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It is often said that there is no teaching like experience, and in view of this sound principle I am led to quote from a few of the letters that I have received. These statements, from successful and intelligent cultivators, throw side lights on the preceding pages from various standpoints. I would advise the reader to note carefully the adaptation of different varieties to different parts of the country. As we have just been discussing the subject of irrigation, I will first quote from California letters, since they touch on this topic.
From Mr. James Shinn's interesting communication, I take the following facts:
"The greater part of the strawberries consumed in San Francisco are grown in the neighborhood of San Jose, some fifty miles south of the city. We are situated about halfway between, in the great valley that borders the bay of San Francisco. We have occupied this place over twenty years, and have made observations upon the culture of small fruits, and have always grown more or less ourselves. While, therefore, I do not claim to be authority on the points you inquire about, I feel pretty safe in mentioning one or two things in this connection, that I can hardly be mistaken about!
" First —Those who plant extensively for market make it a sine qua non to have at hand plenty of water; except in very favored localities, they can't be grown to profit without this essential. I know that the plants are planted on each side of a small ridge, previously thrown up for the purpose. The vines along the ridge stand twelve to fifteen inches apart. The space between the ridges allows three and a half feet for cultivation and water. The water is allowed to run between these ridges, and, of course, wets the roots effectually. It will be perceived that the ground must be nearly level. I cannot tell how often these rows are watered, but frequently. The proper season for planting is as early in the winter as the ground can be put in order—from November 1st, all winter—the earlier the better. If planted early, a fair crop of berries may be expected the next summer. For many years the Longwood's Prolific and Peabody Seedling were the varieties generally grown. Recently some other varieties have been introduced, but are mostly confined to the hands of amateurs. The Monarch of the West has, however, certainly secured a strong foothold among the large growers. This berry commanded a much larger price in the market than the old varieties. I just remark respecting irrigation that, of course, as you will see, the object of planting upon ridges is to place the vines so high that when the water is let in, the berries will be above its reach. Nearly all our large growers let their fields to Chinamen, who do all the work, boarding themselves, for half the net proceeds.
"In answer to your letter, asking about irrigation, I would state that in the first place we grade the land, after first plowing and harrowing it. We do not like to do too much grading. If the land is very uneven, we make the rows conform to it, bringing the water on the highest portions, and cutting escape ditches through the low parts, so that the water can run off readily. The rows are made three feet apart, and every alternate row is shovelled or plowed out to make a shallow ditch about three or four inches deep. Soil is thrown on or between the alternate rows, making the ground look like small beds. The plants are set in rows about six inches from the edge of the ditches. We are now ready for the water, which is nearly all taken from artesian wells. The first year, the plants do not require so much moisture; but the second year, we water about once a week. We keep all runners cut off. "J. H. Ogier."
"Brown's Valley, Yuba Co., Cal.
"My business is raising strawberries and blackberries for market, which is eleven miles distant, and I send all my fruit by stage. I have experimented with all leading varieties, since Orange Judd introduced the Agriculturist , but succeed best with Triomphe de Gand, Longworth's Prolific, Jucunda, and Colonel Cheney. The latter is rather soft to carry so far to market. I commence sending to market about the middle of April. About the middle of June the Triomphe begins to ripen a second crop. Last year they were the largest and finest berries I ever saw. In September the Jucunda bears a third crop. Prom May until October we depend entirely on irrigation. Our soil is red, stiff, and heavy. I use abundantly well-rotted stable manure and barnyard compost. I prepare by deep plowing, and then harrowing. I then go over the ground for the plants with Hexamer's pronged hoe, making the soil very fine. I set the plants two feet apart each way, and where each one is to grow, I work in a large shovelful of manure deeply and thoroughly. I give blackberries the same mode of culture, setting them three feet by eight. No winter protection is needed. In ordinary seasons, there are a few strawberries all winter long. Strawberries and blackberries are very productive, and enormous in size, but currants, gooseberries, and red raspberries do not succeed in this region, the long and intensely hot and dry season being unfavorable. John Palmer."
"The President Wilder is the finest flavored berry we have ever tasted, and it is the most attractive in color of all. The Jucunda does not do well on our light soil. The Monarch is splendid. We grow raspberries quite extensively, our climate and location being better adapted to them, perhaps, than any other part of California. The earliest berry with us is the Red Antwerp (probably the English). It is a week earlier than the Franconia. The Herstine is a fine berry every way, except as regards firmness. The cap varieties are inferior in flavor here. C. M. SILVA & SON"
From other sources I learn that the Triomphe de Gand and Seth Boyden are among the chief favorites in California.
