1898 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
527 
certainly improves the appearance of any variety, the 
clusters retaining to a greater extent, the delicate 
bloom which adds much to the attractiveness, but at 
the same time bagged grapes are more tender and 
easily damaged in handling. 
That spraying with the copper salts and bagging 
the fruit tend to prevent mildew and rot has long 
been regarded as an established fact, and it is not so 
much a question with me whether it would be safe to 
risk the chance of obtaining a crop of salable fruit 
without. We try to spray the vines with the Bordeaux 
Mixture the middle or latter part of May, and a second 
application as soon as possible after the fruit has set, 
and then follow at once with the bagging. The cost 
of the bags is but a trifle, and they can be put on for 
about SI per M. The bags, likewise, protect the 
ripened clusters from injury by bees and birds, thin- 
skinned varieties like Brighton and Worden being 
quickly ruined by them. We have disposed of our 
small crop, in Montclair and Orange for several years, 
through a retail dealer in each town ; the dealers have 
the exclusive sale of it. The grapes are picked and 
brought into the fruit house, where we carefully look 
over every cluster, remove all green, decayed or im¬ 
perfect berries, and pack in the so-called five-pound 
handled baskets, these being first lined with pinked 
paper. No covers are used, the fruit being well 
rounded up above the top of the basket. By these 
methods, we have usually obtained fairly remunera¬ 
tive prices. .r. c. williams. 
New Jersey. 
THE GLADSTONE; A STRAWBERRY Oh 
GREAT PROMISE. 
AT THE 1I0MK OK THE OI.I) 811 ARI’LKSS. 
[kmtoisiai, cokrkhpondench.| 
On June 8, Tiik II. N.-Y. received from Mr. F. I 1 '. 
Merceron, Catawissa, Pa., a package of the new Glad¬ 
stone strawberries. They were shipped June 6, and 
reached New York in excellent condition. Mr. Mer¬ 
ceron wrote that the berries ripened with Michel’s 
Early. They were remarkably large, some of them 
measuring 2^ inches in diameter. The color was a 
medium red with red flesh, and they were of high and 
spicy quality. As soon as we saw these berries, we 
were certain that here was a variety of great value, 
as judged by the thousands of varieties tested at the 
Rural Grounds. As early as Michel’s Early, as large 
as Bubach, and of high quality, what more could a 
strawberry grower ask ? 
in order to see what the Gladstone strawberry looks 
like at home, I visited Catawissa on June 17, and saw 
the berry growing on Mr. Merceron’s grounds. As is 
well known, Catawissa was the original home of the 
famous Sharpless strawberry ; in fact, Mr. Merceron 
at one time owned the ground upon which the Sharp¬ 
less was originated. It is not often that lightning 
strikes in the same place twice, and thousands of new 
varieties of strawberries have passed out of view, 
while the old Sharpless is still earning money for its 
owner. I believe, however, that the Gladstone is to 
make almost as great a reputation as the Sharpless ; 
in other words, it will crowd the Sharpless out, if any 
variety succeed in doing so. 
Mr. Merceron began picking the Gladstone on June 
1 ; Sharpless gave its first picking June 8. At the 
time of my visit, there was more fruit on the Glad¬ 
stone than on good plants of Sharpless in a nearby 
field. Mr. Merceron continued to pick Gladstones on 
June 24. This gives an idea of the remarkable season 
of fruiting of this berry. 
As fruited at Catawissa, I found the Gladstone 
darker in color than Sharpless, and to my taste, much 
better in flavor. A sample of the fruit is shown at 
Fig. 241, although many of the berries are somewhat 
longer than this specimen. The habit of growth of 
the Gladstone reminds one somewhat of Parker Earle, 
an exceedingly strong and vigorous vine, with a thick, 
leathery leaf. Some idea of its vigor may be learned 
from the fact that the original, single vine, which 
was found in Mr. Merceron’s garden, produced the 
first year, 110 plants, which have formed the basis for 
his stock. 
