Popular Pastimes for Field and Fireside, or Amusements for young and old

by Caroline L. Smith

STRAWBERRIES.

A few hints as regards the cultivation of Strawberries may be useful to both boys and girls; for fine berries can be raised even on a small plot of ground, if the soil be rich. Plants for a new bed should be set out early in the Spring; the roots will then grow strong and the plants will be better able to bear the cold of Winter. Some gardeners prefer to plant their strawberry roots in August, or even late in the Autumn, and if the Winter is mild, or deep snows cover the ground, the vines will live and bear fruit the next Summer. Some prefer to raise strawberries in hills, but the most prolific vines are those planted in beds about three feet wide with a path between, filled with straw, to keep the fruit from the ground; it is well to cut off most of the runners. Of course the beds should be kept free from weeds. There are many new varieties, but the old Hovey’s Seedling is as reliable as any and very prolific. The Russell is easily propagated; vines planted in April will often yield fine strawberries in June. The Wilson is a profitable strawberry for the market because of its large yield, but it is hardly equal in flavor to the Hovey. The Hovey will soon run out if planted by itself; it requires some other kind to be planted with it. The Pine is usually the variety selected for that purpose. It is useless to enumerate the several varieties, for nearly every locality has its favorite strawberry. Some kinds will scarcely bear a perfect berry in some locations, while in a different locality the same berry will be loaded with perfect fruit. Sometimes a healthy and vigorous looking bed of strawberry-plants will produce but few berries—then you must examine the blossoms, those which bear fruit will have the berry formed in the flower—while others will blossom freely but do not bear fruit; these are the male plants and it is better to leave but few of them in your strawberry beds. When you plant the new roots dig a hole with a trowel and fill it with water, then spread out the roots and pack the earth close around them, but when they are fully rooted and commence to grow, the earth should be kept loose around them.

Strawberry plants should be replanted every third year; it is best to change the location of the bed if possible, or at least to renew the soil. Boys or girls who raise and gather from their own little garden a dish of strawberries will find great pleasure in presenting it to their friends as fruits of their own labor.

GRAPES.

The care of the grape-vine is a pleasant occupation. To gather the rich, ripe bunches of its delicious fruit is a grand enjoyment. Almost every one can command a spot of ground sufficient for the liberal support of a grape-vine. It may be planted in any unappropriated corner about the house—a sunny spot is to be preferred, but a vine may do well with but little direct sunshine, if it is well sheltered and properly cared for. It may be planted at the foot of a tree, the branches of which are not near the ground, and it will find its way high up the tree and will yield large crops of fine fruit hidden among its own thick foliage and that of the tree, provided the ground immediately about its roots can be reached and kept warm by the sun’s rays.

As it grows it will endeavor to adapt itself to the circumstances that surround it, and will take the direction your taste or convenience require it to follow. Its flexible branches are obedient to the gentle hand of the careful cultivator. You may train it upon stakes six or eight feet high, or upon a low trellis where the fruit will be within easy reach of your hand. You may have the fruit within a few inches of the ground, or by removing all the lower branches of the vine, you can cause the ripe bunches to hang in graceful festoons around and over the window of your chamber, high above the reach of accident and pilferers. The grape-vine will do as it is bid, which is much more than can be said of some young people, whose eyes sparkle at the sight of its fruit.

In preparing the ground in which to plant the vine, reference must be had to the character of the soil. If the soil is clayey and cold, or if the neighboring surface is such as to turn an undue proportion of the rains upon the place where you propose to plant your vine, care must be taken to secure for the roots of the vine a sufficient drainage. If the roots of the vine are surrounded by wet and cold earth, the fruit will mature slowly and will be endangered by the early frosts. You will secure a sufficient drainage by digging a hole three feet deep and five or six feet in diameter and throwing into it small stones, fragments of bricks or other like rubbish, to the depth of about eighteen inches, and filling to the surface with the soil. If the soil in which you propose to plant your vine is light, no artificial drainage will be necessary.

Dig over the ground and mix with it some well rotted manure or bone dust to the depth of your spade. The plan of trenching and deep manuring is of questionable advantage. The roots of the vine prefer to run near the surface, but they will seek the rich soil wherever it may be; and if they are drawn away from the surface of the ground and out of their natural direction to the colder soil below, the effect upon the fruit may be unfavorable, both as to quality and quantity.

In the ground thus prepared set your young vine from the nursery. First, drive down a stake to which you can tie the young vine, then place the roots of the vine three inches below the surface of the ground, carefully spreading the roots so that they will be as nearly as possible in the position in which they grew in the nursery.