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Success With Small Fruits

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




In about two weeks, with good management, the plants will fill the
pots with roots, which so interlace as to hold the ball of earth
compactly together during transportation. This ball of earth with the
roots, separates readily from the pot, and the plant, thus sustained,
could be shipped around the world if kept from drying out and the
foliage protected from the effects of alternate heat and cold. The
agricultural editor of the "New York Weekly Times" writes me that the
potted plants are worth their increased cost, if for no other reason,
because they are so easily planted in hot weather.

The chief advantage of summer planting lies in the fact that we obtain
a good crop the following season, while plants set out in spring
should not be permitted to bear at all the same year. If we discover
in May or June that our supply is insufficient, or that some new
varieties offer us paradisiacal flavors, we can set out the plants in
the summer or autumn of the same year, and within eight or ten months
gather the fruits of our labors. If the season is somewhat showery, or
if one is willing to take the trouble to water and shade the young
plants, ordinary layers--that is, plants that have grown naturally in
the open ground--will answer almost as well as those that have been
rooted in pots. The fact that they do not cost half as much is also in
their favor.

The disposition to plant in summer or autumn is steadily increasing,
and the following reasons are good and substantial ones for the
practice. In our gardens and fields there are many crops that mature
in July, August, and September. The cultivation of these crops has
probably left the ground mellow, and in good condition for
strawberries. Instead of leaving this land idle, or a place for weeds
to grow and seed, it can be deeply forked or plowed, and enriched, as
has been explained. Even in July, potted plants may be bought, and
unless the ground is full of the larvae of the June beetle, or the
plants are treated with utter neglect, not one in a hundred will fail.
Say the plants cost us two and a half cents each by the time they are
planted, instead of one half to one cent as in the spring, is there
not a prospect of an equal or larger profit? A potted plant set out in
summer or early autumn, and allowed to make no runners, will yield at
least a pint of fruit; and usually these first berries are very large
and fine, bringing the best prices. Suppose, however, we are able to
obtain but ten cents a quart, you still have a margin of two and one-
half cents on each plant. Adding two cents to the cost of each plant
to cover the expense of cultivation, winter protection, spring
mulching, picking, etc., there still remains a profit of half a cent
on each plant. Supposing we have an acre containing 14,520 plants, our
estimate gives a profit of $72.60 for the first year. If we clear but
a quarter of a cent on each plant, we have a profit of $36.30. The
prospects are, however, that if we plant early in the summer, on rich
ground, and give good cultivation, our plants will yield more than a
pint each, and the fruit sell for more than ten cents a quart.

This estimate applies to the common market varieties raised with only
ordinary skill and success. Suppose, in contrast, one plants the
large, showy, high-flavored varieties, and is able to obtain from
fifteen to thirty cents per quart. The expenses in this case are no
greater, while the profits are very largely increased.

[Illustration: A Potted Plant]

Good potted plants can be bought for about $2.50 per 100, or $20 per
2,000. I do not think that they can be properly grown and sold at much
lower rates and afford a living profit. Freight and express charges
are a heavy item of expense, since the earth encasing the roots
renders the packages very heavy, and but comparatively few plants can
be shipped in one box. But, allowing for all expenses, I think it is
evident that people can obtain a fair profit from potted plants within
eight or ten months from the time of planting. Moreover, autumn-set
plants start with double vigor in early spring, and make a fine growth
before the hot, dry weather checks them; and the crop from them the
second year will be the very best that they are capable of producing.
Two paying crops are thus obtained within two years, and the cost of
cultivation the first year is slight, for the plants are set after the
great impulse of annual weed growth is past. With spring-set plants
you get but one crop in two years. The first year yields nothing
unless plants are sold, and yet the cultivation must be unceasing
through May, June and July, when Nature seems to give no little
thought to the problem of how many weeds can be grown to the square
inch. If one wishes early plants, he certainly should practice autumn
planting, for a plant set even in November will begin to make runners
nearly a month earlier than one set in spring.

Thus far we have looked at the subject from a business standpoint.

Those who wish plants for the home supply certainly should not
hesitate to furnish their gardens as early in the summer as possible.
To wait two years of our short lives for _strawberries_ because
the plants are a little cheaper in the spring is a phase of economy
that suggests the moon. Such self-denial in a good cause would be
heroic.

