848 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 25. 
Ruralisms 
SEEDING STRAWBERRIES. 
G. D. C; PlMinville, Conn .—Will you 
give me some advice about germinating 
strawberry seed? Very.few that I sow 
come up. I haxie been trying for sev¬ 
eral years to produce a late bearer, and 
now have from seed a few plants that arc 
almost perpetual. Among my late-bearing 
Plants I find another fruiting after others 
are through. I shall encourage plant-mak¬ 
ing from this one, but shall also sow the 
seed, as I enjoy watching for results. I 
have tried sowing in earth, starting in a 
damp s*ponge and under damp cloth, but 
get very few plants for the amount of 
seed sown. 
Ans. —The best time to plant the 
seed is immediately after removing it 
from the berry, and before it becomes 
dry. The longer the seed is dried the 
longer time it will require to germinate, 
and the more favorable must be the 
conditions for it to germinate in. The 
soil should be a good rich loam, never 
using clay or heavy soils that will bake 
or crust over as soon as they become 
a little dry. The loam should be mixed 
with one-third of its bulk of well-rotted 
and fine stable manure. Make a slight 
depression about one-half inch wide and 
about one inch apart on the surface of 
this seed bed, and plant the seed thick 
in these rows. Then cover the seed 
lightly (about one-sixteenth inch) with 
the same loamy soil that the seed was 
planted in, and from the time the geed 
is planted until the young plants appear 
the. surface of the soil must be kept 
moist, wetting with a very fine nozzle 
or watering can, or from a syringe, be¬ 
ing careful not to use any force when 
putting on the water, or the seed will 
be washed out. Moisture and warmth 
are. the two essential conditions to cause 
germination of the seed, and a porous 
light covering that the delicate germ 
may reach through the covering to the 
light, and a light rich soil for the young 
root to penetrate and take up food to 
sustain the leaf and plant when it starts 
growth in the light. When only a few 
seeds are to be planted, a fiat box about 
five inches deep is best to plant seed in. 
This box can be made by sawing in two 
an ordinary soap box, boring a few 
holes in the bottom with a half inch 
auger for drainage, covering over the 
bottom with broken flower pots or coal 
cinders, otherwise the soil will become 
sour with the stagnant water. After 
the seeds are planted and covered and 
before wetting them, firm them down 
with a brick of even surface, then wet 
them gently but thoroughly, and cover 
the fiat over with window glass; place 
it in some shady place where there is 
plenty of light, but where the direct 
rays of the sun will not strike it. 
The seed can be planted in a hotbed 
frame, if more space is required, using 
the same kind of soil and other condi¬ 
tions, but I have always preferred the 
flat boxes, as I can change their posi¬ 
tion at any time, and they are easily 
handled. If seed is taken by paring 
them thinly from the berry, and then 
squeezing out the juice through a piece 
of cheesecloth and planted at once, as 
directed above, they will soon germi¬ 
nate, and the little plants will grow 
slowly through the Summer and Fall. 
The best way to treat the little seed¬ 
lings is to pot them off in two-inch pots, 
or transplant them in good soil in about 
two weeks after they appear above 
ground. When a greenhouse is at hand, 
grow them in it through the Winter, 
or place in cold frames and protect 
them from hard freezing until Spring, 
when they should be planted out where 
they are to grow, as early in Spring as 
possible. If seed is dry and hard they 
can be planted and cared for as above, 
and if they do not germinate during the 
Summer or Fall, then any time during 
December or January, or even as late as 
February or March, if flats are taken 
into a warm room, hotbed or green¬ 
house, the seed will start and make 
plants large enough to plant out in field 
or garden by July or August following. 
The second Summer they should fruit, 
and show something of merit—or lack 
of it—to warrant their further trial or 
the rooting of them out, and each one’s 
fancy or ideas will guide him in this 
matter of selection. 
Many of our very best strawberries 
were secured from accidental seedlings 
where nature had planted it or a bird 
had dropped the seed, while those pro¬ 
duced by the most careful hybridizers 
and breeders have proved flat failures. 
Where now are Seth Boyden’s seed¬ 
lings, and the seedlings of Mr. Durand? 
