Success With Small Fruits

E >> E. P. Roe >> Success With Small Fruits

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25

Thus the two great species which to-day are furnishing ninety-nine
hundredths of the strawberries of commerce and of the garden, both in
this country and abroad, came from America, the Fragaria Chilensis
reaching our Eastern States by the way of Europe, and in the form of
the improved and cultivated varieties that have won a name abroad. We
are crossing the importations with our own native stock. President
Wilder's superb seedling, which has received his name, is an example
of this blending process. This berry is a child of the La Constante
and Hovey's Seedling, and, therefore, in this one beautiful and most
delicious variety we have united the characteristics of the two chief
strawberry species of the world, the F. Virginiana and F. Chilensis.

It will be seen that the great law of race extends even to strawberry
plants. As in the most refined and cultivated peoples there is a
strain of the old native stock, which ever remains, a source of
weakness or strength, and will surely show itself in certain
emergencies, so the superb new varieties of strawberries, the latest
products of horticultural skill, speedily indicate in the rough-and-
tumble of ordinary culture whether they have derived their life from
the hardy F. Virginiana or the tender and fastidious F. Chilensis. The
Monarch of the West and the Jucunda are the patricians of the garden,
and on the heavy portions of my land at Cornwall I can scarcely say to
which I give the preference. But the Monarch is Anglo-Saxon and the
Jucunda is of a Latin race; or to drop metaphor, the former comes of a
species that can adapt itself to conditions extremely varied, and even
very unfavorable, and the latter cannot.

CHAPTER V

IDEAL STEAWBERRIES VERSUS THOSE OF THE FIELD AND MARKET

There are certain strong, coarse-feeding vegetables, like corn and
potatoes, that can be grown on the half-subdued and comparatively poor
soil of the field; but no gardener would think of planting the finer
and more delicate sorts in such situations. There are but few who do
not know that they can raise cauliflowers and egg-plants only on deep,
rich land. The parallel holds good with this fruit. There are
strawberries that will grow almost anywhere, and under any
circumstances, and there is another class that demands the best ground
and culture. But from the soil of a good garden, with a little pains,
we can obtain the finest fruit in existence; and there is no occasion
to plant those kinds which are grown for market solely because they
are productive, and hard enough to endure carriage for a long
distance. The only transportation to be considered is from the garden
to the table, and therefore we can make table qualities our chief
concern. If our soil is light and sandy, we can raise successfully one
class of choice, high-flavored varieties; if heavy, another class.
Many worry over a forlorn, weedy bed of some inferior variety that
scarcely gives a week's supply, when, with no more trouble than is
required to obtain a crop of celery, large, delicious berries might be
enjoyed daily, for six weeks together, from twenty different kinds.

The strawberry of commerce is a much more difficult problem. The
present unsatisfactory condition of affairs was admirably expressed in
the following editorial in the "Evening Post" of June 12, 1876, from
the pen of the late William Cullen Bryant:--

STRAWBERRIES "In general, an improvement has been observed of late in
the quality of fruit. We have more and finer varieties of apple; the
pear is much better in general than it was ten years since; of the
grape there are many new and excellent varieties which the market knew
nothing of a few years ago, and there are some excellent varieties of
the raspberry lately introduced. But the strawberry has decidedly
deteriorated, and the result is owing to the general culture of
Wilson's Albany for the market. Wilson's Albany is a sour, crude
berry, which is not fully ripe when it is perfectly red, and even when
perfectly ripe is still too acid. When it first makes its appearance
in the market, it has an exceedingly harsh flavor and very little of
the agreeable aroma which distinguishes the finer kinds of the berry.
If not eaten very sparingly, it disagrees with the stomach, and you
wake with a colic the next morning. Before Wilson's strawberry came
into vogue there were many other kinds which were sweeter and of a
more agreeable flavor. But the Wilson is a hard berry, which bears
transportation well; it is exceedingly prolific and altogether hardy,
--qualities which give it great favor with the cultivator, but for
which the consumer suffers. The proper way of dealing in strawberries
is to fix the prices according to the quality of the sort. This is the
way they do in the markets of Paris. A poor sort, although the berry
may be large, is sold cheap; the more delicate kinds--the sweet,
juicy, and high-flavored--are disposed of at a higher price. Here the
Wilson should be sold the cheapest of all, while such as the Jucunda
and the President Wilder should bear a price corresponding to their
excellence. We hope, for our part, that the Wilsons will, as soon as
their place can be supplied by a better berry, be banished from the
market. It can surely be no difficult thing to obtain a sort by
crossing, which shall bear transportation equally well, and shall not
deceive the purchaser with the appearance of ripeness."

