* 
Vol. XXXIX. No. 10. 
Whole No. 1571. 
S- 
NEW YORK, MARCH (5, 188#. 
Price Five Cents. 
$2.00 Peb Year. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress , lu the year 1880. by the Rural New-Yorker. In the office of the Librarian of Coiwross at Waehliitfton.] 
forfirultural. 
THE STRAWBERRY. 
INSTRUCTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 
FOR ALL. 
Seasonable Hints. 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
As Nature is about awakening from her 
winter's slumber and pulling 1 ou her spring 
attire, our readers in town and country will 
begin to lay plans or prepare to develop and 
execute those already laid for the coming 
campaign. Among these plans a bountiful 
family supply of the earliest, most welcome 
and delicious of ull our summer fruits—the 
strawberry—should not bo neglected. We 
have heretofore devoted considerable space to 
this subject In various ways, but for the bene¬ 
fit of our new leaders, ub well as for those of 
our old ones who require a frequent reminder 
before they can make a “ new departure," we 
present the subject again—thus early; with 
such practical, aud seasonable hints as may 
he needed for their direction. 
Preparation of the Ground and Setting the 
Plants. 
Experience has taught us that the Strawberry 
responds to high and liberal culture as readily 
MONARCH OF THE WEST.—FIO. 07. 
as any other crop. The soil should bo good 
and free from weed and grass seeds, for the 
profit of aBtrawborry crop in field or garden 
is largely due to the amount of labor bestowed 
upon it. If the vines are allowed to lake 
care of themselves and dispute their right of 
possession with white clover, sorrel and weeds 
of every description, there will be little 
profit or satisfaction in tho attempt. If lim¬ 
ited to u small garden wheie all the work 
is to be done by hand, select the cleanest 
piece of ground: that is, one that has been 
hoed aud kept clean all through the past sea¬ 
son, where no weeds have been allowed to 
ripen tbeir seeds. We will suppose such a 
piece to be a rod wide. Bpadu it up and 
work it until mellow, incorporating a good 
supply of fine rotted manure, if attainable; 
otherwise sprinkle a dressing of fine bone on 
the surface aud rake It iu. 
Having received your plants, unpack them 
—one kind at a time—remove all runners and 
dead leaf-stalks, aud set them in a pail of 
water. Then proceed as follows:—Let this 
column represent your ground, make three 
marks across it 18 inches apart. Then plunge 
the trowel straight dowu across the lino one 
foot from the end, drawing out tho earth to¬ 
wards you. Take a plant, straightening out 
the roots fan-shaped, and set it against the 
hack at the hole which should bo deep enough 
to allow the roots to extend tlu'ir whole length. 
Our experience Is that when tho roots aro spread 
oat near the surface, the berries do not grow 
go large and the plants suffer more readily 
from drought. Then fill in the earth and 
press it and the plant against the back of the 
hole with the hand or foot. Instead of a 
trowel, the spade may be used forcing it down, 
face to the workman, square across the line 
and bringing It forward, thus making an 
opening for the plant. Remove the spade, 
again pushing it down in front of the opening. 
Sot in the plant and press the earth back 
against It with the spade. Set the plants two 
feet apart in the rows as Bhown, pinching out 
any fruit steniB that appear. 
* * * * * * 
* * * # * 
* A * * # * 
Three feet from this bed start another in the 
same way, which Is equivalent to omitting 
every fourth row for a path which will be very 
convenient for picking the fruit without 
getting on the bed, especially If the good house¬ 
wife or the girls of tho family have to do it, 
which duty they will gladly assume, while 
often willing to include the care of the bed 
for the sakeof the fruit. 
Pare ami Cultivation. 
