REPORTS OF AUXILIARY SOCIETIES. 271 



toes, and with proper care the berry patch will last a number of years, aud the 

 same ground that will bring good potatoes will bring good strawberries and 

 raspberries. No one thinks he has not time to plant potatoes. 



Another one says, '* I do not know how to raise them; 1 have tried and 

 failed." Perhaps you did not take the right way. I will give you my exper- 

 ience and practice, and you can take it for what it is worth. I have raised 

 small fruits of all kinds for a number of years, and have been reasoiuibly suc- 

 cessful, and if you will follow my advice and practice, I think you will succeed. 

 I prefer planting in the spring, as early as the ground is fit. I plow the ground 

 deep, pulverize it well, have the ground moderately rich — not too rich — then 

 mark out the rows three and one-half feet apart; and now 1 am ready to plant, 

 and here comes the most important part of the whole business, to plant the 

 right kind of plants, and here is where so many fail. Some men say one kind 

 will do as well as another, and they get some worthless plants that are run out 

 and badly mixed, and the result is they get no fruit, or at least only half a 

 crop. It costs no more to grow good and pure varieties and have a good crop, 

 than poor, inferior sorts and have a poor crop; there is but little difierence in 

 the expense at the start. 



,^^Now, you will ask, which are the best? Well, that is not so easy to answer 

 as one would suppose. There are some seventy-five or one hundred different 

 varieties of strawberries advertised, each claiming to be the best. Many of 

 these are entirely worthless; others have some merits, and also demerits, and 

 some are as good as represented ; and there is no better way to determine what 

 is good than through practical experience. I have tried many different varie- 

 ties, and hold fast to the good, and discard the the worthless. After my experi- 

 ments, I now cultivate for early varieties, Crystal City, Cinderella, Crescent 

 Seedling, Captain Jack, Charles Downing, Sharpless, Green Prolific, Miner's 

 Great Prolific, Mount Vernon, Triumph, Cumberland, and a few of Mon- 

 arch of the West and Boyden's No. 30. 



For raspberriesof the black cap varieties I would recommend Mammoth Clus- 

 ter, Gregg, and Seneca Black Cap. For red varieties. Queen of the Market, Tur- 

 ner, and Brandywine. 



Blackberries — Snyder, and Missouri Mammoth. 



Grapes — Concord, Champion, Warden's Seedling, Eogers Nos. 4 and 15; 

 Martha is a good, hardy white grape. 



Now all that is necessary to be successful in the cultivation of this kind of 

 fruit is, to have your soil in good order, well manured, deeply plowed, well 

 pulverized, plants well and thickly set in the row, rows three and one-half feet 

 apart, plenty of pure and unmixed sorts ; then keep the ground well stirred 

 with cultivator and hoe, to keep down the weeds and keep the ground mellow; 

 keep the runners off, and my word for it, you will be astonished at the quantity 

 and quality of delicious fruit you will raise. 



No family possessing an acre of land, or even one-half acre,sh ould be satis- 

 fied short of raising its own small fruits. 



BEST VARIETIES OF APPLES. 



BY E. D. PIERSON, HUDSON. 



The subject committed to me is very easily treated in this way: When you 

 are hungry for and crave a good apple above any other fruit, get a good, perfect. 