Mr. Felix Gillet, Nevada City, Cal., author of an excellent little treatise on the culture of the strawberry in his region, says: "The row and hill system is certainly the best of all, especially to raise large, fine fruit. The rows should be two feet apart, or thirty-six inches, if irrigating by running water in each row as it is done in California. The plants should be set, the large-growing sorts two feet from each other in the row, the smaller ones from twelve to eighteen inches."
"I put in water-works, and it is the best investment I ever made. I supply Austin with vegetables the whole year round. It was very dry last year, but I loaded three wagons with vegetables every day. We watered twenty acres regularly, and will water thirty this year. I am making a large reservoir on a hill, which will be supplied from a large well through a six-inch pipe. I use Knowles's steam pump, 30 horse-power, capable of pumping 750,000 gallons daily. Of strawberries, the Kentucky Seedling can stand the most heat and drought. Crescent Seedling looks well here, also the Forest Rose. Raspberries, currants, and gooseberries cannot be raised. We plant strawberries one foot apart in the row, and the rows are three feet apart We mulch early in spring, and cultivate by horse-power after the bearing season is over. I regard cow manure, leaf mould, and bone flour as the best fertilizers. I consider fall, October or November, as the best time for planting.
"The Charles Downing, Seth Boyden, and President Wilder have done well. The Charles Downing has flourished as though native and to the manner born. The Kentucky has done remarkably well; the Wilson not so well. Raspberries, on the whole, have done well, but currants and gooseberries will not survive. The strawberries have done better than I hoped. I have always looked upon the strawberry as a semi-aquatic plant, and this view has been strengthened by an account of a wonderful crop produced in this region by abundant and systematic watering. The great difficulty against which we have to contend is the prolonged summer, when, for weeks, the thermometer ranges from 90 degrees to 95 degrees in the shade. To this must be added spells of dry weather, lasting sometimes for six or eight consecutive weeks in July, August, and September.
"Experienced cultivators prepare for strawberries by thorough plowing and subsoiling. We cultivate by subsoil plow, cultivator, and hoe, with no stones to impede our work. The bearing season lasts about 90 days. I have had two full crops in the same season. The best time to plant is, 1st, in August; 2d, in December. The Wilson and Charles Downing do well. The black-cap raspberries succeed: the red raspberries are thus far a failure. Blackberries do very well. D. M. WIGGINS, Agricultural editor , 'N. 0. Times.'"
Mr. H. W. Lamb, of Colorado Springs, writes me that strawberries and the hardy red raspberries do well in his section. They regard sheep manure as one of the best fertilizers. Dr. Samuel Hape, of Atlanta, Ga., writes: "In reply to your favor, I would say that strawberries and blackberries do splendidly here, raspberries moderately, and currants and gooseberries as exceptions; grapes finely.
"Our soils are mostly loam, with some sand, and a clay subsoil. Bottom lands have the usual deposits of muck and partially decomposed vegetable matter. The damp, rich soil, of course, suits strawberries and blackberries; though the latter grow wild to such perfection, and in such abundance, as to do away with cultivation almost entirely. The red raspberry does not succeed very well as a rule. While damp, under- drained soil and sandy loam are best for strawberries, the dry uplands have almost invariably produced well. As to fertilizers, well- decomposed stable manure and bone meal have done the best with us.
"No winter protection is needed. The fall, with us, is the best season to transplant strawberries, by all odds—as soon as the September rains set in. DR. SAMUEL HAPE."
"JACKSONVILLE, FLA., Dec. 23, 1878.