The reader will perceive that Mr. Bryant has portrayed both the evil
and the remedy. The public justly complains of the strawberry of
commerce, but it has not followed the suggestion in the editorial and
demanded a better article, even though it must be furnished at a
higher price.

In spite, however, of all that is said and written annually against
the Wilson, it still maintains its supremacy as the market berry.
Those who reside near the city and can make, to some extent, special
arrangements with enlightened customers, find other varieties more
profitable, even though the yield from them is less and some are lost
from lack of keeping qualities. But those who send from a considerable
distance, and must take their chances in the general market, persist
in raising the "sour, crude berry," which is red before it is ripe,
and hard enough to stand the rough usage which it is almost certain to
receive from the hands through which it passes. I do not expect to see
the day when the Wilson, or some berry like it, is not the staple
supply of the market; although I hope and think it will be improved
upon. But let it be understood generally that they are "Wilsons,"--the
cheap vin ordinaire of strawberries. Cities will ever be flooded with
varieties that anybody can grow under almost any kind of culture; and
no doubt it is better that there should be an abundance of such fruit
rather than none at all. But a delicately organized man, like Mr.
Bryant, cannot eat them; and those who have enjoyed the genuine
strawberries of the garden will not. The number of people, however,
with the digestion of an ostrich, is enormous, and in multitudes of
homes Wilsons, even when half-ripe, musty, and stale, are devoured
with unalloyed delight, under the illusion that they are strawberries.

If genuine strawberries are wanted, the purchaser must demand them,
pay for them, and refuse "sour, crude berries." The remedy is solely
in the hands of the consumers.

If people would pay no more for Seckel than for Choke pears, Choke
pears would be the only ones in market, for they can be furnished with
the least cost and trouble. It is the lack of discrimination that
leaves our markets so bare of fine-flavored fruit. What the grower and
the grocer are seeking is a hard berry, which, if not sold speedily,
will "keep over." Let citizens clearly recognize the truth,--that
there are superb, delicious berries, like the Triomphe, Monarch,
Charles Downing, Boyden, and many others, and insist on being supplied
with them, just as they insist on good butter and good meats, and the
problem is solved. The demand will create the supply; the fruit
merchant will write to his country correspondents: "You must send
fine-flavored berries. My trade will not take any others, and I can
return you more money for half the quantity of fruit if it is good."
The most stolid of growers would soon take such a hint. Moreover, let
the patrons of high-priced hotels and restaurants indignantly order
away "sour, crude berries," as they would any other inferior viand,
and caterers would then cease to palm off Wilsons for first-class
strawberries. If these suggestions were carried out generally, the
character of the New York strawberry market would speedily be changed.
It is my impression that, within a few years, only those who are able
to raise large, fine-flavored fruit will secure very profitable
returns. Moreover, we are in a transition state in respect to
varieties, and there are scores of new kinds just coming before the
public, of which wonderful things are claimed. I shall test nearly a
hundred of these during the coming season, but am satisfied in advance
that nine-tenths of them will be discarded within a brief period.
Indeed, I doubt whether the ideal strawberry, that shall concentrate
every excellence within its one juicy sphere, ever will be discovered
or originated. We shall always have to make a choice, as we do in
friends, for their several good qualities and their power to please
our individual tastes.

There is, however, one perfect strawberry in existence,--the
strawberry of memory,--the little wildlings that we gathered perhaps,
with those over whom the wild strawberry is now growing. We will admit
no fault in it, and although we may no longer seek for this favorite
fruit of our childhood, with the finest specimens of the garden before
us we sigh for those berries that grew on some far-off hillside in
years still farther away.