Two such beds will require 50 plants; ten 
beds 250 plants on alittlo less than four square 
rods of grouud. Five varieties, 50 plants of 
a kind early aud late set this spring and well 
eared for, would give the family a table 
supply next year worth ten times their 
cost. By setting the plants this distance 
apart, it gives an opportunity to hoe and de¬ 
stroy a half dozen crops of weeds that sprlug 
up before the plants begin to run. As the 
runners appear, let but one, or at most, two 
grow from a plant, leading them in the row 
allowing them to root equi-distant from each 
other. Remove all others as fast as they ap¬ 
pear. Thus by fall there will be 500 or 750 
strong plants that ought next year—accidents 
excepted—to produce from five to 10 bushels 
of fruit. Have some fine well rotted manure 
prepared, with which to give them a good 
dressing. Late In the fall when the ground 
freezes up, cover the vines lightly with leaves, 
salt hay, straw, corn-stalks, cedar or other 
evergreen boughs, os may be most conven¬ 
ient. Next spriog in due time nneover the 
plants, leaving the covering between the rows. 
After the fruit is gathered If desirable the bed 
can be renewed on the same ground by re¬ 
moving the mulching and allowing sufficient 
runners to start and take root midway Itetween 
the rows. When these are firmly established 
the old plants can bo turned under, but this 
course tends to weakness and degeneration. 
A better plan would be to set a few plants 
elsewhere in the spring with the special de¬ 
sign of producing plants for this purpose, and 
as soon as the fruit is gathered dig the old 
plants under and reset with new ones. This 
Is easily done, in a small way, with a ball of 
earth attached, If the plants are handy, and 
they will hardly know they have been moved. 
This is better than potted plants. Where 
Horse Culture 
is available, It is of course much the cheaper 
method. For this, the rows should he four 
or five feet apart and the plants two or three 
feet apart in the rows; tho greater distance is 
noue too much for the strong-growing varieties, 
and if the matted row system Is to be adopted 
and no runners removed, six-feet between rows 
are little enough. The cultivator should be 
run frequently to destroy all germinating weed 
seeds as fast they appear, and with a little care 
and practice it can be mu very close to the 
row, so that but little hand work will be re¬ 
quired till the runners begiu to root. Then 
the gronnd in the rows 6houhl be finely pul¬ 
verized and the young plants distributed over 
the ground about Bix inches apart, gradually 
narrowing the cultivator and widening the 
row of plants, as they grow, to about three 
feet wide and clipping off all runners beyond 
enough to cover the bed eveuly, as above. 
The same treatment as to manuring, covering 
etc., as given above for the beds described 
will give nearly or quite as large berries at 
much le6s expense for labor. 
Hoil nnit Situation. 
The best soils for Homo varieties would not 
be the best for others. The Jucunda that grew 
to such perfection in the stiff clay soil of Mr. 
8HARELK8S,—Flo. 70. 
Knox at Pittsburg, is utterly worthless in the 
sandy or even stiff clay loams of New Jersey, 
with the same treatment given to others. 
Again, some varieties are worthless if allowed 
to run, exhausting themselves in making 
plauts at the expense of fruitfulness. The 
Trlomphe de Land is a notable instance of this 
kind. Our readers will perceive therefore that 
the test Strawberry depends largely on tho 
soil, treatment aud culture given it, the taste 
of the individual, and the purposes for which 
it is wanted. For family use only, some people 
would not have Trlomphe de Gand if ever so 
nice, on account of its musky flavor; others 
would reject the Green Prolific and Wilson on 
account of their acidity, while others think 
tbcin about perfection. Tastes differ in the 
matter of strawberries as well as in any other 
fruit. To our taste we should eat and grow 
fewer strawberries thau wo now do if confined 
to cither of the two last named, so that when 
we come to speak of quality our readers will 
understand wo do not presume to speak for 
others. Situations sometimes have quite a de¬ 
sirable influence in lengthening the strawberry 
season. Wc have seen a difference of a week 
in the ripening of the same variety when grown 
ou the south and north side of a wood, which 
no doubt was wholly due to different expo¬ 
sures. 
The Best Manures 
and the best time to apply are mooted ques¬ 
tions. Probably, all things considered, wel 
rotted barnyard manure composed of about 
equal parts of horse and cow droppings, is as 
CHARLES DOWNING.—FIO. 68. 
