210 
APRIL § 
for iljc Benina,, 
YOUTHS’ HORTICULTURAL CLUB 
OF THK 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
ELEVENTH REGULAR DISCUSSION. 
Topic: Strawberries. 
William Jackson ;—The soil where I live 
is a clay-loam. The plants ought to be plant¬ 
ed away from large trees, the roots of which 
draw the moisture from the stra wben v plants. 
If water stands on the ground, it must be 
drained; plants will not grow in water-soaked 
soil. The best soil should be at the top, as the 
most important roots are near the surface. 
If the soil is lumpy, it must be harrowed or 
raked to make it Tine. No coarse manure 
should be put on the ground when planting: 
if the grouud needs manure, it should be put 
on before plowiug, aud thoroughly harrowed 
in. .Planting is best done in the Spring; have 
the ground ready, then take the plants up 
carefully, and don't let the roots get dry We 
plant to make matted rows, putting the rows 
four feet apart by IS inches in the row, and 
setting them so that the crown will be level 
with the surface. The ground among straw¬ 
berry plants should be stirred very often. We 
stir ours in the row's with iron rakes as often 
as we can When hoeing, or cultivating, be 
careful and not cover the crown of the plants. 
We mulch with old rotted straw', so that the 
seed will not grow, and try to be through 
mulching by the 15th of December. The 
mulch does more good in a mild, openWinter, 
than in a steady, cold one. Freezing and 
thawing hurts strawberries,, not the severe 
cold. After all danger of frost is over, in the 
Spring, rake the mulch otT the rows, and leave 
it between them. We use full quarts, and 
ship wherever we get the best prices. The 
best varieties are Miner’s Prolific. Sharpless, 
and Crescent Seedling. 
Ralph R Cox: —Strawberries are classed 
among the small fruits. There are a great 
many different kinds; some are hardly worth 
planting, but many of them aregood. I think 
that an acre of strawberries will pay well. 
Strawberries should be planted about one 
foot and a half apart in the row, the rows 
beiug three feet apart, so that the cultivator 
may be run between them, and all weeds kept 
out. White clover is very bad with us; it 
runs along on the ground, and takes root 
wherever it touches, and is very hard to get 
rid of. Strawberries are very good, as all of 
the Cousins know. Miner’s Prolific aud 
Sharpless are the best here. 
Uncle Map.k:—M iner’s Prolific aud Sharp¬ 
less are first-class berries, and very popular. 
I have eaten many a plump berry of both, 
but prefer the Sharpless of the two. But we 
want the best we can get—the plumpest and 
sweetest—for who does not prefer a sweet to 
a sour strawberry? So, what, we should like 
to know, are best for table use and general 
cultivation, north, south, east and west? I 
will mention Charles Downing, Monarch of 
the West, Seth Boydeu, Kentucky' Seedling 
and Manchester, as very desirable berries. The 
best thing for us to do is to grow some of each, 
and then decide for ourselves as to which we 
like best. 
Bla.vchie C. Buxton: —To be successful in 
the cultivation of a plant, we must first be¬ 
come acquainted with its structure and habits. 
When we have ascertained the natural habits 
of a plant, wo can then determine how it 
should be treated under artificial circum¬ 
stances. Nearly every boy' and girl knows 
that the strawberry has a very short stem, 
seated just at the surface of the ground, cov¬ 
ered with leaves, and throwing out from the 
lower end long, slender, woody, perennial 
roo f s. which divide into innumerable fine 
branches. The stem itself has a pith, with a 
woody, fibrous covering or bark, which bears 
the leaves. The strawberry stem is not essen¬ 
tially' different from the branch of a tree a 
year old, with its joints so contracted as to 
touch each other. The pith is the great reeep- 
table of organizablc matter, from which the 
leaves and fruit are fed in the Spring aud 
early Summer. The contents of the pith are 
gum. starch, and sugar, which may be ob¬ 
served at this time of the year by anv one 
who will cut it across, and touch it with 
iodine; the woody matter will be clear yellow, 
the gum will become brown, the starch violet, 
and the sugar resemble umber. The roots 
which expand greatly iu every direction, 
increase iu number as the stem grows older. 
The object of the root is to obtain unorganized 
food from the soil, principally water, of which 
we know-the strawberry requires a great deal. 
It is obvious that the roots should remain in¬ 
tact, as much as those of an apple tree. Dig¬ 
ging among the roots in Autmun, as is often 
practiced by gardeners, with the belief that 
the roots are onlv annual, is a mistaken idea. 