If people will use a little forethought, they can practice summer and
autumn planting with double success, independently of the plant
grower. We have shown that there is no mystery in raising potted
plants. Moreover, in the hottest summers there are showery, cloudy
days when ordinary layer plants can be set with perfect safety. If the
field or garden bed is near where the layer plants are growing, the
latter can be taken up with earth clinging to their roots, and thus
have all the advantages of potted plants. Even under the Southern sun,
hundreds of acres are, in this manner, set annually in the vicinity of
Charleston.

As the autumn grows cool and moist, layer plants can be obtained from
a distance and set out profitably in large quantities. The chief
danger in late planting results from the tendency of the plants to be
thrown out of the ground by the action of the frost, and a few
varieties do not seem sufficiently hardy to endure severe cold. I
obviate this difficulty by simply hoeing upon the plants two inches of
earth, just before the ground freezes in November or December. This
winter covering of soil enables me to plant with entire success at any
time in the fall--even late in November--instead of spring, when there
is a rush of work.

The earth is raked off the plants in March or April, as soon as severe
freezing weather is over; otherwise they would decay. Do not first put
manure on the plants and then cover with earth--cover with earth only.

Thus it will be seen that each period has its advantages, which will
vary with different seasons. If drought and heat come in early May,
spring-set plants may suffer badly. Again, periods in summer and
autumn may be so hot and dry that even potted plants can only be kept
alive by repeated waterings. My practice is to divide my plantings
about equally between summer, fall, and spring. I thus take no chances
of failure.




CHAPTER XIII

WHAT SHALL WE PLANT?--VARIETIES, THEIR CHARACTER AND ADAPTATION TO
SOILS


I have in my library an admirable little treatise written by the late
R. G. Pardee, and printed twenty-five years ago. While the greater
part of what he says, relating to the requirements of the plant and
its culture, is substantially correct, his somewhat extended list of
varieties is almost wholly obsolete. With the exception of Hovey's
Seedling, scarcely one can be found in a modern catalogue. Even
carefully prepared lists, made at a much later date, contain the names
of but few kinds now seen in the garden or market. I have before me
the catalogue of Prince & Co., published in 1865, and out of their
list of 169 varieties but three are now in general cultivation, and
the great majority are utterly unknown. Thus it would seem that a
catalogue soon becomes historical, and that the kinds most heralded
to-day may exist only in name but a few hence. The reasons can readily
be given. The convex heart of every strawberry blossom will be found
to consist of pistils, and usually of stamens ranged around them. When
both stamens and pistils are found in the same blossom, as is the case
with most varieties, it is called a perfect flower, or staminate. In
rare instances, strawberry flowers are found which possess stamens
without pistils, and these are called male blossoms; far more often
varieties exist producing pistils only, and they are named pistillate
kinds. Either of the last two if left alone would be barren; the male
flowers are always so, but the pistillate or female flowers, if
fertilized with pollen from perfect-flowered plants, produce fruit.
This fertilizing is effected by the agency of the wind, or by
insects seeking honey.

The ovule in the ovarium to which the stigma leads represents, at
maturity, a seed--the actual fruit of the strawberry--and within each
seed Nature, by a subtile process of her own, wraps up some of the
qualities of the plant that produced the seed, and some of the
qualities also of the plant from which came the pollen that
impregnated the ovule. This seed, planted, produces an entirely new
variety, which, as a rule, exhibits characteristics of both its
parents, and traits, also, of its grandparents and remote ancestors.
The law of heredity is the same as in cattle or the human race. Thus
it may be seen that millions of new varieties can be very easily
obtained. A single plant-grower often raises many thousands to which
he never gives a name, by reason of the fact--noted elsewhere than in
the fruit garden--that most of these new strawberries in no respect
surpass or even equal their parents. The great majority, after
fruiting--which they do when two years old--are thrown away. A new
variety which is not so good as the old ones from which it came should
not be imposed upon the public. But they often are, sometimes
deliberately, but far more often for other reasons; as, for instance,
through the enthusiasm of the possessor. It is _his_ seedling;
therefore it is wonderful. He pets it and gives it extra care, to
which even very interior varieties generously respond.

