312 
^ The Everbearing Strawberry 
A Calm Statement About It 
('an you give me any information in regard to rais¬ 
ing everbearing strawberries on a commercial basis? 
I set out some last year, manured heavily with stable 
manure, no runners cut, and plants made a great many 
runners but few’berries, ('an you give me information 
as to i)rei)arati()n of soil, fertilization, cultivation, cut¬ 
ting runners, etc., and amount of fruit to expect per 
KHM) ])lants under normal conditions? When raised 
bv the hill system are plants only good for the year set 
or will they bear second year, Spring and Fall? Do 
yon advise hill system? S. D. G. 
I’rince.ss Anne, Md. 
C ommercial culture.—T ins matter of 
growing everbearing strawberries on a commer¬ 
cial basis is a live question. People want to know 
Everbearing Strawberry Progressive. Fig. Ill 
whetlnu' these everbearers really are of value to 
the commercial grower. To date very few commer¬ 
cial growers have had enough experience with them 
to be able to give facts and figures showing ju.st 
what they will do. At first many doubted whether 
strawberries could bo grown in tlie Fall. It took 
several yetirs to prove to the jiverage person that 
it could be done and was Iteing done. Usually a 
man had to see before he believed. After that it 
took another year or ,so to convince the public that 
the everbearers were really satisfactory berries for 
the home garden. At the present time nearly every¬ 
one admits the existence of everbearing .sti-aw- 
berries, and their value for the home garden, but 
when mentioned as a commercial proposition he has 
his douhts. It will take two or three years of 
actual demonstration before the everbearers I’eally 
win favor with many commercial grower.s. 
POS.'^IRILITIES.—Personally I feel .sure ever- 
b(‘!iring strawberi-ies will eventually replace the 
.standai'd sorts with many commercial gi'owers. Our 
Own experience has been identical with that of 
many other growei’s. I will give it brieflj' and in 
so doing may give the reason why so few commer¬ 
cial growers have been able to give complete re- 
jxU’ts on their experience in producing the fruit of 
fhese interesting 1)erries. To simplify matters I 
will mention bnt two varieties, Super!) and Pro- 
gi-essive. Taking the country as a whole these are 
the two most successful varieties. There are a 
score of others. Superb and Progressive differ 
greatly in their habits of gipwth and preference for 
soils. 
“SUPERB.”—In 1911 we invested in plants at 50 
cents each, and tried Superb in tlie garden on very 
light sandy soil that was heavily manured. We 
were very skeptical about the Fall-bearing propo- 
.sition, and when those plants began to bear large 
A Bridge Grafted Apple Tree. Fig. 112. See page 320. 
XShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
beautiful berries in midsummer we could hardly 
believe our eyes. They were as large and firm as 
Spring bei-ries, and we immediately decided to set 
out, the following Spring, all the plants we could 
grow. In 1912 we set about 5(K> plants under field 
conditions on sand.v soil a little heavier and a little 
damper than in the garden. We set these berries 
along one side of a large block of Oandy and Chesa¬ 
peake. We gave them the same treatment we did 
the other.s. We cut no blossoms and let all run¬ 
ners set that were produced. The result was a 
good lot of berries all through the Summer, and a 
good bed of plants, about e<iual to Candy, but bet¬ 
ter than Chesapeake. That Fall a few (juarts of 
ripe berries were exhibited at the county fair, and 
then came a demand for ])lants that took nearlj’ 
half the plants produced. 
FURTHER EXPERIENCE.—In 191.2 about an 
acre of Superb was planted. We gathered more 
than enough berries that Summer to pay expen.ses 
on that acre, and that Avithout any attempt to cut 
runners or •blossoms; just simply left them alone 
as we do other sorts. In June of that year Ave had 
an opportunity to see Avhat Superb Avould do for 
the Spring crop. After seeing Ave Avei-e sorry we 
had not planted much more than an acre. Superb 
far outyielded both Candy and Chesapeake under 
same conditions and judging from that one crop 
Superb Avas far more desirable as a Spring cropper 
alone than anything Ave had on the place. In 1914 
Ave set quite a large block in Superb, but did not 
haA’e a chance to see hoAv the acre set in 191.2 Avould 
have fruited for S])ring crop. This came about 
as the result of the .sale of the feAV plants in 191.3. 
The small lots sold in the Spring fruited during 
the Summer and by Fall orders for i)lants began to 
])()ur in from tho.se aa'Iio had tided them, and from 
others Avho saAA’ them in fruit. 3'he re.sult A\’as 
jiractically all the plants on that acre Avere sold. 
Duly old mother plants AA-ere left to fimit. An ac¬ 
count Avas kept of herries sold in the Summer and 
Fall of 1914, and the result Avas .$143.75 net per 
acre. We expected great results from the Spring 
crop of 1915 from this block of Superb, as aa’o had 
a good bed Avith plants just thick enough for good 
fruit, but it never materialized, for again Ave did 
the unexpected thing. {Continued on pof/e 32.'f.) 