"With pleasure, I answer your questions to the best of my ability. 1. What varieties of small fruits do best in your locality? Strawberries and blackberries do well, but owing to the abundance of wild fruit, late and early, the blackberry is not cultivated largely. No other small fruits have been fairly tried. The general opinion is that our warm weather lasts too long for the raspberry, gooseberry, and currant. I have given the raspberry a trial, and cannot recommend it. 2. What soils are best adapted to them? We have two soils on which the strawberry thrives, the low hummock bordering on the river. It is rich in vegetable and mineral matter—clay from two to four feet under surface. The next is our pine land; soil light, and of grayish color, nearly devoid of vegetable matter, but largely supplied with lime and potash. Strawberries and blackberries do well on this soil. We have what is termed high hummock. It is a yellow loam, with clay, varying from two to six feet from surface. The orange, peach, grape, fig, quince and plum do well on this soil. 3. What is your mode of culture? For strawberries, I lay off beds, slightly raised, 8 feet wide. On each bed I put four rows of plants, running the full length of beds. For Wilsons, rows 18 inches, and 12 inches between plants; Charles Downing, and Seth Boyden, 18 by 18 inches. Cover all the space with pine-needles by the time warm weather sets in, and shade their fruit from the hot sun. I cultivate with a small hand cultivator, partly invented by myself, and by hoeing. 4. What fertilizer do you consider most efficient? A compost of stable manure, muck, and potash. 5. What winter protection do you give, if any? None needed. For summer protection, pine straw between plants; this answers a double purpose— to keep the fruit clean, also to protect the plants in warm, dry weather, and retain moisture. 6. Do you consider spring or fall the best season for planting in your locality? If I have home-grown plants, I prefer planting from last of August to first of December. Northern plants, unless grown in pots, do best if obtained in November or December. I will add here, for your information, Wilson's Albany is very shy of making runners for the first year or two after coming from the North. Seth Boyden and Charles Downing take possession of the ground after fruiting is over. WILLIAM JAMES."
Mr. P. J. Berkmans, the well-known horticulturist of Augusta, Ga., informed me that the Kentucky, Charles Downing, and Crescent endured the southern sun well, and that the Captain Jack and Sharpless were fine with them; all the purple cane and black-cap raspberries did well, but none of the foreign kinds thrived. Mr. Berkmans remarked that, even after ten years of bearing, he hesitated to express a positive opinion concerning a fruit, so great are the differences caused by location and soil. It is your young men that have been two or three years in the business, who have positive opinions on every subject.
In the suburbs of Savannah, Ga., I found three-quarters of an acre of strawberries that had yielded a clear profit of $800 in one season. The preparation and culture for this profitable crop were as follows: A good coat of manure was spread early in spring and plowed under. Cow-peas were then sown and plowed under in August, when another coat of manure was harrowed in. Planting was commenced August 10, and the plants set fourteen inches from each other, in beds with alleys between, twenty-eight inches wide. They were worked with a cultivator, mulched with pine straw in January, and stimulated from time to time with liquid manure. The fact that they secured a good home market accounts, in part, for the large profit.
Through the courtesy of Captain Sigwald, himself a successful horticulturist, I was able to visit many strawberry plantations in the vicinity of Charleston, S. C., and will give a few statistics from one of the most nourishing. The plants were vigorous, and the long rows clean and free from runners. The best plants had been set out in the preceding September. The force employed to set five and a half acres was: five hands taking up the plants with a large patent transplanter, that brought away a ball of earth with the roots; five more laborers "toting," or carrying on hand-barrows, the plants from the propagating bed to the fruiting field, and four planting. The expense of planting was $15 per acre. Prom the five and a half acres, there were shipped to New York 15,200 quarts, on which the freight, at fifteen cents per quart, amounted to $2,280. Commission on sales was $4l3—leaving a balance of only $1,670, and out of this all other expenses had to come. Thus it way be seen that the expense of marketing the crop was greater than the expense of growing it and the net profit combined—a condition of things that should not last. The freight has been reduced to ten cents per quart this year, I understand.
The Monarch seems peculiarly adapted to East Tennessee, and Mr. Ed. S. Sheppard, who first introduced them, found a sensation resulting that in its proportions resembled the mammoth berry.
The Crystal City and Captain Jack are favorite varieties in Missouri.
For the latitude and climate of New York, and westward, much suggestion has been given already.
Mr. J. T. Lovett, of Little Silver, N. J., gives the following list as the best selection for their light sandy soils:
Strawberries
French's Seedling—best early crop.
Charles Downing—best medium, or main crop.
Kentucky—best late.
Red Raspberries
Herstine—best early.[Footnote: "Requires winter protection to ensure a crop."]
Turner—best entirely hardy early.
Cuthbert—best medium and late.
Black-cap Raspberries
Doolittle's Improved—best early.
Mammoth Cluster—best medium and late.
Mammoth Blackberries
Wilson's Early—best early.
Kittatinny—best main crop.
Currants
Cherry—best red.
Red Dutch—best for culinary purposes.
White Grape—best white.
Victoria—best late.
Black Naples—best black.
Gooseberries
Downing
Strawberries
Wilson's Albany, }
Captain Jack, } For shipment.
Crescent Seedling, }
Charles Downing, } For near market.