In the same old catalogue to which I have referred Prince & Co.
announce: "We now offer a few of our superior new seedlings, with
descriptions, and there is not an acid or inferior one among them.
There is not one of them that is not superior to all the seedlings
recently introduced." Not one of these thirty-five "superior
seedlings," to my knowledge, is now in cultivation. They have
disappeared in less than fifteen years; and yet I have no doubt that
on the grounds of Prince & Co. they gave remarkable promise.

Again, a fruit grower sends out second and third-rate kinds from
defective knowledge. He has not judiciously compared his petted
seedlings with the superb varieties already in existence. It is soon
discovered by general trial that the vaunted new-comers are not so
good as the old; and so they also cease to be cultivated, leaving only
a name.

The editor of the "Rural New Yorker" has adopted a course which would
be very useful indeed to the public, if it could be carried out in the
various fruit-growing centres of the country. He obtains a few plants
of every new variety offered for sale, and tests them side by side,
under precisely the same conditions, reporting the results in his
paper. Such records of experience are worth any amount of theory, or
the half-truths of those who are acquainted with but few vanities. I
tested fifty kinds last year in one specimen-bed. The plants were
treated precisely alike, and permitted to mature all their fruit, I
being well content to let eight or ten bushels go to waste in order to
see just what each variety could do. From such trial-beds the
comparative merits of each kind can be seen at a glance. Highly
praised new-comers, which are said to supersede everything, must show
what they are and can do beside the old standard varieties that won
their laurels years ago. I thus learn that but few can endure the
test, and occasionally I find an old kind sent out with a new name.
When visiting fruit farms in New Jersey last summer, I was urged to
visit a small place on which was growing a wonderful new berry. The
moment I saw the fruit and foliage, I recognized the Col. Cheney,
forced into unusual luxuriance by very favorable conditions. Other
experienced growers, whose attention I called to the distinguishing
marks of this variety, agreed with me at once; but the proprietor, who
probably had never seen the Cheney before and did not know where the
plants came from, thought it was a remarkable new variety, and as such
it might have been honestly sent out. Trial-beds at once detect the
old kinds with new names, and thus may save the public from a vast
deal of imposition.

Such beds would also be of very great service in suggesting the
varieties that can be grown with profit in certain localities. While
the behavior of different kinds differs greatly in varying soils and
latitudes, there is no such arbitrary mystery in the matter as many
imagine. I am satisfied that the sorts which did best in my trial-bed
give the best promise of success wherever the soil and climate are
similar. In contrast, let a trial-bed be made on a light soil in
Delaware or Virginia, and 100 varieties be planted. Many that are
justly favorites in our locality would there shrivel and burn, proving
valueless; but those that did thrive and produce well, exhibiting a
power to endure a Southern sun, and to flourish in sand, should be the
choice for all that region. To the far South and North, and in the
extremes of the East and West, trial-beds would give still varying
results; but such results would apply to the soils and climate of the
region if proper culture were given. A horse can be mismanaged on a
Kentucky stock-farm, and there are those who would have ill luck with
strawberries in the Garden of Eden--they are so skilful and persist in
doing the wrong thing. It would well remunerate large planters to
maintain trial-beds of all the small fruits, and their neighbors could
afford to pay well for the privilege of visiting them and learning the
kinds adapted to their locality.

I think it may be laid down as a general truth, that those kinds which
do well on a light soil in one locality tend to do well on such soils
in all localities. The same principle applies to those requiring heavy
land. There will be exceptions, and but few of those containing
foreign blood will thrive in the far South.

In the brief limits of this chapter I shall merely offer suggestions
and the results of some experience, premising that I give but one
man's opinion, and that all have a right to differ from me. At the
close of this volume may be found more accurate descriptions of the
varieties that I have thought worth naming.

