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Page 47
Some have adopted this system in raising strawberries for market.
They prepare very rich beds, fill them with pot-grown plants in
June or July, take from these plants one crop the following June,
then plow them under. As a rule, however, such plants cannot be
bought in quantities before August or September.
As we go south, September, October, or November, according to
lowness of latitude, are the favorite months for planting. I have
had excellent success on the Hudson in late autumn planting. My
method has been to cover the young plants, just before the ground
froze, with two or three inches of clean earth, and then to rake
it off again early in April. The roots of such plants become
thoroughly established during the winter, and start with double
vigor. Plants set out in LATE autumn do best on light, dry soils.
On heavy soils they will be frozen out unless well covered. They
should not be allowed to bear the following season. A late-set
plant cannot before winter in our climate become strong and sturdy
enough to produce much fruit the following season. I make it a
rule not to permit plants set out after the first of October to
bear fruit until a year from the following June.
In setting out plants, the principle of sex should be remembered.
The majority of our favorite varieties are bisexual; that is, the
blossoms are furnished with both stamens and pistils. A variety
with this organization, as the Sharpless, for instance, will bear
alone with no other kind near it. But if one set out a bed of
Champions--another fine variety--well apart from any staminate
kind, it would blossom profusely, but produce no fruit. When I was
a boy, Hovey's Seedling was the great strawberry of the day, and
marvellous stories were told of the productiveness of the plants
and the size of the berries. How well I remember the
disappointment and wrath of people who bought the plants at a high
price, and set them out with no staminate varieties near to
fertilize the pistillate blossoms. Expectations were raised to the
highest pitch by profuse blossoming in May, but not a berry could
be found the ensuing June. The vigorous plants were only a
mockery, and the people who sold them were berated as humbugs. To-
day the most highly praised strawberry is the Jewell. The
originator, Mr. P. M. Augur, writes me that "plants set two feet
by eighteen inches apart, August 1, 1884, in June, 1885,
completely covered the ground, touching both ways, and averaged
little over a quart to the plant for the centre patch." All
runners were kept off, in accordance with the system advocated in
this paper. "At Boston a silver medal was awarded to this variety
as the best new strawberry introduced within five years." People
reading such laudation--well deserved, I believe--might conclude
the best is good enough for us, and send for enough Jewell plants
to set out a bed. If they set no others near it, their experience
would be similar to that which I witnessed in the case of Hovey's
Seedling thirty odd years ago. The blossom of the Jewell contains
pistils only, and will produce no fruit unless a staminate variety
is planted near. I have never considered this an objection against
a variety; for why should any one wish to raise only one variety
of strawberry? All danger of barrenness in pistillate kinds is
removed absolutely by planting staminate sorts in the same bed. In
nurserymen's catalogues pistillate varieties are marked "P.," and
the purchaser has merely to set out the plants within a few feet
of some perfect flowering kind to secure abundant fruit.
As a result of much experience, I will now make some suggestions
as to varieties. In a former paper I have given, the opinions of
others upon this important subject, and one can follow the advice
of such eminent authorities without misgiving. The earliest
strawberry that I have ever raised, and one of the best flavored,
is the Crystal City. It is evidently a wild variety domesticated,
and it has the exquisite flavor and perfume of the field-berry. It
rarely fails to give us fruit in May, and my children, with the
unerring taste of connoisseurs, follow it up until the last berry
is picked. It would run all over the garden unchecked; and this
propensity must be severely curbed to render a bed productive.
Keeping earliness and high flavor in view, I would next recommend
the Black Defiance. It is not remarkably productive on many soils,
but the fruit is so delicious that it well deserves a place. The
Duchess and Bidwell follow in the order of ripening. On my grounds
they have always made enormous plants, and yielded an abundance of
good-flavored berries. The Downing is early to medium in the
season of ripening, and should be in every collection. The Indiana
is said to resemble this kind, and to be an improvement upon it.
Miner's Prolific is another kindred berry, and a most excellent
one. Among the latest berries I recommend the Sharpless Champion,
or Windsor Chief, and Parry. If one wishes to raise a very large,
late, showy berry, let him try the Longfellow. The Cornelia is
said to grow very large and ripen late, but I have not yet fruited
it. As I said fifteen or twenty years ago, if I were restricted to
but one variety, I should choose the Triomphe de Gand, a foreign
kind, but well adapted to rich, heavy soils. The berries begin to
ripen early, and last very late. The Memphis Late has always been
the last to mature on my grounds, and, like the Crystal City, is
either a wild variety, or else but slightly removed. The Wilson is
the great berry of commerce. It is not ripe when it is red, and
therefore is rarely eaten in perfection. Let it get almost black
in its ripeness, and it is one of the richest berries in
existence. With a liberal allowance of sugar and cream, it makes a
dish much too good for an average king. It is also the best
variety for preserving.
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