Strawhei'ry Culture in the South. 29 



What I have done you may do, provided it is better than the system you 

 are at present pursuing. If it is not, you will, of course, not adopt it. 



I make no pretense of having reached perfection, but on the contrary, if I 

 live a few years longer, expect to far outdo anything that I have ever yet 

 done. I do not pretend to know where the limit beyond which we can not 

 pass is, or when it will be reached. But to reach it is an object worthy of 

 our care, our thought, and of our most worthy efforts. 



He who wins in this friendly contest will hold a high and an honorable 

 position. 



Those who fail to reach the highest point will still have the satisfaction of 

 knowing that they are engaged in a contest that brings no sorrows in its 

 train ; but upon the contrary all its tendencies are to elevate and lift up his 

 fellow beings to a higher ideal of home life, and to make homes better and 

 happier, as far as its influence shall reach. 



At the conclusion of Mr. Smith's paper the President introduced 

 Dr. H. E. McKay, of Madison, Miss., the President of the State 

 Horticultural Society of that State, who is one of the largest straw- 

 berry growers of the entire valley, who read a paper; 



STRAWBERRY CULTURE IN THE SOUTH. 



BY ©R. H. E. M'KAY. 



At the request of our worthy President I consented to write a paper, to be 

 read at this meeting, on strawberry culture in the South. In doing so I am 

 most conscious of the fact that I can only present to you a few of the facts 

 :and fundamental points upon which the successful culture in the South is 

 based. I am not by any means a " knight of the quill." I have only taken 

 my pen occasionally when circumstances and the necessity of the case seem 

 to demand that I should say something. I have endeavored, so far as possi- 

 ble, to cover the leading points in this j^aper, and such as we have I will read 

 to you as well as I can. This occasion is very embarrassing to one unaccus- 

 tomed to either writing or reading for the public, and I hope you will indulge 

 me under these circumstances as kindly as you can. 



We do not vmderstand from the above heading that we are limited to the 

 preparation of the land, manner of setting out the plants, and its after culti- 

 vation, but all the items necessary to the attainment of successful production 

 are embraced. 



With this view, we shall first refer to the different soils upon which it is 

 or may be grown, for both home and commercial use. 



Probably no section of our great country, whether we consider the far 

 East, the great and inexhaustible middle belt, or the grand and almost un- 

 limited Northwest, has greater diversity of soils than are to be found in the 

 South; yet, notwithstanding this diversity, if there are places where other 