Throughout that part of Pennsylvania, the Sharp¬ 
less has long been the ideal berry for market. Of late 
years, however, it has not produced so well as for¬ 
merly, and growers have begun to hunt for a suc¬ 
cessor. Local growers who have seen the Gladstone, 
are practically unanimous in saying that this berry is 
destined to step into the shoes so long and usefully 
worn by the Sharpless. I found the plants growing 
on ordinary, hillside soil. They had not, apparently, 
been forced excessively. Mr. Merceron said that he 
had dug up gooseberry bushes, worked in chicken 
manure, and that was all. The Gladstone is only a 
chance seedling, as are many of our improved varieties 
of fruit. 
It is not generally known, perhaps, that Mr. Mer¬ 
ceron was the originator of the Triumph gooseberry. 
This was another chance seedling found growing in 
the garden, and saved from destruction only because 
of the carelessness of a hired man, who left the plants 
growing when he was told to hoe them up. Mr. Mer¬ 
ceron still grows the Triumph gooseberries to great 
perfection. For about 40 years, he has been interested 
in fruits and horticulture. During that time, he has 
tried repeatedly to secure a new variety of strawberry, 
but has never found anything worth giving to the 
public, until the Gladstone made its appearance. 
Mr. Merceron is now an old man, but as young in 
spirit and heart as ever. The Gladstones are growing 
in the garden where he can sit at his table and look 
out through the window upon them. “ You do not 
know,” he said, “ how I have enjoyed sitting here and 
watching those plants. They have grown and de¬ 
veloped far beyond my expectations, and now I be- 
F. F. MERCERON, ORIGINATOR OF THE GLADSTONE 
STRAWBERRY. Fig. 340. 
lieve that we have a variety with the good qualities 
of the old Sharpless, and many better ones in addition.” 
Mr. Merceron does not spend his time sitting down 
and watching the strawberries, by a good deal, lie 
is over 80 years old, yet he climbed over a high fence 
to show me a patch of Sharpless, with a hustle that 
would have done credit to a man 30 years younger. 
Besides his gooseberries, he is interested in growing 
grapes under glass,*in a small way, and with the aid 
of a boy, does most of the work on four acres of land, 
lie is one of those forcible, progressive men who have 
seen much of the world, and who has learned the great 
lesson of culling —selecting and using only the best. 
An excellent picture of Mr. Mercei'on is shown at 
Fig. 240. 
He says that he named the Gladstone for one of the 
greatest men of the century—one who made the world 
THE GLADSTONE STRAWBERRY. Fig. 241. 
better, and whose life kept up its vigor and strength 
from young manhood to old age. Of course, one can¬ 
not tell just how the Gladstone will behave away 
from its native place, but as it grows and fruits there, 
it is certainly one of the great varieties that appear 
twice in the average lifetime—head and shoulders 
above the crowd, and able to maintain its position. 
Those who have kept track of strawberry growing 
during the past quarter of a century, know how one 
after another of the loudly-herakled new varieties has 
fallen down in the race for favor. Only two or three 
have been good enough as all-around varieties to 
carry the flag. The Gladstone is a color bearer, or all 
the signs fail. All it need do is to behave as well 
abroad as it is able tp dp at home. ji w. p. 
ROCKLAND FARM ECONOMY. 
NOTES HIGH AND LOW. 
Harvesting According to Directions. — We 
often read directions to cut grass when the weather is 
favorable, and so avoid badly-cured hay. Last Mon¬ 
day was just such a day as the most ideal director 
could wish. The barometer was high and still going 
higher, the wind was just in the right quarter, the 
air was dry, and 1 cut down a good lot of grass to be 
turned into finely-cured hay. But Tuesday morning 
I was awakened by the rain descending upon the just 
and the unjust as well. Farther inland, it may do 
very well to cut hay according to the weather, but 
here along the seaboard, it has been my experience 
that the time to cut grass is when it is ready to cut, 
regardless of the weather, unless it happen to be 
actually raining. Don’t cut too much at one time, 
but don’t fool around waiting for the barometer to go 
up or the weather man to prophesy fair weather. 