CHAPTER VI

CHOICE OF SOIL AND LOCATION

The choice that Tobias Hobson imposed on his patrons when he compelled
them to take "the horse nearest to the stable-door" or none at all, is
one that, in principle, we often have to make in selecting our
strawberry-ground. We must use such as we have, or raise no berries.
And yet it has been said that "with no other fruit do soil and
locality make so great differences." While I am inclined to think that
this is truer of the raspberry, it is also thoroughly established that
location and the native qualities of the soil are among the first and
chief considerations in working out the problem of success with
strawberries.

Especially should such forethought be given in selecting a soil suited
to the varieties we wish to raise. D. Thurber, editor "American
Agriculturist," states this truth emphatically. In August, 1875, he
wrote: "All talk about strawberries must be with reference to
particular soils. As an illustration of this, there were exhibited in
our office windows several successive lots of the Monarch of the West,
which were immense as to size and wonderful as to productiveness. This
same Monarch behaved in so unkingly a manner on our grounds (very
light and sandy in their nature) that he would have been deposed had
we not seen these berries, for it was quite inferior to either Charles
Downing, Seth Boyden, or Kentucky."

It is a generally admitted fact that the very best soil, and the one
adapted to the largest number of varieties, is a deep sandy loam,
moist, but not wet in its natural state. All the kinds with which I am
acquainted will do well on such land if it is properly deepened and
enriched. Therefore, we should select such ground if we have it on our
places, and those proposing to buy land with a view to this industry
would do well to secure from the start one of the best conditions of
success.

It is of vital importance that our strawberry fields be near good
shipping facilities, and that there be sufficient population in the
immediate vicinity to furnish pickers in abundance. It will be far
better to pay a much higher price for land--even inferior land--near a
village and a railroad depot, than to attempt to grow these perishable
fruits in regions too remote. A water communication with market is, of
course, preferable to any other. Having considered the question of
harvesting and shipping to market, then obtain the moist, loamy land
described above, if possible.

Such ground will make just as generous and satisfactory returns in the
home garden, and by developing its best capabilities the amateur can
attain results that will delight his heart and amaze his neighbors.

Shall the fact that we have no such soil, and cannot obtain it,
discourage us? Not at all! There are choice varieties that will grow
in the extremes of sand or clay. More effort will be required, but
skill and information can still secure success; and advantages of
location, climate, and nearness to good markets may more than
counterbalance natural deficiencies in the land. Besides, there is
almost as solid a satisfaction in transforming a bit of the wilderness
into a garden as in reforming and educating a crude or evil specimen
of humanity. Therefore if one finds himself in an unfavorable climate,
and shut up to the choice of land the reverse of a deep, moist, sandy
loam, let him pit his brain and muscle against all obstacles.

If the question were asked, "Is there anything that comes from the
garden better liked than a dish of strawberries?" in nine instances
out of ten the answer would be, "Nothing," even though sour Wilsons
were grown; and yet, too often the bed is in a neglected corner and
half shaded by trees, while strong-growing vegetables occupy the
moist, open spaces. It is hardly rational to put the favorite of the
garden where, at best, a partial failure is certain. Let it be well
understood that strawberries cannot be made to do well on ground
exhausted by the roots and covered by the shade of trees.

On many farms and even in some gardens there are several varieties of
soil. Within the area of an acre I have a sandy loam, a gravelly
hillside, low, black, alluvial land, and a very stiff, cold, wet clay.
Such diversity does not often occur within so limited a space, but on
multitudes of places corresponding differences exist. In such
instances, conditions suited to every variety can be found, and
reading and experience will teach the cultivator to locate his several
kinds just where they will give the best results. Moreover, by placing
early kinds on warm, sunny slopes, and giving late varieties moist,
heavy land, and cool, northern exposures, the season of this delicious
fruit can be prolonged greatly. The advantage of a long-continued
supply for the family is obvious, but it is often even more important
to those whose income is dependent on this industry. It frequently
occurs that the market is "glutted" with berries for a brief time in
the height of the season. If the crop matures in the main at such a
time, the one chance of the year passes, leaving but a small margin of
profit; whereas, if the grower had prolonged his season, by a careful
selection of soils as well as of varieties, he might sell a large
portion of his fruit when it was scarce and high.

