Evening star., 1945-03-25

States Department of Agriculture'
at the Beltsville Horticultural Sta
ton, hence are adapted to our
climate.
Some will say that strawberry cul-
ture is simple and easy, which may
lead to the belief that care is un-
important. However. strawberries
do repay good care with large yields
of choice berries. II neglected, weeds
soon take the beds and the berries
are consequently small and seedy.
Grass and weeds soon crowd the
plants out and the bed must be re-
planted. If kept clean and culti-
waited a bed will last for four or five
years.
The home gardener, in selecting
varieties for his garden, should con-
slider the fruiting seasons, the quail
ity and their adaptation to local
growing conditions. Varieties are
ordinarily listed as early, midseason
and late, which refers to the season
of harvest. Early varieties should
be able to withstand late frosts and
still produce a crop.
/ The widely grown Premier, an
early variety, seldom fails to fruit
because Of frost damage. The new
variety, Midland, is of higher quality
and SO far has appeared to be fully
as hardy as Premier. Another new
variety, Maytime, is few days
earlier than Premier, but has not
been sufficiently widely grown in
local gardens to have demonstrated
its value.
Blakemore, a popular second early
berry, follows Premier and Midland
in its maturity. Fairfax has approx
imately the same harvest period,
although some growers do not like
it because the berries become too
dark red when fully mature, ap-
pearing over-ripe. 1t is not as pro-
ductive as Premier, but helps to
maintain a constant supply Of fruit
for the table. Dorsett, another sec
ond early berry, lacked productive
ness and is disappearing from local
gardens.
Catskill is popular midseason
variety of good quality which pro-
duces well in local gardens. It is a
hardy variety-not suffering from
late frosts as do so many varieties.
Chesapeake, late-season variety
of outstanding quality for the home
garden, is not as widely grown now
as formerly. 1t is too tender for
commercial purposes but is most de-
sirable for the little garden A new
variety that natures a bit later in
the season is Red Star, a vigorous
grower. one that needs good cul-
tivation and feeding to maintain
productiveness and size of fruit.
Fairpeake is another late variety
to recent introduction that is be-
ing recommended for trial in local
gardens.
A few plants each of Midland,
Blakemore, Catskill and Red Star
should provide, in most seasons, a
continuous supply of fruit for the
table throughout the strawberry
season. However, 1t should be re-
membered that period of hot
weather early in the season will tend
to bring all varieties into fruiting
and shorten the harvest period
Everbearing Strawberries. were
purposely omitted from the above
list since they are not well adapted
to this area. In general, this area
lis too far South for them to pro-
duce high-quality fruit, and conse-
quently they are apt to be disap-
pointing, especially to those who en-
JOY high-quality fruit.
A successful strawberry bed starts
with the Incorporating Of generous
quantities Of either well-rotted ma
nure or enriched compost into the
soil. This insures plant food and
moisture where it is needed. The
plants, which should be set out early
in the spring, are spaced from II to