Both of them gave lots of their time 
and money to the growing of new hy¬ 
brid seedling strawberries, and neither 
of them ever produced a berry of any 
real value to the market grower. Such 
varieties as the Wilson, Downing, Ken¬ 
tucky and later Crescent and Sharpless 
have not been equaled by any of the 
pedigree varieties. In my own experi¬ 
ence I worked for years in the hopes of 
producing a berry that would be better 
than cither of its parents—by crossing 
the Crescent seedling with Sharpless, 
but from many hundreds of seedlings 
of these hybrids I never succeeded in 
getting a single one of value, or the 
equal of their parents, and, strange to 
say, most of these seedlings were want¬ 
ing in healthy foliage or production of 
fruit, both of which qualities the par¬ 
ents excelled in. Afterward I used a 
system of crossing seedlings through 
different generations by using other par¬ 
ents to bring some result that the seed¬ 
ling was deficient in. For instance, if 
it lacked only vigor of plant, but was 
desirable in production, color, size and 
quality of fruit, I crossed it with some 
variety of strong, vigorous-plant growth, 
and so on through other deficiencies, 
until I felt I had got at least somewhere 
near the qualities I was trying to ob¬ 
tain. The late E. S. Carman of The 
R. N.-Y., who had the trial grounds of 
The R. N.-Y. in Bergen Co., N. J., said 
that all of these seedlings that he had 
tried, under unfavorable conditions at 
that, were, the most vigorous plants he 
had ever tried, and one variety that I 
had named after my son Robbie, Mr. 
Carman pronounced after fruiting it for 
three years, the best late strawberry that 
he had ever fruited. Yet this variety 
never succeeded generally, and could 
not be recommended for general culture. 
I am of the opinion that the future 
strawberry will have to be produced by 
careful breeding, and from known par¬ 
entage. “Blood will tell” in a fruit as 
well as animals or human beings, and 
every effort should be made to breed 
for a plant and fruit that would meet 
the requirements of the locality in which 
it originates, as it is easier to reach lo¬ 
cal perfection than it is under universal 
conditions. Dr. Van Fleet has on the 
trial grounds of The R. N.-Y. about 
250 seedlings that are the results of 
crosses of our best varieties with the 
best foreign varieties. All of them 
show their vigor and healthy plant life 
by maintaining vigorous healthy foliage 
during this, the severest drought we 
have had in many years past in this sec¬ 
tion, and they are doing this on a hill¬ 
side without any special care Or fer¬ 
tilizer, while many of the old or stand¬ 
ard varieties are dying from the effects 
of the drought. Dr. Van Fleet grew 
the parents under glass and fertilized 
every blossom by hand with the pollen 
of a variety that he wished to use, thus 
insuring the parentage of each one. Yet 
it is more than possible that they would 
fail under other conditions of soil and 
location. He has made the right start, 
and market growers of strawberries 
should grow seedlings for themselves, 
which arc more likely to succeed where 
they originate than a variety brought 
from another place. E. s. black, 
Monmouth Co., N. J. 
Gladiolus Questions. 
C. 8. F., Chicago, III. —1. 1 have noted 
the prevalence here this year of rust on 
Gladioli. Scarcely a leaf in gardens or 
florists’ shops that does not show the tell¬ 
tale red tip. Seme varieties, notably 
“1900.” seem more susceptible than others, 
the plant being killed in many instances. 
What is the proper remedy and treatment 
for this disease? 2. What is the best way 
to treat the bulblets of Gladioli, allow 
them to remain on the corms until Spring, 
or remove them in the Autumn? If the 
latter, how shall we store them best to pre¬ 
serve their vitality? How and when should 
the bulblets be planted in the Spring? 
Ans. — 1. The rust on Gladioli seems to 
be caused by a vitiated atmosphere. In 
East Akron, five miles from here, there 
are potteries where large quantities of 
salt are put in the kiln to glaze the 
ware. Gladioli planted east or north¬ 
east of the potteries are almost sure to 
die the first Summer. Friends in the 
northern part of Beaver Falls, Pa., can 
hardly grow the Gladiolus; but it suc¬ 
ceeds a mile west of there, where the 
smoke from the factories and locomo¬ 
tives seldom comes. 2. We take off 
most of the bulblets in the Fall and 
store them in barrels and boxes in cel¬ 
lars during the Winter, always keeping 
them covered. Small lots are sometimes 
put in paper sacks and then wrapped in 
paraffin paper to keep them from dry¬ 
ing. We have sometimes buried them or 
kept them in a root cellar with perfect 
success. A friend kept two barrels of 
bulblets in an open shed for 18 months 
without apparent harm. They must 
have been frozen repeatedly. We aim 
to keep them from drying or freezing. 
When we buy bulblets in the Spring 
that seem to be too dry, we soak them 
a few days. We aim to get them in 
early. M. CRAWFORD. 
Summit Co., O. 
10 More Bushels of Wheat for 87 Cents 
The result of a test. Two Fertilizers used, in which the quantities of Nitrogen and Phosphates 
were the same. No Potash yielded 21 bushels per acre. With Potash the yield was 31 bushels. 
The extra cost for Potash was 87 cents. 
Potash makes deep roots, gives strength to the stalk, vitalizes the plant, fills out head and 
grain and increases the weight. 
This Fall add 15 pounds of Muriate of Potash per 100 of bone or plain phosphates, or—to 2-8-2 
add 10 pounds per 100. All eh ments are required, but be sure to add Potash. 
Arrange now with your dealer to get Potash when you need it, 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 93 Nassau Street, New York 
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