The disadvantages of disturbing those roots 
are serious, as they contain orgatmable matter 
in large quantity; iu Spring the root growth 
is renewed by the assistance of that substance, 
and spongioles arc formed, which convey nu¬ 
triment. to the plant from the adjacent, soil, as 
Nature intended it for the nourishment of 
new leaves aud fruit, if the roots are destroy- 
ed, the organizable matter in the stem must In- 
directed downward for the formation of more 
roots, and the supply int ended for the leaves 
and fruit is diminished in proportion to the 
quantity of roots which the stem has to form. 
The stem, which is destined to form leaves 
and fruit, camiot, with profit to the gardener, 
have its power diverted to the formation of 
roots, without diminishing the vigor of the 
leaves and fruit. 
Plants, like animals, consist of two distinct 
parts; the organized material of their struc¬ 
ture, and the organizable matter, out of which 
additions are to be made to the organized 
structure: and in no case can growth take 
place, only in the presence of the unorganized 
matter 
There are three kinds of strawberries, viz.: 
staminate, pistilate, Rud stamiuate and pisti- 
late in the same calyx. Gray’s Botany' says 
staminate flow'ers are those having stamens 
only, and therefore not producing seed; pisti¬ 
late, or fertile, having a pistile but no good 
stamens, and ripening seeds onlv when fertil¬ 
ized by pollen from the staminate flow'ers. 
Although one of the choicest of fruits, the 
strawberry' is only au enlarged aud pulpy’re¬ 
ceptacle, bearing the real fruits scattered 
over its surface. Another peculiarity of the 
strawberry is its runner, or tendril-like, leaf¬ 
less form of creeping bi-anch. Each runner 
strikes root from its tip, and fixed to the 
grouud forms a bud, which develops into a 
new plant, which again sends out its runners, 
aud like the Banyan tree, in time forms a 
large bed. The strawberry reproduces itself 
above ground, while some plants do the same 
below the surface of the earth, as the Canada 
Thistle, Quack Grass, and Mint, which repro¬ 
duce their kind from subterranean stems and 
branches. 
There is a small beetle feeding upon dead- 
ripe, or decuying strawberries, called the 
Flea Negro Bug, which also sometimes feeds 
upon ripe berries. It hibernates in the 
ground, and produces the Spring brood, by 
depositing its eggs on the plant which pro¬ 
duces the larvae, which are often found iu the 
same plant on which the grown beetle is feed¬ 
ing. 
Strawberries like the Wilson, cau remain 
standing three or four years, if kept clean. 
If kept clean of weeds the first year, it is not 
a difficult job to cultivate strawberries. If 
the runnera are cut the first year, they may 
be allowed to run after that as long as the 
bed remains productive. Deep, mellow soil, 
if not too dry, is the proper place in which to 
plant the stra wherry 
The strawberry was introduced into Eng¬ 
land, from the continent, iu 1580. It is a fruit 
of the genus Fragaria, and is indigennous to 
the North American Continent, growing 
wild ard luxuriantly in all kinds of soil, from 
Maine to California, and is a fruit admired 
and sought by all Hovey’s Seedling, a fa¬ 
mous strawberry', was produced by a gentle¬ 
man named Hovey, of Boston, Mass. It was 
the first of recent attempts to improve straw¬ 
berry culture, but a rapid growth has taken 
place since, until now it is a very great part 
of the fruit culture of the United States. 
Some prefer Autumn transplanting, which 
produces berries the following Summer. A 
sure way' is to transplant iu Spring. The dif¬ 
ferent varieties could not be enumerated 
here, but iu this serf ion (Wisconsin) the Wil¬ 
son is the standard market aud family variety. 
Uncle Mark:-Y ears ago it used to be 
thought that there were three varieties of 
strawberries, but now there are but two kinds 
generally recognized, viz. : perfect aud pistil¬ 
late; there is no staminate berry, strictly 
speaking. 
Bertha Wolger: —All I know is, that 
strawberries are good to eat. aud make nice 
short-cake. This is the wav we like short¬ 
cake best: Mix as for biscuit, adding sour 
cream and a piece of butter size of au egg. 
Roll into two crusts one-half an inch thick; 
place one carefully above the other, and buke. 
Have ready some well-sweetened strawberries, 
and when the cake Is baked, separate careful¬ 
ly. and spread with butter, aud thou put on 
the berries. Place the top crust over them, 
and you have a cake lit for a king, or au 
American farmer. Besides canning, another 
nice way to prepare strawberries, is to pnt 
them in a stew pan, with some sugar, aud a 
very little w r at.er, and scald them; then skim 
out the b- nries; hod dowu the juice thick, put 
the berries on platters, spread the juice over 
them, and dry in the oven. When dry, pack 
in crocks, and cover close to keep out flies. 
- ,, - 
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