The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1885-04-25

Here is the latest favorte among varieties
of this most popular of all small fruits. 1t IS
named for Peter Henderson, the IA
NOUS Jersey gardener. 1t is early, very
productive and of great size. Its flavor
is said to he superior to that OF any
strawberry yet discovered. This is only the
second season that the plants have been put
upon the market.
1t is disgrace to a farmer not to have a
good strawberry bed. There is no more
delicious, healthful fruit grown. What,
pray, is better or prcttier than saucer of
ripe, red Strawberries! 1t appeals to every
refined sense in the soul, and is food for the
gods And good strawberry short-cake-
don't talk, 1t is the end of perfection.
Again, canned, preserved or made into jelly
for winter, i'll the days when the envious
season takes all our fresh fruits from us-to
remind us that we are merely mortals after
all, and subject to nature-still and always
what is better than the strawberry!
The Agriculturist says anybody can raise
strawberries that can raise potatoes. which
is fact 1t says: There is no reason why
the family of every farmer should not have
all the Strawberries they could eat three
times a day ali through the season of this
fruit"
The plants may be set out either in the
spring or fall. April is good month The
bed should only be allowed to bear two
years. Then it should be plowed under and
a new one started. At present writing, this
delicious fruit is ripe in the south. 1t is
brought north in refrigerator boxes and cars
and sold at famous prices. The weekly
steamers bring Strawberries from Savannah
to New York in great ice boxes holding 100
to 500 quarts
Ground that is suited for potatoes will do
for the strawberry. As early in the spring
as it is fit to work pillow deeply, from foot
to IS inches. Three inches Of rotten stable
manure should be worked into the soil thor
oughly with harrow or cultivator to the
depth of 9 inches If more convenient,
bone dust and wood ashes or leaf mold or
swamp muck may be used. Whichever one
of these is employed it should be mixed with
wood ashes, bushel of the ashes to - of the
fertilizer. That is Peter Henderson's direc-
ton. Plant in rows ~ feet apart and foot
apart in the row. For strong soil and very
large growths, the rows 3 feet apart and plants
separate Is inches in the row is not too much
One well known strawberry man sets his
strawberries in rows four feet apart, with a
space of three feet between the plants. He
sets out plants in the spring, and the first
year he sets hill of early potatoes between
every two strawberry plants. In cultivating
the potatoes he cuts off every blossom and
runner from the strawberries, until after the
potatoes are dug in July. Then he lets the
runners grow. He gives careful and thor.
ough tillage until September with the cul
6vstor. His culture is a constant war on
weeds
Late in the fall, Just before the final frees
up for winter, cover the ground three inches
deep with straw, sawdust, pine-needles, o.,
something Of that kind. This is mulching.
1t prevents the plants from freezing out In
Connecticut, growers often mulch the straw.
berry bed with stalks of sowed corn, well
grown
The largest crop Of berries will be had the
first year-a year from the time the berries
are planted. The strawberry man already
quoted only allows them to bear one year
That spring ~ sets out another bed some