None of our small fruits are more esteemed, or more easily raised, and
yet none more frequently fails. Failures always result from
carelessness, or the want of a little knowledge of the best methods of
cultivation. We omit much that might be said of the history and uses of
the strawberry, and confine ourselves to a few brief directions, which,
if strictly followed, will render every cultivator uniformly successful.
No one need ever fail of growing a good crop of strawberries. In 1857,
we saw plats of strawberries in Illinois, in the cultivation of which
much money had been expended, and which were remarkably promising when
in blossom, but which did not yield the cultivators five dollars' worth
of fruit. In the language of the proprietors, "they blasted."
Strawberries never blast; but, for the want of fertilizers at suitable
distances, they may not fill. There are but three causes of
failure--want of fertilizers, excessive drought, and allowing the vines
to become too thick. Of most of our best varieties, the blossoms are of
two kinds--pistillate and staminate, or male and female--and they are
essential to each other. The pistillate plants bear the fruit, and the
staminates are the fertilizers, without which the pistillates will be
fruitless. There are three kinds of blossom--pistillate, staminate, and
perfect, as seen in the cut.
[Illustration: 1. Perfect blossom. 2. Staminate blossom. 3. Pistillate
blossom.]
The first (1) is perfect; that is, has both the stamens and pistils well
developed: this will produce a fair crop of fruit, without the presence
of any other variety. The second (2) has the stamens large, while the
pistils (the apparently small green strawberry in the centre) are not
sufficiently developed to produce fruit: such plants seldom bear more
than a few imperfectly-formed berries. The third (3) has pistils in
abundance, but is destitute of stamens, and hence, will not bear alone.
The two latter are to be placed near each other, to render them
productive; they may be readily distinguished when in blossom. It is
always safe to cultivate the hermaphrodite plants; that is, those
producing perfect blossoms; but the pistillates and staminates, in due
proportions, produce the largest crops, and finer fruit.
_Soil._--Much has been said against high fertilization with animal
manures, and in favor of vegetable mould only. We feel entirely
satisfied that the largest crops of strawberries are grown on land
highly manured with common barnyard manure. To plant and manure a
strawberry-bed, begin on one side, and dig a trench eighteen inches deep
(from two to three feet is much better) and as wide; put six inches of
common manure in the bottom; dig another trench as deep, and place the
soil upon the manure in the first trench; fill the last with manure as
the first, and so on over the whole plat. Manure the surface lightly
with very fine manure and wood-ashes.
_Transplanting_ is usually better in the month of August. If done at
that season, and it be not too dry, the plants will get such a growth
the same season as to produce quite a good crop of fruit the next
season. Planted as early in the spring as it will do to stir the soil,
they are more sure to grow and yield a very few berries the first
season, and very abundantly the next. If you would cultivate in hills,
put them two feet apart each way; if otherwise, two feet one way, and
one foot the other. Cut off the roots to two or three inches in length,
and remove all the dead leaves; dip them in mud, which is a great means
of causing them to grow; and set them in fine mould, the crown one inch
below the level of the soil around, and leave it in a slight basin, and
water it, unless the weather be damp. Many plants are lost from not
being set low enough to escape drought. The basin will hold water, and
nearly every plant will grow; excessive water will destroy them. Set out
three or four rows of pistillate plants, and then one of the staminates,
or fertilizers. Some set them out in beds and allow them to cover the
whole ground, and cultivate by spading up the bed in alternate sections
of eighteen inches or two feet each year, turning under, in the spring,
that portion that bore fruit the previous season--which has long been
recommended by good authority. This was the lamented Downing's method.
We think rows preferable for this reason. The young plants formed by the
runners are less vigorous after the first; hence, the tendency is to
deterioration by this mode of culture. And this method does not afford
so good an opportunity for stirring the soil around the plants as
planting in rows; this stirring the soil is a great means of protecting
from drought, and securing the most vigorous growth. Deep subsoiling
between the rows early in the spring, or after fruiting, is valuable;
hence, we always advise to cultivate in hills two feet apart each way,
and renew them after they have borne two, or at most three crops.
