650 
TH k rural NEW-YOKKER 
August 1" 
Ruralisms 
A Seedling Strawiierry Bed. —In Au¬ 
gust, 1906, the writer planted a plot 28 
by 35 feet, or somewhat less than one- 
sixteenth of an acre, of very ordinary 
soil, with 154 hand-pollinated straw¬ 
berry seedlings, spacing them four feet 
apart each way. These plants were 
grown from berries ripened in June of 
the same year, and were established in 
two-inch plots. The soil preparation be¬ 
gan in May by plowing in a light coat 
of strawy manure, after the land had 
been cleared of evergreen nursery trees, 
and keeping down weed growth by oc¬ 
casional harrowings. As soon as the 
newly set plants showed sign of growth 
a tablespoonful of Peruvian guano con¬ 
taining about three per cent, nitrogen 
and 15 per cent, phosphoric acid, was 
scattered about each plant and well hoed 
in. They were cultivated often enough 
to keep the surface mellow and free 
from weeds, and no runners were al¬ 
lowed to root. Growth continued until 
November, the plants forming quite 
stocky stools, but appeared rather lone¬ 
some at their unusual distance apart. 
They were protected in Winter with a 
mulch of horse manure applied in De¬ 
cember, and came through in excellent 
condition. Cultivation was started next 
Spring as soon as the soil was suffi¬ 
ciently dry, and continued throughout 
the season, all weeds in the rows being 
removed by hand. In July another ap¬ 
plication of guano was given, using one- 
liaif bushel by measure to the plot, and 
the manure mulch repeated the ensuing 
Winter. Runners were allowed to root, 
the cultivator being narrowed as the sea¬ 
son progressed. By the end of last 
Summer there was a uniform stand over 
the whole plot, some of the original 
crowns having leaf stems 14 inches 
high. A few berries were borne by 
the strongest plants, but Iitt'e attention 
was paid to them. This season, however, 
the unusual masses of bloom presaged 
a good crop, and as a matter of fact 
250 quarts of berries were picked. This 
is at the rate of 4,000 quarts per acre, 
a satisfactory but not extraordinary 
yield. There was only one rain after 
the berries began to ripen, and the later 
kinds, which were in the great majority, 
were doubtless cut short by drought and 
heat. The great features, however, 
were the fine appearance and high qual¬ 
ity of the berries, taken as a whole. 
There was almost every conceivable type 
from early to late, round and long, light 
and dark, big and little, hut only four 
clumps turned out unproductive. The 
great majority had soft flesh, but a few 
unusually firm ones were found. As 
picked, row by row, they lacked uni¬ 
formity, but otherwise had better appear¬ 
ance and far more attractive flavor than 
any of the commercial kinds we grow, 
taken singly. Even the exquisite Will¬ 
iam Belts and Marshalls tasted flat in 
comparison with the blended quality of 
the mixture. It was preferred by cus¬ 
tomers to the fruit of named varieties. 
Characteristics of Seedlings. —The 
well-known pistillate variety, President, 
was largely used as the seed parent on 
account of the great size and beauty of 
its berries. The pollen parents were 
mainly William Belt, Brandywine, 
Mead and Royal Sovereign, the latter of 
European origin. The President x 
Belt seedlings were great croppers, 
mostly of good quality, and showed lit¬ 
tle of the foliage weakness ascribed to 
the parent kinds. President x Brandy¬ 
wine gave extra high flavored fruits, 
many with long neck and dark coloring. 
President x Mead could be readily 
identified by the thick glossy foliage and 
heavy clusters of bright berries, many 
of which were unusually sweet and highly 
flavored. The President and Royal Sov¬ 
ereigns cross resulted in extremely vig¬ 
orous plants bearing large and very firm 
berries on long thick pedicels. The 
quality averaged fair. Other crosses 
lent variety and spice to the general mix¬ 
ture. About one dozen kinds appeared 
so good that they have been transplanted 
for propagation and further observation. 
Possibly one or more may prove worthy 
of introduction after extended trial, but 
so much is required of a new strawberry 
is these latter days that the outlook is 
never promising. 
Present Treatment. —We have plow¬ 
ed this fruiting bed, leaving unturned 
strips a foot wide at one side of the 
rows of original plants, and will har¬ 
row the loose soil level and work be¬ 
tween the standing plants with hand 
tools in order to clean out all young 
weeds. This should have been done as 
soon as the fruit was off, but the severe 
drought had so hardened the soil by the 
end of the picking season that it did not 
appear practicable, but as growth was at 
a standstill until the recent rains, prob¬ 
ably the delay has not been harmful. 
The profuse foliage was cut with the 
scythe and raked off before plowing. 
We propose to apply another dressing 
of guano as soon as free growth is evi¬ 
dent, and repeat the Winter mulch as 
usual. Guano has given us good results 
as a strawberry fertilizer, appearing to 
promote fruitfulness rather than exces¬ 
sive plant development. While rich in 
available nitrogen and phosphoric acid, 
it is deficient in potash, but strawberry 
plants do not respond to potash appli¬ 
cations oh the Rural Grounds. There 
appears to be sufficient already in the 
soil, and in the manure mulches for 
strawberry needs. 