Among the innumerable candidates for favor, here and there one will
establish itself by persistent well-doing as a standard sort. We then
learn that some of these strawberry princes, like the Jucunda,
Triomphe de Gand, and President Wilder, flourish only in certain soils
and latitudes, while others, like the Charles Downing, Monarch of the
West, and Wilson, adapt themselves to almost every condition and
locality. Varieties of this class are superseded very slowly; but it
would seem, with the exception of Wilson's Albany, that the standards
of one generation have not been the favorites of the next. The demand
of our age is for large fruit The demand has created a supply, and the
old standard varieties have given way to a new class, of which the
Monarch and Seth Boyden are types. The latest of these new mammoth
berries is the Sharpless, originated by Mr. J. K. Sharpless, of
Catawissa, Pa.; which shows the progress made since horticulturists
began to develop the wild _F. Virginiana_ by crossing varieties
and by cultivation.

The most accurate and extended list of varieties with which I am
acquainted is to be found in Downing's "Encyclopedia of Fruits and
Fruit Trees of America." It contains the names, with their synonymes,
and the descriptions of over 250 kinds, and to this I refer the
reader.

The important question to most minds is not how many varieties exist,
but what kinds will give the best returns. If one possesses the deep,
rich, moist loam that has been described, almost any good variety will
yield a fair return, and the best can be made to give surprising
results. For table use and general cultivation, North and South, East
and West, I would recommend the Charles Downing, Monarch of the West,
Seth Boyden, Kentucky Seedling, Duchess, and Golden Defiance. These
varieties are all first-rate in quality, and they have shown a
wonderful adaptation to varied soils and climates. They have been
before the public a number of years, and have persistently proved
their excellence. Therefore, they are worthy of a place in every
garden. With these valuable varieties for our chief supply, we can try
a score of other desirable kinds, retaining such as prove to be
adapted to our taste and soil.

If our land is heavy, we can add to the above, in Northern latitudes,
Triomphe de Gand, Jucunda, President Wilder, Forest Rose, President
Lincoln, Sharpless, Pioneer, and Springdale.

If the soil is light, containing a large proportion of sand and
gravel, the Charles Downing, Kentucky Seedling, Monarch of the West,
Duchess, Cumberland Triumph, Miner's Prolific, Golden Defiance, and
Sharpless will be almost certain to yield a fine supply of large and
delicious berries, both North and South.

Let me here observe that varieties that do well on light soils also
thrive equally well and often better on heavy land. But the converse
is not true. The Jucunda, for instance, can scarcely be made to exist
on light land. In the South, it should be the constant aim to find
varieties whose foliage can endure the hot sun. I think that the
Sharpless, which is now producing a great sensation as well as mammoth
berries, will do well in most Southern localities. It maintained
throughout the entire summer the greenest and most vigorous foliage I
ever saw. Miner's Prolific, Golden Defiance, Early Hudson, and
Cumberland Triumph also appear to me peculiarly adapted to Southern
cultivation.

As we go north, the difficulties of choice are not so great. Coolness
and moisture agree with the strawberry plant. There the question of
hardiness is to be first considered. In regions, however, where the
snow falls early and covers the ground all winter, the strawberry is
not so exposed as with us, for our gardens are often bare in zero
weather. Usually, it is not the temperature of the air that injures a
dormant strawberry plant, but alternations of freezing and thawing.
The deep and unmelting snows often enable the horticulturist to raise
successfully in Canada tender fruits that would "winter-kill" much
further south. If abundant protection is therefore provided, either by
nature or by art, the people of the North can take their choice from
among the best. In the high latitudes, early kinds will be in request,
since the season of growth is brief. The best early berries are
Duchess, Bidwell, Pioneer, Early Hudson, Black Defiance, Duncan,
Durand's Beauty, and, earliest of all, Crystal City. The last-named
ripened first on my place in the summer of 1879, and although the
fruit is of medium size, and rather soft, I fear, the plant is so
vigorous and easily grown that I think it is worth general trial North
and South. I am informed that it promises to take the lead in
Missouri.

