium red. 
A failing is that the peduncles do not hold the berries 
up ' 
Brandywine. —Just ripening. A peculiarity of this 
berry—and not a desirable one either—is that when 
pulling it from the calyx as other berries are usually 
pulled, a long piece of flesh, half an inch long, often 
adheres to the stem, leaving a corresponding loLg 
narrow cavity in the berry itself. Large, fine quality, 
somewhat seamed, but fairly regular. It is a fine 
late productive berry of the best quality for so late a 
berry. Firm. 
Leviathan. —Some of the very largest berries. 
About as firm as Sharpless and of better qual¬ 
ity and rather more shapely. Well worthy of 
gPjlpr STRAWBERRY AND OTHER FRUIT 
Rio No 9 Fig. 177. NOTES. 
I have not yet had my say on 
§ the Parker Earle strawberry. 
Had I reported in 1891, I should 
have pronounced it a “disap¬ 
pointment ;” in 1892 I would have 
said “ a complete failure.” Hav¬ 
ing given it a change of conditions 
and diet, I can now call it a 
“ marvelous berry.” I find that 
it resembles the Manchester in 
some particulars and must have 
sand in its clay. The best results 
this year with it and several other 
new varieties were secured by 
lightening the clay with both 
wood and coal ashes along with 
L Fig. 178. concentrated fertilizers. 
Our berry season opened on June 
8 and closed on July 8, the last 
picking(Gandys and Parker Earles 
with a few Cumberland fruits) being larger than our 
first (Beder Wood and Michel’s Early). The yield 
has been better than ever before at our place, the soil 
being a heavy loam that scarcely felt the June drought. 
Of the 52 lots tested this year I think none has main¬ 
tained its reputation better than our old favorite, the 
Cumberland; but Timbrel was not in competition, 
neither was Beverly nor Lovett. Setting aside these 
three candidates for future development, I would 
select as the best 10 sorts for general planting the fol¬ 
lowing : Cumberland, Beder Wood, Ontario, Parker 
Earle, Barton’s Eclipse, Bubach, Burt, Crawford, 
Gillespie (a much better berry in all points than its 
progenitor, Haverland) and Mount Vernon. It ought 
to be stated that ours is a near-by as well as a fancy 
market. I would like to include Middlefield, but then 
I would be obliged to let in also the Gov. Hoard, War- 
field, Jessie and Eureka on the claim of special 
merits. Gandy would be a splendid sort to grow 
if the government would allow a bounty of about 
20 cents a quart in addition to the market price. 
Summit would sustain itself on a 10-cent bounty. I 
shall plant no more of Michel’s Early as long as Beder 
Wood can be had. 
The Rural New-Yorker’s descriptions of gooseber¬ 
ries have never included a sort which I obtained in 
1887, from J. Elletson, of Auburn, N. Y., under the 
name of Auburn. It is a foreign sort, having been 
brought from Germany by a workman without its 
name. Mr. Elletson has lent it the name of his 
city and sent it forth modestly commended. My 
bush has never shown a sign of mildew Qr any 