Carnation Growing 
N ot an easy crop.— The farmer or begin¬ 
ner Avith a greenhouse is doubtle.ss at times 
at a loss to knoAv just Avhat crops to grow, Avhat 
difliculties may be encountered and results expected 
from each crop. Vegetables, and vegetable plants 
luiA'e been treated uiion se\’eral occasions in these 
columns, and AA’ithout doubt they are the crops that 
should be attempted by the beginner, until he be¬ 
comes familiar Avitli the various reipiisites of in¬ 
door gardening. The carnation is often selected by 
the man of little experience as an easy and profit¬ 
able crop to groAv. We have been groAving carna¬ 
tions many years, and do not find them as easy to 
groAA' noAA' as 10 or 12 yea is ago,.^Ar eA’en longer than 
that. The cause is in the advancement made in 
improving this fioAver by continually having neAV va¬ 
rieties offered for sale. These neAV varieties occa¬ 
sionally have merit, but more often enrich the in- 
ti-oducers only, Avhile the purchaser loses his money, 
time and A'aluable space as aa’cII. Through this con¬ 
tinual effort to improve this fioAver, many traits of 
older A’arieties have been lost, and the neAA' ones are 
more ditlicult to groAv; appear to be less disease re¬ 
sistant, and do not bloom nearly as freshly as the 
varieties of a decade ago. !Many of our present 
day varieties produce their floAvei-s in crops, Avhich 
is an excellent fault if Ave can get that crop on the 
market at the right time, though usually Ave have 
feAA’' fioAA’ers AA’hen AA’e should haA’e them, and many 
when the market is overstocked. 
COiNIPARISON WITH ROSES.— If it Avere pos¬ 
sible for some one to put carnation culture upon 
such a AA’ell timed basis as rose culture is at pres¬ 
ent. he Avould have an opportunity to make a de¬ 
cent living from a moderate-sized greenhou.se, pro¬ 
vided he could do it each sea.son. A very success¬ 
ful I'ose groAver informed me recently that from one 
block of Killarney plants that they had timed for 
Christmas, they liegan cutting the Wednesday be¬ 
fore Christmas, and had the entire crop cut by 
Sunday evening. It Avas a pretty large block of 
plants, but then they cut 20,000 floAvers in those 
five days, Avhich meant an average of quite a feAV 
floAvers per plant. Any carnation groAver Avho could 
cut one floAver per plant average from his entire 
place during Christmas Aveek Avould consider him¬ 
self fortunate indeed. An average of one floAver iier 
plant during the Avhole month of December is even 
higher than the majority of the groAvers get. 
VARIETIES.—^The varieties groAvn most exten- 
March .3, 1917. 
sively at present are Matchless for Avhite, and 
White Wonder, which is a much freer bloomer, 
though it does not keep as well. Dark pink, Mrs. 
The Bear Tree . Fig. 113. See page 315 
C. W. Ward is-the leader, being a color most in 
demand, and a Avonderful keeper, though at present 
one of the least profitable varieties to groAv. It is 
a sloAV groAver and a very .shy bloomer. Northport 
is darker in shade, having a cerise cast, but is a 
much freer bloomer, as AA'ell as a good keeper. 
Miss Theo, introduced last season as a free bloom¬ 
ing, medium size rose pink, gives promise of ful¬ 
filling the description of the introducers, and Avill 
likely be groAvn quite extensively next season. In 
the light pink class Enchantress Supreme is .su¬ 
preme. It is so easy to groAV, is a desirable .shade, 
free blooming midAvinter variety and has so much 
to commend it, that in a .season or tAVo it is likely 
too manj' Avill be planted, AA’ith a consopient over¬ 
supply of the floAvers, Pink Delight is the carna¬ 
tion supreme today, though groAvn by feAver flor¬ 
ists than any other popular variety. The cause of 
this is extreme difliculty of rooting the cuttings. 
Several large Ngav England groAvers almost spe¬ 
cialize in this variety, as it is very free, and pos¬ 
sibly the best keeper Ave have today, ahvays selling 
as high as or higher than any other A’ariety, and 
this includes all the neAv ones introduced since Pink 
Delight Avas jmt on the market. Our commission 
house is making an effort to have as many groAV(>rs 
as possible produce stock of it, and have offered 
their services, either free or in a very nominal Avay, 
in getting rooted cuttings for anyone aa'Iio consigns 
to them. Nancy is a ncAV one of last year’s intro¬ 
duction from the originator of IMnk Delight, the 
color is the same, stem good, flOAver not quite as 
large, plant larger, and roo'ts easily. Time alone 
Avill tell Avhich Avill Avin out, though it is a safe bet 
that the man Avho can root Pink Delight Avill groAv 
it for years to come. There is only one varigated 
variety on the mai’ket today that is of value, Ben- 
ora, AAdiite ground AA'ith scarlet stripes, an admir¬ 
able variety in every respect except color, Avhich 
Avould not sell in large quantity. Princess Dagmar 
is probably the leading crimson. In scarlet there 
are a number of varieties (Continued on page .326.) 
A Free Blooming Rose. Fig. 114 