MARKET STRAWBERRIES

Thus far I have named those kinds whose fine flavor and beauty entitle
them to a place in the home garden. But with a large class, market
qualities are more worthy of consideration; and this phase of the
question introduces us to some exceedingly popular varieties not yet
mentioned. The four great requirements of a market strawberry are
productiveness, size, a good, bright color, and--that it may endure
long carriage and rough handling--firmness. Because of the
indifference of the consumer, as explained in an earlier chapter, that
which should be the chief consideration--flavor--is scarcely taken
into account. In the present unenlightened condition of the public,
one of the oldest strawberries on the list--Wilson's Seedling--is more
largely planted than all other kinds together. It is so enormously
productive, it succeeds so well throughout the entire country, and is
such an early berry, that, with the addition of its fine carrying
qualities, it promises to be the great market berry for the next
generation also. But this variety is not at all adapted to thin, poor
land, and is very impatient of drought. In such conditions, the
berries dwindle rapidly in size, and even dry up on the vines. Where
abundant fertility and moisture can be maintained, the yield of a
field of Wilsons is simply marvellous. On a dry hillside close by, the
crop from the same variety may not pay for picking. Plantations of
Wilsons should be renewed every two years, since the plant speedily
exhausts itself, producing smaller berries with each successive
season. The Wilson is perhaps the best berry for preserving, since it
is hard and its acid is rich and not watery.

A rival of the Wilson has appeared within the last few years--the
Crescent Seedling, also an early berry, originated by Mr. Parmelee, of
New Haven, Conn. At first, it received unbounded praise; now, it gets
too much censure. It is a very distinct and remarkable variety, and,
like the Wilson, I think, will fill an important place in strawberry
culture. Its average size does not much exceed that of the Wilson; its
flavor, when fully ripe, is about equal in the estimation of those who
do not like acid fruit. In productiveness, on many soils, it will far
exceed any variety with which I am acquainted. It is just this
capacity for growing on thin, poor soils--anywhere and under any
circumstances--that gives to it its chief value. In hardiness and
vitality it is almost equal to the Canada thistle. The young plants
are small, and the foliage is slender and delicate; but they have the
power to live and multiply beyond that of any other variety I have
seen. It thrives under the suns of Georgia and Florida, and cares
naught for the cold of Canada; it practically extends the domain of
the strawberry over the continent, and renders the laziest man in the
land, who has no strawberries, without excuse. One of my beds yielded
at the rate of 346 bushels to the acre, and the bright, handsome
scarlet of the berries caused them to sell for as much in the open
market as varieties of far better flavor. It is too soft for long
carriage by rail. Those to whom flavor and large size are the chief
considerations will not plant it, but those who have a near and not
very fastidious market, that simply demands quantity and fine
appearance, will grow it both largely and profitably. The stamens of
the Crescent are so imperfectly developed that every tenth row in the
field should be Wilsons, or some other early and perfect-flowered
variety.

In the Champion, we have a late market berry that is steadily growing
in favor. On rich, moist land it is almost as productive as the
Crescent. The fruit averages much larger than the Wilson, while its
rich crimson color makes it very attractive in the baskets. The
berries, like the two kinds already named, turn red before they are
ripe, and in this immature condition their flavor is very poor, but
when fully ripe they are excellent. The transformation is almost as
great as in a persimmon. Under generous culture, the Champion yields
superb berries, that bring the best prices. It also does better than
most kinds under neglect and drought. It is too soft for long
carriage, and its blossoms are pistillate.

Within a few years, a new variety named Windsor Chief has been
disseminated, and the enormous yield of 17,000 quarts per acre has
been claimed for it. It is said to be a seedling of the Champion
fertilized with the Charles Downing variety. If there has been no
mistake in this history of its origin, it is a remarkable instance of
the reproduction of the traits of one parent only, for in no respect
have I been able thus far to see wherein it differs from the Champion.

The Captain Jack is another late variety, which is enormously
productive of medium-sized berries. It is a great favorite in Missouri
and some other regions. The berries carry well to market, but their
flavor is second-rate.

The good size, firmness, and lateness of the Glendale--a variety
recently introduced--will probably secure for it a future as a market
berry.

In the South, Neunan's Prolific, or the "Charleston Berry," as it is
usually called, is already the chief variety for shipping. It is an
aromatic berry, and very attractive as it appears in our markets in
March and April, but it is even harder and sourer than an unripe
Wilson. When fully matured on the vine it is grateful to those who
like an acid berry. Scarcely any other kind is planted around
Charleston and Savannah.

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