296 board of agriculture. 



Wm. D. Hall, Wallingford. 



-*? 



Strawberries. The soil is very light and sandy, 150 rods 

 of land in the piece ; it was well manured with fish guano 

 and a good crop of tobacco taken off in 1869 ; the strawberry 

 plants were set in the spring of '70 ; the land was marked 

 out and the plants set 3 by 4 feet, were not kept in hills but 

 the runners were allowed to root, except what were torn up 

 by the cultivator, and the blossoms were picked off the first 

 season. In September I cultivated in 1200 pounds of kelp 

 fertilizer, this being all the manure I vised on the piece. I 

 kept them cultivated and hoed at short intervals until the 

 27th of September, and about the last of November spread a 

 thin mulching of bog hay over them and let the plants come 

 up through it in the spring; have not disturbed them by hoe- 

 ing or cultivating since last fall. I took off the piece this spring 

 40,000 plants for my own use and to sell, and think I should 

 have had more and better fruit if I had thinned them out still 

 more. I had four kinds of berries, but most of them were Wil- 

 son's, a few rows each of Jucunda, Agriculturist, and Triomphe 

 de Gand. For bearing and marketing I consider Wilson's far 

 superior to any other, but for my own use prefer the Jucun- 

 da, though they cannot stand transportation. A late frost 

 killed all the first blossoms, so that we did not get any fruit in 

 market as early by a week as we otherwise should, and so 

 missed the best prices, though we sold some at 40 cents in 

 Boston and from that down to 13 cents. We picked of! from 

 the piece, 



6128 quarts, sold for 11,041.72 



40,000 plants used and sold, at $3, 120.00 



Total Receipts, $1,161.72 



Expenses, April 13, 1870 : 



Plowing and harrowing, $ 4.00 



4000 Plants, ' 12.00 



Marking and setting, 12.00 



Settivig Missings, 2.00 



Picking off blossoms, " 5.00 