Downer's Prolific, }
Red Raspberries
Cuthbert.
Brandywine.
Black-cap Raspberries
Mammoth Cluster.
Doolittle's Improved.
Blackberries
Kittatinny.
Wilson's early. [Footnote: "In former years this was the most profitable of all sorts, but latterly it is so frequently injured by winter, and so generally attacked by disease or insects throughout the State, as to render it uncertain."]
Currants
Cherry.
Red Dutch.
Black Naples.
Gooseberries
Downing.
Houghton Seedling.
In the Sixth Annual Report of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture, I find the following interesting statement from the well- known horticulturist, Mr. P. T. Quinn.
"NEWARK, October, 1878.
"The following are the methods of culture and the products of one acre of strawberries, grown on my farm near Newark, during the season of 1878. The ground on which these strawberries were grown was planted with Early Rose potatoes and heavily manured in the spring of 1877. These potatoes were dug and marketed during the last week in July and first week in August of the same year. The ground was at once cleared off, plowed and harrowed smoothly. Furrows were then opened four or five inches deep and two and a half feet apart. Between the 15th and 22d of August, 1877, the strawberry plants were set in these furrows from fifteen to eighteen inches apart, without any manure being added. Some plants died here and there, but the bulk of those set out made a strong growth before cold weather. They were kept free from weeds by running a cultivator twice between the rows and hoeing twice. This treatment kept the ground absolutely free from weeds. In the middle of December, the plants were covered over with a compost of the sweepings of the vegetable and fish markets, with some horse manure mixed through it. The whole was thoroughly decayed and light in character. About the middle of April, 1878, the coarsest part of this mulch was raked off the strawberry plants, and left in the spaces between the rows, the finer portion being left among the plants. To the coarse part raked off was added salt hay, pressed under the leaves of the plants on either side of the rows, enough being added to keep the soil around the plants moist and the fruit free from grit. There was no disturbance of the soil in any way in the spring, beyond the cutting off at the surface of a few straggling weeds that started up here and there.
"The varieties grown upon this acre were Charles Downing and Green Prolific, and the yield was five thousand four hundred and eighty- seven (5,487) quarts. The gross receipts from this acre of berries was seven hundred and ninety-five dollars and sixty-one cents ($795.61). Deducting the commissions and picking the fruit, the net returns were $620.60."
Messrs. Gibson and Bennett, of New Jersey, stated before the Western New York Horticultural Society, that they "liked the bedding system, say four-row beds, with plants one foot apart each way and two-feet walks between the beds. We fertilize with fine horse manure, spreading it heavily and plowing it under. We start plants in pots and transfer them to the beds in September, the earlier the better. These potted plants form fine large crowns ready for the finest fruit. The beds are covered with manure January 1. The fruit is picked the following June, and the beds then plowed under at once and planted with other crops."
By this system, it will be seen that the plants occupy the ground but about ten months, and little or no cultivation is given. It is practically the same method as that employed around Charleston, S. C., and, I am inclined to think, could often be practiced at the North with great profit. In contrast, Mr. J. K. Sharpless said, on the same occasion, "We grow in the hill system, and expect the plants to last four or five years;" adding, "My experience teaches me that strawberries should not be cultivated deeply until their season of rest is over, say the last of August." I think this view sound.
Mr. E. B. Underhill, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., said that he "valued the Golden Defiance for late fruit. The Glendale is more vigorous. I think highly of the Champion and Kentucky. The Duncan is our best early of those well tested. As the mid-market in this section will probably be glutted with Crescents, I shall take great pains with the Cumberland Triumph, which, picked in pints (on account of its softness), will yield almost as well, and bring more dollars than any sort I have tested yet."
From Mr. Frank S. Alling I learn that all the small fruits succeed finely on the shores of Puget Sound, Washington Territory.
I will close this chapter of experiences with a very interesting letter from the Rev. Mr. A. A. Von Iffland, of Quebec, who gives an admirable statement of the conditions of success in the latitude of Northern Canada. It will be seen that his light, warm soil makes a difference of several degrees of latitude in his favor.