Climate is also a very important consideration, and enters largely
into the problem of success from Maine to Southern California. Each
region has its advantages and disadvantages, and these should be
estimated before the purchaser takes the final steps which commit him
to a locality and methods of culture which may not prove to his taste.
In the far North, sheltered situations and light, warm land should be
chosen for the main crop; but in our latitude, and southward, it
should always be our aim to avoid that hardness and dryness of soil
that cut short the crops and hopes of so many cultivators.

CHAPTER VII

PREPARING AND ENRICHING THE SOIL

Having from choice or necessity decided on the ground on which our
future strawberries are to grow, the next step is to prepare the soil.
The first and most natural question will be: What is the chief need of
this plant? Many prepare their ground in a vague, indefinite way. Let
us prepare for strawberries.

Whether it grows North or South, East or West, the strawberry plant is
the same, and has certain constitutional traits and requirements,
which should be thoroughly fixed in our minds. Modifications of
treatment made necessary by various soils and climates are then not
only easily learned but also easily understood.

When asked, on one occasion, what was the chief requirement in
successful strawberry culture, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder replied
substantially in the following piquant manner:--

"In the first place, the strawberry's chief need is a great deal of
water.

"In the second place, it needs more water.

"In the third place, I think I would give it a great deal more water."

The more extended and full my experience becomes, the less
exaggeration I find in his words. The following strong confirmation of
President Wilder's opinion may be found in Thompson's "Gardener's
Assistant," a standard English work:--

"Ground that is apt to get very dry from the effects of only ten days'
or a fortnight's drought is not suitable, on account of the enormous
quantity of water that will be necessary; and if once the plants begin
to flag for want of moisture, the crop is all but lost. A soil that is
naturally somewhat moist, but not too wet, answers well; and where the
land has admitted of irrigation, we have seen heavy crops produced
every year."

If this be true in England, with its humid climate, how much more
emphatically should we state the importance of this requirement in our
land of long droughts and scorching suns.

Moisture, then, is the strawberry's first and chief need. Without it,
the best fertilizers become injurious rather than helpful. Therefore,
in the preparation of the soil and its subsequent cultivation, there
should be a constant effort to secure and maintain moisture, and the
failure to do this is the chief cause of meagre crops. And yet, very
probably, the first step absolutely necessary to accomplish this will
be a thorough system of underdrainage. I have spent hundreds of
dollars in such labors, and it was as truly my object to enable the
ground to endure drought as to escape undue wetness. Let it be
understood that it is _moist_ and not _wet_ land that the strawberry
requires. If water stands or stagnates upon or a little below the
surface, the soil becomes sour, heavy, lifeless; and if clay is
present, it will bake like pottery in dry weather, and suggest the
Slough of Despond in wet. Disappointment, failure, and miasma are the
certain products of such unregenerate regions, but, as is often the
case with repressed and troublesome people, the evil traits of such
soil result from a lack of balance, and a perversion of what is good.

The underdrain restores the proper equilibrium; the brush-hook and axe
cut away the rank unwholesome growth which thrives best in abnormal
conditions. Sun, air, and purifying frosts mellow and sweeten the
damp, heavy malarious ground, as the plowshare lifts it out of its low
estate. A swamp, or any approach to one, is like a New York tenement-
house district, and requires analogous treatment.

If, however, we have mellow upland with natural drainage, let us first
put that in order that we may have a remunerative crop as soon as
possible. In suggesting, therefore, the best methods of preparing and
enriching the ground, I will begin by considering soils that are
already in the most favorable conditions, and that require the least
labor and outlay. Man received his most essential agricultural
instruction in the opening chapter of Genesis, wherein he is commanded
to "subdue the earth." Even the mellow western prairie is at first a
wild, untamed thing, that must be subdued. This is often a simple
process, and in our gardens and the greater part of many farms has
already been practically accomplished. Where the deep, moist loam,
just described, exists, the fortunate owner has only to turn it up to
the sun and give it a year of ordinary cultivation, taking from it, in
the process, some profitable hoed crop that will effectually kill the
grass, and his land is ready for strawberries. If his ground is in
condition to give a good crop of corn, it will also give a fair crop
of berries. If the garden is so far "subdued" as to yield kitchen
vegetables, the strawberry may be planted at once, with the prospect
of excellent returns, unless proper culture is neglected.

