Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-06

| PcOuS.
II the plants have been shipped from {
distance more or less dead leaves will be
found upon them; these should be trimmed
off. The roots viii be more or less dry.
and therefore it would be best to puddle
them before setting. pudding means
having pail of very soft mortar with the
plants immersed into it up to the leaves, to
be taken out as they are set in the ground.
| If the plants are fresh from neighboring
grounds no pudding will be necessary.
The soil should be firmly pressed around
| the plants when they are set, and care
should be exercised not 20 leave them
| Standing in depression below the general
level Of the patch. Unless we employ some
/ care in this matter, we are apt to settle
the ''hills" in our efforts to press the soil
I around the roots Of the plants.
! Fall is the best time for putting out
| strawberry plants in the South, though in
| Texas they might be set out any time dur
April. But he fall planting does best. If
! put out in September or October.they will
he apt 10 Yield a considerable crop OF fruit
next spring, but If set in the winter or
spring there would 0c no fruit, of course,
for the next season, and the plants for the
want Of establishment would not be so well
prepared TO withstand the effects of the
next summers drouths.
i IS always best to use homegrown
plants as nearly as possible, and by all
means plants grown in the South. Plants
shipped from the North never do so well
for Southern culture as plants grown in the
South, even though of the same variety
they are not acclimated.
Clean culture of the strawberry is of
special Importance. Unless the grower has
fully made M his mind to accomplish clean
culture he had best have nothing to DO with
strawberries. There must be no weeds or
Grass in the patch if one expects success
with the crop. No crop we attempt to grow
can be so rapidly run ont by weeds and
grass Is can the strawberry But the
patch planted on the hill plan is not hard to
keep clean. II a large patch a shallow-run-
ming cultivator viii keep all foul growths
ont, up TO within an inch or two of the row
the hoe can be made TO Go the rest. If a
small patch the garden rake and hoe can
do the work. Il is always best TO keep the
surface mellow by shallow workings after
each packing rain. There must be no deep
working at any time.
When the plants are beginning TO bloom
4 straw mulch should be spread over the
ground This is 10 prevent the fruit from
becoming splashed with soil in time of
rains. Without such protection the ber-
RES would be quite apt 10 become seriously
damaged. So soon as the fruiting season is
over the mulch should be removed to admit
Of culture. In the pine regions pine
straw is the muIch-natelial mos COM
monty employed, though almost any kind of
straw viii answer the purpose-our prairie
grasses cut and spread over the patch
would make a frst-rate mulch.
The best mulch for the plant (not the
berry, IS q mellowed surface of the soil,
hence the recommendation that the fruit
protecting mulch be removed so soon as the
fruiting season is over.
After the fruiting season the plants will
send out runners to form new plants.
These must be promptly removed with
hoe or knife, for if left to themselves they
will soon spoil the old plantation
DR. Oemler does not pretend TO state how
long 4 strawberry plantation in the South
will remain profitable without renewal
DR.. White, in his Gardening for the
South, says, The same plat OF ground
will remain productive many years" OF
course much would depend upon the atten-
ton paid the plantation. We think a straw
berry plantation would hold good much
longer on i clay soil well managed than on
sandy soil. In the coast regions east of
the Mississippi river, where the soil is very
sandy, four years make up the time re-
garded as about the age Of plantation to
prove entirely profitable. Over there. after
the fourth crop has been gathered, the
plants are allowed to throw out runners
and establish plants for resetting in the
fall. The young plants made by such run
uers are the plants that must be set for the |
new plantation-Do other kind would an
swer.
IN case OF i small plantation merely for |
home use, other and better varieties than |
either the Wilson's Albany or the Neunan |
might be cultivated. but we don't know |
which, If any, of these better varieties |
would succeed in Texas, and therefore shall |
not attempt any recommendation. The two |
varieties named would do well here, we are |
sure, and the family having plenty of !
either viii not be apt to much worry over |
desire for something better. OF course we |
don't recommend these varieties exclu-
sively: fiud out better variety that will |
succeed. If You can, and plant it; but if you
are in hurry for strawberries it would be |
best. we think, to plant either the Wilson's |
Albany or the Neunan to fill the bill, as
well as they can be made to do so, until |
those better and more fancy varieties have
been decided upon.
In years back varieties bearing only pis-
tiliate flowers We're more or less planted.
The old "Hovey's seeding was variety
Of this character To get fruit from such
varieties it was necessary to plant with
them certain varieties bearing male or
staminate flowers. Varieties of this kind
are now pretty generally discarded-au the
popular varieties of to-day bear perfect
flowers, and hence call for no separate
settings of male plants.
HOG FEEDING MISTAKES.
IEhila the man who -,nGprtal,a, IN ,,isa |