618 Report oF THE HORTICULTURIST OF THE 
are given clean cultivation. After the ground freezes in early 
winter they are covered four or five inches deep with straw or 
coarse manure. They are given one cultivation in the spring as 
soon as the ground is fit to be worked, usually with a Planet Jr. 
cultivator. The mulch is then removed from the beds and 
placed between the rows, where it is left until the crop is picked. 
One or two inches of the mulch is left on the plants to. keep the 
ground moist and the fruit clean. Plate I illustrates this manner 
of mulching the strawberries. 
Before the fruit ripens an area of 33 square feet is laid out in 
each bed. The fruit borne on this area is carefully weighed and 
a complete record kept of the date and weight of each picking. 
As arule it is probably best to set plants in the spring, and 
after taking one crop of fruit plow the bed under. With plants 
that make runners very slowly it sometimes happens that the 
second year’s yield is better than the first. [or this and other 
reasons, which it is not necessary to state in this connection, 
strawberry beds at this Station are commonly fruited two years. 
NOTES ON VARIETIES. 
In the following notes the blooming season of pistillate 
plants is in each case compared with the blooming season of 
some well-known staminate variety as a guide in choosing stam- 
inate plants for fertilizing the blossoms of the pistillate plants. 
The quality of the fruit is indicated by the terms “ poor,” 
“fair,” “good,” “very good” and “best.” Stems of average 
length and strength are called “good stems”; short, long or 
prostrate stems are specially mentioned when necessary. 
Synonyms and unnamed seedings are given in italics. | 
Staminate varieties, those having perfect flowers, are marked 
“S” while pistillate varieties, those having imperfect flowers, 
are marked ‘“ P_” 
*Accomack, 8. (Lom A. J. McMath, Olney, Va., and Slay- 
maker & Son, Dover, Del.) Unproductive. Good scarlet color. 
*Advancer, 8S. (/rom fF. S. Cole, Harmons, Md.) Unpro- 
dutive. Dark scarlet color. 
*Allen’s No. 1, P. (From W. F. Allen, Jr., Salisbury, Md.) 
Blossoms with Capt. Jack. Unproductive. Dark scarlet color. 
se AF eh TO RN ee 
* Varieties marked with a * were fruited in beds two years old. More complete descriptions 
of them may be found in Bulletin 64 of this Station or the Annual Report for 1893. 