A New Summer-Fruiting Straw¬ 
berry. —H. F. Dew, Albion, Mich., has a 
new Summer-fruiting strawberry that he 
thinks is more valuable than any now 
before the public. It is claimed to be a 
cross between a wild prairie plant and 
the old French Jucunda. Mr. Dew has 
so much confidence in its merits that he 
has propagated it extensively in Michi¬ 
gan, and for a more thorough test has 
personally grown it in this locality 
(Monmouth County, N. J.) for two 
years. It is a strong, rugged plant, with 
broad, glossy foliage and conspicuous, 
perfect blooms, and increases at a fair 
rate by means of runners. Under ordi¬ 
nary commercial conditions the berries 
of the Spring crop arc medium to large, 
fairly well shaped, dark crimson in color, 
with deep red flesh. The quality is slightly 
acid but pleasant; the texture fine-grained 
and quite firm. When a normal Spring 
crop is produced there does not appear to 
be any unusual tendency toward Summer 
fruiting, but if the blooms are cut off 
or the plants checked by removal to 
fresh soil, a quite profuse crop of fine 
berries is produced in July, and fruiting 
continues until Autumn in a scattering 
manner. Fig. 289, page 647, shows a 
cluster picked July 24. It does poor 
justice to the variety, as the best speci¬ 
mens were not available at the time. 
The plant from which this cluster was 
picked and about 50 others were trans¬ 
planted by Mr. Dew May 28, the bloom 
clusters being removed. New ones 
formed as the plants became established 
and by the middle of July all were ripen¬ 
ing fine crops of good and handsome 
berries. The plants were in fertile gar¬ 
den soil, well cultivated, and to some 
extent irrigated, but evidently not 
enough to offset the fierce heat and 
drought that prevailed from the end of 
May until the last week of July. 
Pan-American Strawberries. —Sum¬ 
mer and Autumn fruiting is a trait com¬ 
mon to many well-known strawberry va¬ 
rieties, particularly where they are pre¬ 
vented by natural or artificial means 
from fruiting at the normal season. Dis¬ 
budding or transplanting mature plants 
and decided checks by drought may fa¬ 
vor the production of berries at odd sea¬ 
sons, but unless the characteristic is 
strongly developed there is little chance 
for useful crops. Rather abundant Fall 
fruiting is to be looked for this year if 
the remainder of the season proves fa¬ 
vorable for rapid growth after the ex¬ 
cessive drought, but it is not likely that 
profitable pickings will be had from or¬ 
dinary kinds. The Pan-American berry, 
however, does not waste much energy 
in Spring fruiting, but produces bloopis 
and berries as a matter of habit in Mid¬ 
summer. It has profitably been grown 
for exclusive markets willing to pay well 
for out-of-season berries. Good illus¬ 
trations of fruiting plants appear on page 
631 of the last issue of The R. N. Y. 
The great defect of the Pan-American is 
slowness of propagation. Plants rarely 
make runners, and are slowly increased 
by division of the crown, a most tedious 
process. Mr. Dew’s variety is a good 
plant maker, and it would seem as if it 
could be grown with profit where fancy 
markets are available. Mr. Dew’s ber¬ 
ries were certainly larger and more 
freely produced than those borne by our 
Pan-American plants at the same time. 
w. v. F. 
The Scale Still With Us. —Those 
who trust to the San Jose scale dying 
out will awake to the fact that it will 
not do so until it has the last drop of sap 
and the life of their trees. As far as 
my observation goes the apparent de¬ 
crease in 1907 was more due to persis¬ 
tent spraying and unfavorable weather 
conditions, not that this pest was losing 
any of its vitality, and those who did 
not spray the past Spring will suffer. 
New Jersey. chas. black. 
Takes both to 
make Good Wheat 
Good clover follows good 
wheat, but it takes Potash to set 
the clover. 
Starved clover won’t feed the crop that follows it. 
It needs a vigorous root and a sturdy growth for 
itself before it can gather nitrogen for you. 
Give it a good start by enough Potash with your phos¬ 
phates in this Fall’s seeding of wheat or rye. 
The clover will do the rest—you'll see when you cut the clover. 
Clover, timothy, rye and oats, for turning under, or a crop in rotation— 
all need more Potash than most commercial mixtures afford. 
Do not use fertilizers that contain less than 6 per cent. Potash. If your 
dealer does not carry them, then mix 15 pounds of Muriate of Potash witli 
each 100 pounds of your fertilizer. Potash is profit. Buy the Potash first. 
Send for pamphlets containing facts about soil, 
crops, manures and fertilizers. Mailed free. 
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TWO SIZES 
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A WONDERFUL INVENTION 
CLARK'S DOUBLE ACTION COM¬ 
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Can be used to culti¬ 
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$250.00 For a Prize Story 
The Rural New-Yorker offers $250.00 for the best story of 
AMERICAN FARM LIFE 
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PRIZE STORY DEPARTMENT, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 409 PEARL ST., NEW YORK. 
