SUMMER MEETING. 37 



In setting plants I mark both ways very deep with a bull-tongue 

 plow, and use common masons' trowels for lifting enough loose earth 

 to allow the roots to be placed in position to spread out fan-shaped, 

 throwing two or three inches of dirt over the roots and then tramping 

 the dirt solid. This year I am using a little dried blood as a fertilizer, 

 dropping a spoonful over each plant, where the setter has tramped the 

 earth firmly over the roots. Then a man follows with a hoe and levels 

 up the rows. The Crescent has been the "Ben Davis" of strawber- 

 jies, but she is having a hard time keeping up with Greenville and 

 Shuster's Gem, as well as Parker Earle and Warfield. In 1893 the 

 Speece and Comet led them all. They were fine this year, but not 

 the best. If I were to confine myself to eight varieties, they would be 

 Speece, Comet, Crescent, Shuster's Gem, Greenville, Parker Earle, 

 Warfield and Capt. Jack. I have never paid any attention to berries, 

 -especially for table, always considering that berries that were large and 

 «howy would be acceptable on almost any table during the month of 

 May. I cannot pass varieties without mentioning the Gandy. It is a 

 «hy bearer, but what berries we get are very nice and firm, and if the 

 weather is favorable they will keep a week after picking. All of above 

 named varieties seem to be perfectly hardy, with the exception of 

 Parker Earle and Capt. Jack. They rust some, but this can be easily 

 •controlled by the intelligent use of the Bordeaux mixture. 



The Parker Earle and Gandy bloom a few days later than most 

 other varieties, and for this reason I am setting them in solid blocks, 

 and am ueiug Comet, Captain Jack and a few Jessie as fertilizers for 

 the imperfect flowering varieties. 



We had a severe drouth last year, but there was not a single leaf 

 that came under my observation that ever wilted down on ray own 

 place, but on some neighboring fields, where the ground had only been 

 prepared in a slip-shod way and the plants only half cultivated, all 

 varieties seemed to suffer, so that I have about made up my mind that 

 drouth will not hurt the plants if they have proper care. On neglected 

 beds Crescent, Warfield and Captain Jack stood the drouth as well or 

 better than any others. 



I use the Planet Junior cultivator and a double hoe manufactured 

 by the Ulrich Mfg. Co., Eock Falls, Ills. In rocky ground a man will 

 do two or three times as much work as with an ordinary hoe. 



I have done a little mulching each year, but so far I have been 

 unable to see any benefit whatever, yet I intend to continue it in a 

 small way for another year or two. 



Too much care and watchfulness cannot be exercised over the 

 pickers. If picking for long-distance shipments, the berry should not 



