STATE HOKTItTJI-TURAL SOCIETY. 



95 



uncut mulch is used it is opened from over the rows in spring and left 

 in the spaces until after the crop is gathered. Treated in this way a half 

 dozen or more successive crops may be taken from the ground ; in fact, I 

 see no reason why there will be any occasion for destroying the plants 

 and making new plantings unless grass is allowed to grow or insects, 

 preying upon the plants, threaten their destruction. 



How to Combat the Insects. — The strawberry-worm was not verj- 

 troublesome this year upon old plantations, and were hand-picked and 

 crushed from the newly-planted vines several times during the season of 

 cultivation. This practice, which costs but little, will, if carefully and 

 persistently carried out, keep these pests well in check. 



The strawberry-leaf folder is almost everywhere present among the 

 vines, and sometimes so numerous as to almost entirely defoliate them. 

 His attacks, unlike those of the strawberry-worm, are not made until after 

 the crop is gathered; and hence he can be more surely destroyed. It has 

 been recommended by some writers, and practiced to a small extent in 

 this State, to cover the vines during a dry time and just before the earliest 

 leaf- folders change from the larval to the pupal state by spreading straw 

 over the plants, and burn straw, plants and insects together. This seems 

 harsh treatment, yet the most luxurious vines it has been my fortune to 

 see this autumn were growing where all was blackness about three months 

 previous. The vines were thoroughly manured, plowed and harrowed 

 after the burning. I shall look for an immense crop of fine fruit upon 

 this plantation of Mr. Vickroy next year, and also expect to see vines 

 nearly free from insects. It would not seem safe to practice this destruc- 

 tive cultivation during a drouth, but only when the condition of the soil 

 is such as to insure a quick succeeding growth. I am practicing, as an 

 experiment, the hill-culture or single-plant system, and will report results 

 next year, if with you then. It will be remembered that in my last report 

 wider spaces or rows were recommended than now; for I find that with 

 nearly all varieties the best fruit is obtained from rows not more than 

 eighteen inches wide ; and where the best berries will command extra 

 prices I would confine them to one foot in width, so as to give more light 

 and a better circulation of air for the fruit and foliage. With such rank, 

 dense growers as Crescent, Windsor Chief, Miner, Crystal City, Centen- 

 nial Favorite, Sharj)less, Duncan, Glendale, Cumberland Triumph and 

 Star of the West, full exposure in narrow rows is essential to secure large, 

 fine fruit; while Wilson, Kentucky, Downing, Pioneer, Duchess, Col. 

 Cheney, Durand's Beauty, Cinderella, Continental, Seth Boyden, Forest 

 Rose may be grown with profit if planted three-and-a-half to four feet 

 apart and allowed to occupy strips two to two-and-a-half feet. 



Varieties. — There is no species of fruit grown in our country of which 

 there is such a diversity of opinions in respect to the real or comparative 

 value of varieties as the strawberry; and it is safe to say that nine-tenths 

 of this difference is due to the fact that this fruit is more capricious or 

 rather more particular and discriminating as to soils and modes of culture 

 than any other. This holds good in respect to nearly all varieties in 

 cultivation; and it is rash, and unjust to the introducers of new valuable 



