DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 45 



both for markec and for home use ; as we had but a few hills in bearing we 

 cannot speak fully as to its merits till it has fruited another season. This 

 berry is large, nearly round, bright crimson in color, excellent flavor and 

 texture, hard enough to ship, and does not lose its line appearance after being 

 picked some time. It is very productive, the season lasts over a week, and the 

 berries hold their size to the last picking. 



"\Ye would recommend the Black Defiance, for family use, to those who like 

 a solid-fleshed aromatic-flavored berry. It is one of the largest, dark crimson 

 in color, a little seedy, but otherwise very fine for a dgssert berry ; for our own 

 eating we prefer it to any variety we have. Unfortunately it is a shy bearer, 

 and for this reason alone will not be of value for market. 



Capt. Jack was productive, medium size, long season, but the berries lose 

 their size towards the last; it is rather soft for shipping. 



Afrifjue, exceedingly productive in the number of berries, very dark color, 

 fine flavor, but too small and soft for a market berry. 



Hervey Davis, one of the new berries, is bright scarlet, fair size, fine quality, 

 a medium bearer, and one of the best to keep after being picked. 



The strawberries are planted on light soil that is not very rich. We are 

 starting new beds on a variety of soils, and purpose growing all of the kinds 

 that are of value, so that students and visitors may examine and become 

 familiar with them. We exhibited 30 varieties of berries at the June meeting 

 of the State Pomological, and will probably show all we have at the summer 

 meeting next year. 



NOTES ON KOOTS. 



Last spring we procured seed of as many varieties of beets and turnips as 

 Ave could get, of those suitable for stock feeding. 



A strip of the best ground in the new garden was manured at the rate of 

 40 loads of composted manure to the acre, plowed, subsoiled, thoroughly har- 

 rowed and made fine, and the beet seed sowed with a hand drill in rows thirty 

 inches apart on the 8th of May, the turnip seed in June in the same way. 



The roots were thinned to about one foot apart after getting well started, 

 and thoroughly cultivated during the season. The soil, which is a heavy grav- 

 elly loam, did not seem so well adapted to turnips as to beets, and the hot dry 

 weather of the summer and early fall did not produce a good growth, and 

 some of the turnips commenced rotting before they were harvested. 



Tlie varieties grown were sowed in rows 148 feet long, one and two rows of 

 a kind. The yield per acre is given below. 



Turnips. Bushels. 



Yellow Aberdeen _ 561 



Yellow Globe _ 643 



Yellow Swedish 626 



Orange Jelly _ 221 



Eosbon's Golden Ball 683 



Yellow Stone 584 



Laing's Swede 540 



White Rutabaga 350 



Skirviug's Swede 569 



An average yield of 528.554+ bushels per acre. 



Note.— The llcport of 1879 not beiiiR published till the spring of 18S0, it was thought best to 

 give the results ot experiment in root growing in the present number. 