Should the reader be content with mediocrity, there is scarcely
anything to be said where the conditions are so favorable. But suppose
one is not content with mediocrity. Then this highly favored soil is
but the vantage-ground from which skill enters on a course of thorough
preparation and high culture. A man may plow, harrow, and set with
strawberries the land that was planted the previous year in corn, and
probably secure a remunerative return, with little more trouble or
cost than was expended on the corn. Or, he may select half the area
that was in corn, plow it deeply in October, and if he detects traces
of the white grub, cross-plow it again just as the ground is beginning
to freeze. Early in the spring he can cover the surface with some
fertilizer--there is nothing better than a rotted compost of muck and
barn-yard manure--at the proportion of forty or fifty tons to the
acre. Plow and cross-plow again, and in each instance let the first
team be followed by a subsoil or lifting plow, which stirs and loosens
the substratum without bringing it to the surface. The half of the
field prepared in such a thorough manner will probably yield three
times the amount of fruit that could be gathered from the whole area
under ordinary treatment; and if the right varieties are grown, and a
good market is within reach, the money received will be in a higher
ratio.

The principle of generous and thorough preparation may be carried
still further in the garden, and its soil, already rich and mellow,
may be covered to the depth of several inches with well-rotted compost
or any form of barn-yard manure that is not too coarse and full of
heat, and this may be incorporated with the earth by trenching to the
depth of two feet. Of this be certain, the strawberry roots will go as
deeply as the soil is prepared and enriched for them, and the result
in abundant and enormous fruit will be commensurate. English gardeners
advise trenching even to the depth of three feet, where the ground
permits it.

Few soils can be found so deep and rich by nature that they cannot be
improved by art; and the question for each to decide is, how far the
returns will compensate for extra preparation. Very often land for
strawberries receives but little more preparation than for wheat, and
such methods must pay or they would not be continued. Many who follow
these methods declare that they are the most profitable in the long
run. I doubt it.

If our market is one in which strawberries are sold simply as such,
without much regard to flavor or size, there is not the same
inducement to produce fine fruit. But even when quantity is the chief
object, deeply prepared and enriched land retains that essential
moisture of which we have spoken, and enables the plant not only to
form, but also to develop and mature, a great deal of fruit. In the
majority of markets, however, each year, size and beauty count for
more, and these qualities can be secured, even from a favorable soil,
only after thorough preparation and enriching. I find that every
writer of experience on this subject, both American and European,
insists vigorously on the value of such careful pulverization and
deepening of the soil.

Having thus considered the most favorable land in the best condition
possible, under ordinary cultivation, I shall now treat of that less
suitable, until we finally reach a soil too sterile and hopelessly bad
to repay cultivation.

I will speak first of this same deep, moist loam, in its unsubdued
condition; that is, in stiff sod, trees, or brush-wood. Of course, the
latter must be removed, and, as a rule, the crops on new land--which
has been undisturbed by the plow for a number of years and, perhaps,
never robbed of its original fertility--will amply repay for the extra
labor of clearing. Especially will this be the case if the brush and
rubbish are burned evenly over the surface. The finest of wild
strawberries are found where trees have been felled and the brush
burned; and the successful fruit grower is the one who makes the best
use of such hints from nature.

The field would look better and the cultivation be easier if all the
stumps could be removed before planting, but this might involve too
great preliminary expense, and I always counsel against debt except in
the direst necessity. A little brush burned on each stump will
effectually check new growth, and, in two or three years, these
unsightly objects will be so rotten that they can be pried out, and
easily turned into ashes, one of the best of fertilizers. In the
meantime, the native strength of the land will cause a growth which
will compensate for the partial lack of deep and thorough cultivation
which the stumps and roots prevent. Those who have travelled West and
South have seen fine crops of corn growing among the half-burned
stumps, and strawberries will do as well.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25