Seed Wheat.—Why is it that nine out of every 
ten of us will most carefully select our seed corn, but 
will pay no attention at all to the wheat unless it be 
to give it an extra cleaning ? Is not seed wheat more 
important? In the ordinary field culture of corn, 
lach plant has a fair chance to mature, and thereby 
to produce a perfect specimen for seed ; but with the 
wheat, it is different. The wheat is sown so thickly, 
that the individual plant has no chance at all to 
develop, and the result is seed from a stunted plant 
for next year's crop. My attention was called to this 
by a grass field that, last year, was in wheat. A few 
scattered plants came up, and though they were sur¬ 
rounded by Timothy, they were by no means so 
crowded as if in a wheat field, and the result is that 
some of the heads measure five inches in length. Now 
it seems perfectly reasonable to me to suppose that a 
plant from a seed of such a well-developed plant, 
would produce in turn a thriftier plant than would a 
seed from the crowded wheat row. Anyway it will 
do no harm to try. 
A Potato Experiment. —In cutting potatoes for 
seed, I have often noticed the small “lines” that 
seemed to run from the eye of the potato to the stem 
end. In order to find, if I could, what influence, if 
any, these “lines” had on the vitality of the eye, I 
planted in sand six lots of potatoes as follows: Lot 1, 
one whole potato with all eyes removed except one at 
seed end ; lot 2, one whole potato with all eyes re¬ 
moved except one at stem end ; lot 3, same as lot 2 ; 
lot 4, same as lot 1 with the exception of having 1 a 
piece of tin inserted in the potato directly under the 
eye so as to intei’cept the “ lines'’running from the 
eye to the stem end ; lot 5, one-half each of two pota¬ 
toes cut into 12 pieces from the seed end to the stem 
end, so as to leave as long a piece of “ line” attached 
to the eye as possible ; lot 6, the other half of the two 
potatoes from lot 5 cut from stem to seed end so as to 
intercept the “ lines” as near to the eyes as possible. 
My idea was that, growing in the sand, the potato 
would absorb the full extent of substance from the 
parent piece, and by noting the growth of the plants, 
I could tell somewhat whether the plants were de¬ 
pendent upon the “lines” for their supply of nour¬ 
ishment from the parent potato. I had intended to 
weigh the potatoes before planting, and at the end of 
the season, to see what the pieces had lost, but had 
no scales delicate enough, so had to content myself 
with noting the height of the plants, which was as 
follows July 4 : Lot 1, 11 inches ; lot 2, l inch ; lot 3, 
one-half inch ; lot 4, 0 inches ; lot 5, 11 eyes grew aver¬ 
aging 3 inches; lot 6, 9 eyes grew, averaging 3.8 inches. 
Buying a Mower. —A few days ago, I was in an 
agricultural implement store, and seeing a mower, 
asked to have it shown to me. The clerk began ex¬ 
patiating upon its merits, remarking that by the aid 
of this lever and this spring, the driver was enabled 
to raise the cutter bar when turning corners by ex¬ 
pending next to no enci-gy. This is all very well i n 
its place, but if I have a machine on which, by wink¬ 
ing my left eyelid, I am enabled to raise the bar at 
the corner and the horses have to sweat and strain to 
get to the next cox-ner, I do not want it. It is not for 
turning corners that we buy a machine, but for cut¬ 
ting grass, and while, for the first season, this machine 
would, doubtless, cut grass, yet its pitman was fast¬ 
ened to the knife simply by means of a bent piece of 
iron running into an eye, with no possible way of 
taking up the wear. The back and forth motion of 
the knife is the hardest one on machinery, and unless 
there is some way of taking up the wear, the machine 
soon begins to cut hard. When a mowing machine is 
bought, see that, at both ends of the pitman, there is 
some way of taking up the wear. No engine is ever 
built without some way of taking up the wear at all 
the boxes, and at these two points of a mowing ma¬ 
chine, we have a right to expect just as much. 
Another point is to see that the guards have remov¬ 
able guard plates. Try cutting a piece of tough goods 
with a pair of scissors having only one blade sharp, 
