Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-05-16
Raise Delicious Strawberries.

There are but very: few people who
cannot eat strawberries, the most de-
licious and wholesome of all small fruits,
More berries of this one kind are grown
and consumed than of all other small
fruits combined, ripening as they do the
first Of all kinds of fruit in the year
when the appetite Graves vegetable
diet. They are generally eaten by
threefourths of the people with great
er relish than any other berry. - =
The variety Of soil is Of no great i'm
portauce to many of the most produc-
tive varieties, rather light, sandy loan,
with clay subsoil, being generally
preferred. For the large, late, high
favored varieties, strong, heavy soil
is best, arranged SO that water can be
freely given i'll the fruiting season in
case of drouth. When your soil is Sc
lected, prepare it in fall or spring by
working into it we'll decayed manure.
Bone ashes or phosphates can be used
if no other fertilizer is at hand. Mark
your rows about two feet apart for gar
den culture, and three feet apart for
field culture, setting the plants one foot
apart in the rows. ..,-.
Now select your varieties, which you
can do yourself, or leave to any reliable
grower Of experience to- select for you.
Set out at least two varieties, and if
three or four, all the better, to get the
best favored bernes, as we'll as the early,
medium, late and most productive kinds.
Occasionally give the new sorts trial,
if we'll recommended, as many are grad
ually. taking the place of older ones.
They can be set in the fall or spring,
but if set in the fall, protect by light
covering for winter. For August and
September planting the pot grown
plants are the most sure to produce a
crop the following season.
Stir the soil often, once every two
weeks, and keep off all runners. Stir
ring the soil encourages growth, and
keeps free fromweeds. By fallyeu will
have large stools one foot in diameter,
capable of yielding from a pint to
quart to each plant, if kept in hills and
good care has been given. Cover your
plants in the fall as soon as the ground
has frozen for winter, in this section
from the fifteenth to the twenty fifth of
November, with fine hay, coarse straw
manure, pine or any evergreen boughs,;
to shade the ground and prevent thaw-
ing and freezing heaving the plant and
injuring the fruit germ. . ~ -. &c.,.
Remove the covering in spring as
soon as the heavy frosts are over, or
leave for mulching during the fruiting
season, to protect the fruit and keep
down weeds. Be careful not to disturb
the soil While the plants are in bloom,
and not till they are done fr,iting.
Then fork and spade the ground, work
ing in Literally we'll decayed manure or
other fertilizers to prepare growth for
another season.
The following will be found among
the best we'll tried varietirs to plant for
family use to ripen fruit in succession:
Longfellow, the earliest and best fla
vored; Crescent, early to medium;
Sharpless, Charles Downing, Miners
Prolific, Bidwell, all are of fine flavor,
good to yield, medium to late in ripen-
ing. The late varieties are Seth Boy
den, J. Queen, Kentucky and Man
chester, and, really, the Manchester is
the best, largest, most prolific, and
firmest berry, yet we'll tested. The
new varieties, James Wick, Garfield,
and Atlantic, have their special merits
and are worthy of trial. =,