36 Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society. 



siderable time, hence we follow very soon with the harrow to level these high 

 middles back into the furrows, after which we can stop the work for a week 

 or ten days, when we should return with the hoes and remove whatever 

 grass and weeds may have come up or been left at the tirst hoeing, and draw 

 a little light dirt around the plants. Here we may rest the work for a short 

 time, when we should return with our plows and mold them just as we do 

 corn or cotton, only not quite so close, but as deep as possible, and, following 

 closely with our subsoiler, go down until we are satisiied we are a little 

 deeper than we have run nearer the plant. After this, whatever remains 

 must be equally spread to the sides, and to complete the work in the middle 

 we run the subsoiler until we are satisfied we are four inches deeper than 

 the bed center furrows described above. This completes the work of the 

 season, except Avith the hoe to draw the dirt around the jilant, fill up uneven 

 places and put the bed in good shape. The same principles of cultivation, 

 as far as practicable, should be applied in bed culture ; but because they can 

 not be so fully applied is one reason why we dislike this system, and in our 

 opinion the main reason why it is so often a failure. 



We have now developed what may be termed our theory and practice. If 

 you have followed us in our detail with the plow and subsoiler, you will see 

 that we have thoroughly broken and pulverized the soil to an aggregate 

 depth of ten inches, and left our i:)lants on elevated beds or rows, with drain 

 furrows between them four inches deeper than the bed center furrows. It 

 is thus we propose to furnish the much needed uniform moisture, and avoid 

 the destructive influence of too much. This work is usually completed 

 about the middle or last of July, and all after grass and weeds are allowed to 

 grow for protection to plants daring winter, and the further and more valua- 

 ble object of a mulch to keep our berries clean and bright. With such cul- 

 ture we have, during some of our best seasons, gathered one hundred bush- 

 els per acre from land that, with the best culture, would not have j)roduced 

 over twenty bushels of corn or half a bale of cotton, without fertilizers of 

 any sort. If we fertilize in this latitude it must be done with great caution 

 and good judgment. We have not found the good results from it claimed 

 for it in higher latitudes. While it may increase the size and yield, the fruit 

 is more perishable and the plant in more danger of overthrow during the 

 hot, dry summer months. The habits of the plant in this latitude differ in 

 some respects from its habits in higher latitudes. While it makes large, 

 strong stools, its disposition to send out runners and multiply plants is much 

 less than at the North. The fruiting season is also much longer, often ex- 

 tending over ninety days, with a strong inclination to fall bearing. We have 

 a strong conviction that if all the possibilities of some of our varieties were 

 fully understood, and by skillful work thoroughly harmonized with the 

 laws of our latitude and soil, we might have berries, many of our seasons, 

 from March until December. We have, during three seasons out of the 

 past four, had berries over five months each year from a single variety. 

 Perpetual bearing is more of latitude and skilled culture than of inherent 



