The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-04-25
AGRICULTURAL.

STRAWBERRY CULTURE.-Mr. j. s.
Needham, of West Peabody, Mass, writes
as follows to the Massachusetts, Plough
man:
In vegetable culture it is fact, estab-
lished by experience, that q plant will
not flourish in earth which has been
previously Occupied. by another of the
same species. In gardens no manure, even
a special manure, indicated by an analy-
sis of the ash of the tree planted, even
in unlimited quantities, will cause tree
to flourish on the spot from which anoth-
er of the same kind has been removed.
The question that first suggests itself
to the mind is-if nothing has been car
ried away what is the matter Is it not
matter excreted from the root? find
that potatoes yield an astonishing crop
after a crop of Strawberries, without any
manure, yet both of those crops take up
largely of potash, lime and other min
erals, in nearly equal proportions. Is
not the excretion of the strawberry plant
a perfect food for the potato, and oice
oerSd ?
In my observations 1 find that the
strawberry plant, if it originated in
porous soil, will not grow at the third
planting on a strong clay-gravel soil
| (the Wilson and some others, for instance),
unless the ground has been rotated by
some root crop. But varieties origina-
ting in strong clay soils will do quite
well after planting three or four times
without rotating, if planted on strong
soil.
| 1t is well-estab lished fact, that some
species of oak excrete tannin, so that
trees planted on the sites of oaks will
surely die, unless time has been given
the soil to get washed out by the frosts
and rains. Tannin is supposed to have
a chemical action upon the tissue of the
spongioles. The leaves of the straw
berry possess very astringent property,
and are used as medicinal astringent.
Is not this allied to tannin?
Psychologists tell us that weak solu-
ton of opium placed in contact with
roots destroys the vital irritability of
the roots. From the tobacco fields we
hear the cry of exhausted soils is it
not the soil filed with narcotic excre-
tions? One animal has been found to
use that narcotic. Is there no plant
that would love the solace of narcotic
food, or narcotic exeretions, that may
be useful to man?
sat down to pen you a few lines on
the strawberry; but find that I have
left the nectar of Isaac Walton and gone
straight to the excrements of the plant.
have migrated the plant is migratory,
so will try and keep pace with it. We
set out the plant, it bears fruit, and then
bears children. An eccentric in its
habits, first bearing its fruits wrong side
out, and then its children (illegitimate)
always taking on the exact character Of
the mother
Those children are always sent out
} from home to new pastures in leading
strings, the parent sustaining those Off
shoots until they become squatter SOW
ereigns, pre-empting a lot and setting
to work upon their own hook. Then
she gradually loosens her leading-string
and sets to weaving her crown, for the
fullness OF her prospective fruit. Do
not such habits seem to indicate that
rotation is the true theory to adopt in
, the cultivation of the strawberry? Neat
cattle eat hay with greater avidity and
apparent relish if grown on soil enriched
with horse droppings Horses will leave
hay of the first market quality, if grown
on horse-manured land, and luxuriate
, on bog-grass hay. Why is it so? Do
> not the same natural laws govern the
animal kingdom that govern the vege-
, table productions?
If we remove the soil several feet and
, sow seeds of the forest trees in the pit,
, we find the pitch pine to flourish upon
sand and gravel devoid of humus, yet at
the same time a soil is making at the
base of the tree of the falling leaves
and the most thrifty white pine will be
! found within one foot of the pitch pine
trunk. Now does not the pitch pine
r prepare the soil for the white pine ? !
contend that it does.
All vegetation is governed by similar
. laws, and it is for the cultivator OF
plants to study the wants and habits
) and the effect upon the soil, and govern
his rotation of crops, SO as to realize the
best results
TIE Fowl INTEREsT.-It is a real