"Our soils are mostly loam, with some sand, and a clay subsoil. Bottom lands have the usual deposits of muck and partially decomposed vegetable matter. The damp, rich soil, of course, suits strawberries and blackberries; though the latter grow wild to such perfection, and in such abundance, as to do away with cultivation almost entirely. The red raspberry does not succeed very well as a rule. While damp, under-drained soil and sandy loam are best for strawberries, the dry uplands have almost invariably produced well. As to fertilizers, well-decomposed stable manure and bone meal have done the best with us.
"No winter protection is needed. The fall, with us, is the best season to transplant strawberries, by all odds—as soon as the September rains set in. DR. SAMUEL HAPE."
"JACKSONVILLE, FLA., Dec. 23, 1878.
"With pleasure, I answer your questions to the best of my ability. 1. What varieties of small fruits do best in your locality? Strawberries and blackberries do well, but owing to the abundance of wild fruit, late and early, the blackberry is not cultivated largely. No other small fruits have been fairly tried. The general opinion is that our warm weather lasts too long for the raspberry, gooseberry, and currant. I have given the raspberry a trial, and cannot recommend it. 2. What soils are best adapted to them? We have two soils on which the strawberry thrives, the low hummock bordering on the river. It is rich in vegetable and mineral matter—clay from two to four feet under surface. The next is our pine land; soil light, and of grayish color, nearly devoid of vegetable matter, but largely supplied with lime and potash. Strawberries and blackberries do well on this soil. We have what is termed high hummock. It is a yellow loam, with clay, varying from two to six feet from surface. The orange, peach, grape, fig, quince and plum do well on this soil. 3. What is your mode of culture? For strawberries, I lay off beds, slightly raised, 8 feet wide. On each bed I put four rows of plants, running the full length of beds. For Wilsons, rows 18 inches, and 12 inches between plants; Charles Downing, and Seth Boyden, 18 by 18 inches. Cover all the space with pine-needles by the time warm weather sets in, and shade their fruit from the hot sun. I cultivate with a small hand cultivator, partly invented by myself, and by hoeing. 4. What fertilizer do you consider most efficient? A compost of stable manure, muck, and potash. 5. What winter protection do you give, if any? None needed. For summer protection, pine straw between plants; this answers a double purpose—to keep the fruit clean, also to protect the plants in warm, dry weather, and retain moisture. 6. Do you consider spring or fall the best season for planting in your locality? If I have home-grown plants, I prefer planting from last of August to first of December. Northern plants, unless grown in pots, do best if obtained in November or December. I will add here, for your information, Wilson's Albany is very shy of making runners for the first year or two after coming from the North. Seth Boyden and Charles Downing take possession of the ground after fruiting is over. WILLIAM JAMES."
Mr. P. J. Berkmans, the well-known horticulturist of Augusta, Ga., informed me that the Kentucky, Charles Downing, and Crescent endured the southern sun well, and that the Captain Jack and Sharpless were fine with them; all the purple cane and black-cap raspberries did well, but none of the foreign kinds thrived. Mr. Berkmans remarked that, even after ten years of bearing, he hesitated to express a positive opinion concerning a fruit, so great are the differences caused by location and soil. It is your young men that have been two or three years in the business, who have positive opinions on every subject.
In the suburbs of Savannah, Ga., I found three-quarters of an acre of strawberries that had yielded a clear profit of $800 in one season. The preparation and culture for this profitable crop were as follows: A good coat of manure was spread early in spring and plowed under. Cow-peas were then sown and plowed under in August, when another coat of manure was harrowed in. Planting was commenced August 10, and the plants set fourteen inches from each other, in beds with alleys between, twenty-eight inches wide. They were worked with a cultivator, mulched with pine straw in January, and stimulated from time to time with liquid manure. The fact that they secured a good home market accounts, in part, for the large profit.
Through the courtesy of Captain Sigwald, himself a successful horticulturist, I was able to visit many strawberry plantations in the vicinity of Charleston, S. C., and will give a few statistics from one of the most nourishing. The plants were vigorous, and the long rows clean and free from runners. The best plants had been set out in the preceding September. The force employed to set five and a half acres was: five hands taking up the plants with a large patent transplanter, that brought away a ball of earth with the roots; five more laborers "toting," or carrying on hand-barrows, the plants from the propagating bed to the fruiting field, and four planting. The expense of planting was $15 per acre. Prom the five and a half acres, there were shipped to New York 15,200 quarts, on which the freight, at fifteen cents per quart, amounted to $2,280. Commission on sales was $413—leaving a balance of only $1,670, and out of this all other expenses had to come. Thus it way be seen that the expense of marketing the crop was greater than the expense of growing it and the net profit combined—a condition of things that should not last. The freight has been reduced to ten cents per quart this year, I understand.
The Monarch seems peculiarly adapted to East Tennessee, and Mr. Ed. S. Sheppard, who first introduced them, found a sensation resulting that in its proportions resembled the mammoth berry.
The Crystal City and Captain Jack are favorite varieties in Missouri.
For the latitude and climate of New York, and westward, much suggestion has been given already.