Hermaphrodites are best for cultivation in beds. Many strawberry-beds do
well the first year of their bearing, but are almost useless afterward.
The cultivator says they all run to vines. In such cases, they overlook
the fact that the staminate plants grow altogether the fastest, because
their strength goes to support foliage in the absence of fruit, while
bearing vines require much of their strength to mature the fruit; hence,
if they are allowed to run together the second, or at most the third
year, the fertilizers will monopolize the ground and prevent fruiting.
This is the greatest cause of failure of a crop, next to a want of both
kinds of plants. This is the origin of fears of having land too rich. It
is said it all runs to vines without fruit; this is because the wrong
vines have intruded--the staminates have overcome the pistillates. We
reject the whole theory of the luxuriance of the vines preventing the
production of fruit. The larger the vines the more fruit, provided only
the vines are bearers, and not too thick: hence this invariable
rule--_always have fertilizers within five feet, and never allow the two
kinds to run together._ Manures should be applied in August, well spaded
in. Applying in the spring to increase the crop for that season, is like
feeding chickens in the morning to fatten them for dinner--it is too
late. Fertilizing in August is a good preparation for a large crop for
the next season. Strawberry-vines, in all freezing climates, should be
covered, late in the fall, with forest-leaves or straw, to protect from
the severity of winter, and enrich the land by what can be dug into the
soil in spring. Rotten wood, fine chips, sawdust, &c., are all good for
a fall top-dressing. After well hoeing and weeding in spring, until
blossom-buds appear, just before the blossoms open, cover the bed
thoroughly with spent tanbark, sawdust, or fine straw. This will keep
down weeds, preserve moisture in the soil, enrich the ground, and
protect the fruit from injury by rains, and in part from worms and
insects. This should never be omitted.
_Varieties_ are numerous, and, from the ease with which they are raised
from seed, will rapidly increase; it is so frequent to have blossoms
fertilized by pollen from several different varieties. Some of the most
marked varieties are known in different parts of the country by very
different names; hence, we advise cultivators to select the best in
their locality. Every valuable variety is soon scattered over the
country. The following are good:--
_Burr's New Pine._--Originated at Columbus, Ohio, in 1856. Hardy,
vigorous, and quite productive; very early; tender for market, but
superior for a private garden.
_Western Queen._--Originated at Cleveland, Ohio, by Professor J. P.
Kirtland, 1849. Very hardy and productive; larger than the Hudson or the
Willey; good for market; bears carriage well.
_Longworth's Prolific._--Origin, Cincinnati, 1848. Regular, sure, full
bearer of large, delicious fruit; good for market; an independent
bearer.
_M'Avoy's Superior._--Cincinnati, 1848. Received one-hundred-dollar
prize from the Cincinnati Horticultural Society in 1851. Exceedingly
large; hardy; female or pistillate flowers; needs fertilizers, and then
is one of the best ever grown; rather tender for carriage, though it is
extensively sold in Western markets.
_Jenney's Seedling._--Valuable for ripening late; fruit large and
regular; very productive, 3,200 quarts having been gathered from three
quarters of an acre.
_Hovey's Seedling._--Elliott puts it in his second class; but we can not
avoid the conviction that it is one of the best that ever has been
raised. It is pistillate, but with fertilizers it yields immense crops,
of very fine large fruit. Boston Pine is one of the best fertilizers for
the Hovey Seedling.
_Hudson Bay._--A hardy and late variety, highly esteemed.
_Pyramidal Chilian._--Hermaphrodite, highly valued.
_Crimson Cone._--An old variety, quite early, and something of a
favorite in Eastern markets.
_Peabody's New Hautbois._--Originated in Columbus, Georgia, by Charles
A. Peabody. Said to bear more degrees of heat and cold than any other
variety. Very vigorous, fruit of the largest size, very many of the
berries measuring seven inches in circumference. Flesh firm, sweet, and
of a delicious pine-apple flavor. Rich, deep crimson. It may be seen in
full size in the patent office report on agriculture for 1856. If this
new fruit sustains its recommendations, it will prove the best of all
strawberries.
Downing describes over one hundred varieties. We repeat our
recommendation to select the best you can find near home. The following
rules will insure success: