MARCH 5 
make a quart. It doesn’t pay to grow soft ber¬ 
ries. Mammoth Cluster is too soft. Gregg is 
much superior in this respect; but is inferior in 
quality. 
The canes of Lost Rubies are similar to 
those of tbeCuthbert; but the fruit is not at 
all like it. It has a closer resemblance to that 
of the Franconia, yet no one would take it for 
that variety. It is about the same size. 
years gone by, from 50 to 75 cents per quart at 
wholesale; and, for several years after the 
war, first-class Triumphs and other large va¬ 
rieties sold readily for 40 and 50 cents per 
quart, by the crate, while now the very choicest 
would not bring half as much. This decline in 
of practical science consists in the knowledge 
that but few, if any, rales cau be laid down 
which are equally applicable to all conditions 
and in all localities. Each one has to observe 
and study his own markets, his own soil, and 
the varieties, fertilizers, aBd cultivation best 
adapted for the same. We have to practice 
what observation and experience have taught 
us. The keenest observers, and those who can 
draw the most correct conclusions from their 
experiences, and will apply them judiciously, 
are always the most successful. 
Fertilizers. 
Of scarcely less importance to the straw¬ 
berry grower is the proper selection and appli¬ 
cation of fertilizers. How and from what to 
reap the best returns for the money invested 
is, and always will be, the leading problem. 
There are, no doubt, many who know that 
bone-dust is best; others have used stable 
manure with success, and want nothing else ; 
and still others may be sure that there is noth¬ 
ing better than a certain special Strawberry 
Fertilizer. All may be right and showing 
their good sense by continuing what they have 
found to be good and profitable; nevertheless, 
IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCING NEW 
FRUITS FROM SEED. 
MARSHALL PINCKNEY WILDER, 
PRBS’T AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
The widespread interest now manifested in 
the production of new varieties of small fruits 
from seed, induces me to comply with your re¬ 
quest for an article on that subject. This is 
the most reliable method for obtaining new 
varieties suite 1 to our various soils and cli¬ 
mates. or as substitutes for those which may 
decline in the future. The acquisitions which 
have already been obtained give promise of 
etill richer rewards to him who will work with 
Nature in compelling her to yield to his de¬ 
mands for still better results. She has placed 
in our hands the requisites for this purpose, 
and we have only to conform to her laws and 
we shall be ern e of progress. 
HIDWELL NO. 1. —FTG. 115. 
prices is, of course, mainly caused by the 
larger quantities of berries raised ; but there is 
another important factor which causes the 
present low prices for first-class fruit. In 
former years, when our selected Jucundas and 
Triumphs came to market, the ouly competi¬ 
tion they had to encounter was from small 
Scotch Ruuners or sour, sandy Wilsons, and 
the contrast was so great that buyers paid 
willingly three and four times more for the 
best. But now, owing to the rapidly increas¬ 
ing competition and the great improvements 
in new varieties, poor berries can hardly be 
sold at any price, aud the average market 
fruit has improved so much that there is but 
little difference between them and the choicest, 
and here, as in other trades, a plentiful supply 
of cheap goods depreciates the valae of the 
better grades. The most important 
Revolution In Strawberry Culture, 
however, so fai as concerns the grower, 
at least, has been effected by the chang¬ 
ing of our markets. The market centers 
for fruits, as well as other goods, are rarely 
permanent; they are frequently moving from 
one place to another, or changing in their 
respective local ions. 
Many of the prominent 
business houses in New Vs 
York have changed jj 
several times within fa 
my recollection the lo- 
cations of their stores, 
have moved with the 
migration of their eu&- 
tomers, or they have 
transformed their busi- 
ness in such a way as 
u> '■ '■:>! .'I V,-! ]i 1 M ■ L' 
altered conditions. The 
strawberry market is Ww 
not exempt from these 
fluctuations of trade. 
A few years ago, New York was the great 
distributing center of berries for hundreds 
of miles along every railroad and steam¬ 
boat line entering the Metropolis; but 
now the markets of most inland towns 
MARVIN NO. 1.— PIG. 118. 
should they change places with each other, 
some would probably soon modify their prac¬ 
tices somewhat. Careful observation and ex¬ 
tensive experiments have convinced me that 
the strawberry plant is not only a glutton, bnt 
an epicure at the same time.; that it is not 
satisfied with an abundance of the richest 
food—it also insists upon having it prepared 
in the most palatable manner, served in the 
most dainty slyle and as often as it feels in¬ 
clined to partake of it. Of coarse, you can 
force and starve it to exist on almost anything 
rather than die; but if you want it to put on 
its sweeteBt airs, to be pleasant and have rosy 
cheeks, and do its best generally, it must, like 
other pets, be coaxed and petted. 
Now, wherever you keep your pets, be it 
North or South, on sandy plains or on heavy 
cloy hill-sides, there is one decoy to which 
they respond every time and without fail, and 
this is a good, well-decayed compost. What¬ 
ever the fertilizer to be used consists of, com¬ 
posting inci eases its strength, enhances its 
value, and prepares it for the immediate needs 
of the plants. I do not wish to be understood 
as underrating the value of stable manures or 
of special fertilizers, some of which are among 
the crowning triumphs of scientific agricul¬ 
ture, bnt I do assert that practice, as well as 
theoiv, has proved that however effective 
either alone may be, a 
combined they become 
ofteu doubly valuable. 
11 is a great mistake, 
to use commercial fer- K r _ ^ J j 
tilizers only to lengthen 
out the supply of stable AV s 
better 
SENECA QUEEN.—FIG. 113. 
The ease with which new varieties may be 
obtained by crossing our best sorts of fruits, is 
now pretty well understood, and there is no 
better illustration of wbatcan be accomplished 
than what has been done in the production of 
the numerous excellent native fruits which 
have been secured 6ince the establishment of 
the American Pomological Soeioly. 
The importance of raising new varieties 
from seed Is no longer of Questionable utility. 
The fact that good seed of good varieties will 
produce good offspring is a fundamental law, 
proofs of which are seen in a multitude of 
instances from the results of artificial impreg¬ 
nation. Feeble parents produce weak children 
—a principle as well adapted to vegetable as 
to animal life. Wo have learned many of the 
laws which govern this most interesting depart¬ 
ment of science,aud the more we work with na¬ 
ture in efforts for the improvement of our fruits 
the more we shall adtuire this most perfect 
and beautiful law for the improvemeut of 
men, animals and plants. 
Fruits arc a rich legacy to those who are to 
come after us. The man who originates a flue 
fruit that shall be 
adapted to general 
cultivation is a bene- 
factor of bis race, and 
his name shall be 
gratefully remem- 
bered long after he 
shall have passed 
from earth. Let us, 
then, persevere in do- 
velopmg these won- 
derful resources 
which Providence 
has placed in our 
hands. Persevere iu 
our labors to pre- 
duce new and ini- 
proved varieties of 
fruits, and posterity 
will bless our names photo-martha-fis. 114. 
for the good we have done. Persevere in 
these praiseworthy pursuits, hoping that 
the time may come when everv one throue-h- 
UIDWET.I. NO. 
much 
manure 
results may be obtained. (&' 
by composting all the .n 
available manure with 
all the purchased ferti- 
lizers,—mixed with suf- 
ficient muck or soil to Windsor crmnr.—Ftc. US 
prevent too violent fermentation,—and to 
distribute the entire bulk over all the lard 
to be cultivated. We all know that in 
seasons of severe drought ordinary fer¬ 
tilizers rarely produce the desired results, 
and that too much rain carries a consider¬ 
able part of the fertilizing matter below the 
reach of roots; composts, however, by reason 
of the miuute division of the active principles 
contained in them, are immediately available 
as plant food, and by being evenly scattered 
over the surface, benefit all plants alike, and 
become absorbed in a shorter time than raw 
fertilizers. 
To obtain the best results from compost, it 
is advisable to divide the quantity to be used 
during the season Into several parts, and to 
apply them at different intervals instead of 
using them all at one time. In feeding our 
horses we are careful to give them all they 
will eat up clean at one meal, and no more, 
else a part of the fodder becomes wasted and 
useless, while with judicious feeding, nothing 
is wasted, and ail the provender goes to 
strengthen the animal. The same principle 
underlies the system of feeding plants. I will 
not enter into the details of preparing compost 
.heaps, but I am sure that any one who will 
STRAWBERRY CULTURE AND ITS PRO 
GRESS. 
DR. F. M. HEXAMER. 
Depreciation In Prices. 
In 1873, the strawberries shipped from 
Charleston to Northern markets brought an 
average price of 57 cents per quart; in 1876, 38 
cents; in 1877, 31 cents; in 1879, 14 cents; and 
last yiar, 13>£ cents per quart. Jacundas 
from the Knox Farm at Pittsburg brought, in 
e 
w 
give composted fertilizers a fair trial will soon 
become convinced of their great value in 
strawberry culture. What ready cash is to the 
tradesman a good compost heap is to the 
strawberry-grower. As the merchant who has 
ready cash is better prepared to strike an ad¬ 
vantageous bargain when opportuoily offers 
than one who has to wait till money comes in 
before be can buy, so is the fruit grower who 
can rely on bis compost 
heap in some measure 
independent of weather Vi 
and seasons; he can \\ 
count on its good re- \ 
suits every time. \ 
Irrigation yA | 
is attracting much at- 
tention now. We can 
hardly call it new, for 
the Egyptians prac- 
ticed it to perfection 
more than four thou- fcjjV# 
sand years ago, and 
at the present time 
extensive systems of 
irrigation are found in 
Italy, Spain, India and 
many other countries glendalk.-fig. 120 . 
of the Eastern Hemisphere. Except in Cali¬ 
fornia, we have made only a few isolated at¬ 
tempts iu irrigation, bnt wherever tried sys¬ 
tematically it has proved eminently satisfac¬ 
tory. The time cannot be far distant when we 
shall become enlightened enough to utilize the 
immense stores of fertility contained in our 
mountain lakes and streams, which are now 
permitted to flow into the ocean. 
The use of potted plants has likewise t.e- 
come more general, and as an article of trade 
they are already of considerable importance. 
For the amateur, and especially in cases where 
Spring planting is not practicable, potted 
plants have certainly much in their favor. 
Extension of Strawberry Culture. 
It is but a few years since strawberries were 
considered a great luxury, to be iudulged in 
only by the wealthy who could employ profes¬ 
sional gardeners, skilled in the mysteries of 
their culture. Improvement and progress have 
i dispersed, these antiquated 
notions, and have placed a 
strawberry-bed in the gar¬ 
den of every right-minded 
person. While many may 
remember the time when 
strawberries were hardly 
known as a luxury even, it 
wonld be difficult to find 
now a comfortable home in 
cily or village, or on the 
farm, where strawberries 
do not constitute an indis¬ 
pensable part of at least 
one meal a day during the 
season. It is true that 1 m- 
general sherman. I roved means of communi- 
fig. 121. cation and transportation 
have greatly facilitated the distribution of 
this delicate fruit, but were it not for the 
improvements in strawberries and progress 
in strawberry culture, could it be supposed 
that our strawberries of the past would 
have become more disseminated than they 
were then? It is only through the won¬ 
derful progress in cultivation and improve¬ 
ments by hybridization that the strawberry 
has reached its present commercial impor¬ 
tance. Statistics show that the value of 
strawberries sold annually in oar large cities 
amounts to many millions of dollars, but the 
priceless value in enjoyment, in good cheer 
and health to the millions who grow, pick 
and eat their own berries, is incalculable. 
With the planting of every strawberry-bed on 
a farm where there was none before, the cor¬ 
ner-stone is laid for a happy home ; for every 
plant we intrust to the soil bears in it the 
germs for happiness and health. Wonld we 
know where the strawberries grow, let ns drive 
along the country road to yonder cozy cottage, 
where the rosy cheeks and bright eyes, the 
happy faces and cheerful expression of the 
children playing under the rose-covered ver¬ 
anda, tell, more plainly than words can tell, 
that the strawberry-bed is not faraway. 
Bfiiellts of It. 
But progress in strawberry and other fruit 
culture has accomplished 
more than to invigorate 
health, increase our en¬ 
joyment and endear our 
homes to onr children : 
it has sharpened obser¬ 
vation, brightened 
thought, and inspired the 
development and stabil¬ 
ity of the noblest traits 
of human nature. No 
plainer object lesson was 
ever taught, no more 
impressive sermon 
preached, than that 
CINDERELLA.—FIG, 
which Nature has instilled in every root, in 
every leaf, in every expanding bud and every 
fading flower which must wither that the more 
perfect fruit may spring into life. 