"My soil is of a light gravelly nature, with a subsoil of coarse sand. It requires annual applications of large quantities of manure to bring about the best results, but then yields generous returns. It is warm and quick, and so porous that it can be worked almost immediately after the heaviest showers. Plants form roots in the soil with marvellous rapidity. All kinds of vegetables can be successfully cultivated. Potatoes, tomatoes, squash, corn, carrots, parsnips, melons, cucumbers, beans, and peas are grown to perfection. Of course, it is liable to suffer severely in a drought—an evil which I find is best obviated by plenty of barnyard manure and cultivation. The climate is doubtless severe, and the winters long, but the abundance of snow affords the best kind of protection and is of the greatest possible advantage in the culture of small fruits. Winter sets in with us sometimes as early as the first of November, sometimes not till the middle of December, and the snow has not disappeared from the vicinity of the fences till the last week in April. The average depth of snow is 4 1/2 half feet, and we have cold spells of three or four days at a time, when the glass varies between 20 and 30 degrees below zero.
"I think that all the varieties which are cultivated in the United States can be cultivated here under the same conditions of soil. I grow successfully the Colonel Cheney, Triomphe de Gand, Wilson, Charles Downing, Nicanor, Green Prolific, Monarch of the West, Seth Boyden, but have discarded Jucunda and Kentucky. I have the greatest success with the Cheney, Charles Downing, Wilson, and Triomphe, in the order written. I plant both in fall and spring, but prefer fall setting when it can be done early and you have good plants.
"I used to strike plants in three-inch pots, but have abandoned that plan, and instead, lay the runners as early as I can get them (from 1st to 20th July), and when well rooted, set them out, with a ball of earth, from 15th to 20th August. If the season is at all moist, so that the young plants make good progress before the frosts set in (about middle of October), I get a good crop (half a full crop) the following summer. From plants set in the spring, I take no fruit. With this exception, fall and spring settings are treated alike. As the cultivation is all done by hand, I have found that planting in beds of three rows each combines the greatest advantages. The rows are 15 inches apart, and the plants 18 inches apart in the row—in the quincunx form; each bed is separated from the rest by a path 80 inches wide. I need not say that the soil has been previously well enriched— with compost, generally, and well-decomposed manure. In fact, as I usually plant on soil from which a crop of potatoes has been removed, the ground has received two applications the year the plants are set. As the Colonel Cheney is my favorite, in order to fertilize it, I plant alternate beds of some good staminate variety, Charles Downing, Triomphe, or Wilson. The cultivation of the young plants the first season consists in cutting off any runners that may form, and keeping them clear of weeds. When well established, the beds are top-dressed with an inch or two of old manure; this feeds the plants, keeps the soil about the roots moist, and acts as a mulch when the fruit sets, and yields the following summer. The following spring and summer, nothing is done to these beds till after fruiting, except to hoe out the weeds. After fruiting, a thorough weeding is effected, and the runners are cut every three weeks; and before the frosts set in, the beds are given a top-dressing of old manure. After the second crop of fruit is taken off, they are weeded, and the runners are allowed to strike. The third spring, wood-ashes are applied; and after fruiting the plants are turned under. No winter protection is given to the plants, unless you except the top-dressing of manures; but this is sometimes not applied till spring, and I observe no appreciable difference between the plants with and those without it. What I do observe is that an early winter, and plenty of snow, kills fewer plants than a winter in which the snowfalls have been delayed till after frosts and rains.
"Strawberries begin to ripen with us about the 28th of June, and raspberries about the 15th of July. With the above treatment, I have grown Wilsons and Cheneys at the rate of 11,000 quarts, or 344 bushels, to the acre.
"I prefer fall planting, which may be done as late as they can be put in. I have set them the last day of October, without losing one. I plant them four feet apart, but five would be better, and tie the canes, when grown, to stakes four and a half feet high.[Footnote: "The following fall, of course; when planted, the canes are cut back, so as to be only six inches above ground." ] Sometimes I have laid them down, and sometimes have tied up the young canes to the stakes in the fall, and I find but little difference. They always bear, and are never winter-killed.
"As to blackberries, I have but little experience. That blackberries will succeed here, some canes I saw 15th August, in a friend's garden, some two miles from my house, afford ample proof. They were loaded with clusters of magnificent, large, luscious fruit, and were equally prolific last year. My friend told me he was obliged to give them. very warm protection—literally bury them in straw and earth.
"Red and black currants grow well with us, under ordinary treatment. Gooseberries, however, are liable to mildew; that is, the English varieties. The native hybrids, of course, are safe enough. Still, under some conditions, I have seen the English varieties without a touch of mildew. My English varieties mildewed badly this summer, and the man from whom I got them says that he has never seen it in his garden, not far from me. I went to see his bushes, and there was not a sign of mildew affecting his gooseberries, which were very large and fine."
