8 
FLANSBURGH & PEIRSON CO.’S CATALOGUE. 
■be induced to ripen a week of ten days later, without the slightest Injury; and 
this means profit for the grower as surely as the extra-early berries that com¬ 
mence the season. The same variety will ripen earlier on a sunny exposure, 
and later on a level or northern slope, as the case may be, and there is still 
a greater difference with early and late sorts. The object is to keep the late 
sorts dormant by heavy mulching as late in spring as possible; and for this 
reason it should not be applied until the ground is frozen hard and deep; 
while, on the other hand, the sooner the mulch is on the early sorts before 
the ground freezes hard the quicker it will thaw out when it is removed, and the 
plants start to grow. 
A plant that has borne fruit is more or less exhausted with the effort, and 
can survive only by growing a new set of roots nearer the surface of the 
soil, and above the old roots, which become woody, and die. They ripen the 
second crop of berries a little earlier than the first; but it is not expected that 
they will do as well as with their first great effort, even with the best after- 
treatment, which consists in mowing down the foliage immediately after fruit¬ 
ing. forking and shaking up the mulch as evenly as possible, and burning the 
whole patch over as soon as dry enough to burn rapidly, thus destroying weed 
seeds or any insect pests or disease that may have got among them; afterward 
cultivating between the rows, and cross-harrowing. A drag with teeth slanting 
backward is best. A dressing of ashes, commercial fertilizer, or fine manure, 
may be applied and cultivated in, and in three or four weeks after fruiting, or 
sooner if it rains, if the job has been well done, the plants will be showing up 
green, and growing once again. 
Many of our customers who take much pride in growing the finest berries 
and biggest crops would rather buy their plants of us each season than disturb 
their fine new bearing beds, even for their own resetting; and such a one, in re¬ 
ferring you to us, is more your friend than he who gives permission to dig the 
little run-out plants of an old fruiting patch. These plants are but the effort 
of the parent plant to reproduce itself before it dies. They are small and weak 
and lack in fruiting vigor, if not diseased. They are degenerate, and should be 
destroyed as weeds that sap the parent plant. 
Pistillate varieties have imperfect blossoms, and will not fruit unless these 
blossoms are fertilized by the pollen that is carried by insects or the wind from 
staminate varieties, which have perfect bloom, and are self-fertilizing. A good 
way is to set two rows of staminates and two of pistillates, alternate, or one of 
staminate and two or three of pistillates: but a greater proportion than this with 
imperfect bloom is hardly safe, especially if the blossoming season should prove 
cold and wet. 
The only best time to set strawberries is in the spring, when the plants are 
fully grown, matured, and dormant; when the soil is moist and cool and there 
is more favorable weather generally. 
Don’t order strawberry plants by freight. We would rather give extra plants 
for prompt delivery by express, for any difference in rate, than that our custom¬ 
ers should receive them in any but the freshest possible condition. 
When the plants arrive, if your ground is not ready, untie the bunches and 
heel them in, the plants just far enough apart for the soil to press about the 
roots of each. Water and shade them if necessary. As soon as the soil will 
crumble in the hand, fit the ground deep and fine and firm. A little extra work 
right here will pay you double later on. Mark out in rows three to four feet 
apart for the narrow or broad matted row system, or 24 to 30 inches check rows 
for hill culture, so as to cultivate both ways. 
We set our plants with spades and follow quickly with the horse and culti¬ 
vator, repeating the operation as many times throughout the season as is neces¬ 
sary to keep and hold the soil at all times loose and lively, hoeing among the 
plants nearly as often for the same purpose. Some growers advise setting the 
plants 15 inches apart for matted row's; but if the soil is in good heart, and it 
has been well fitted, and only No. 1 plants are used, this is pretty close for most 
varieties. We set 18 inches to two feet or more apart, according to the vigor of 
the variety, and seldom have a break in our rows in the fall. Sometimes a small 
spot will be drowned out in a wet season, or a white grub will eat the roots off 
from a few plants before we find him; but he seldom gets very far with us, for 
they are not long set before they begin to blossom, and these blossoms must be 
kept off or the plants wdll bear and exhaust themselves, and the young plants 
will suffer for it. 
THE NEW EATON RED RASPBERRY—SEE PAGE 24. 
