72 A)nt'ric(nt Jlorticultural Society. 



Tlie vicld was five tons to the acre, not\vitli.-tan<ling the loss by 

 spring frosts last season. Either the soil must be inexhaustible, or 

 liiere were some other elements of fertility, to enal)le such cro|)s to 

 be raiscil for so many years without manure. From what I have 

 observed during the seven years I have been in California, I regard 

 irrigation not so much needeil as cultivation, the former having 

 often proved detrimental where at first considered essential, as I 

 have experienced in raising grape cuttings. 



JJr. Kiiiihdll — 1 only spoke of the wonderful intiuence of water 

 on barren lands to show how inexhaustible our soils are. 1 know 

 lands ill Alameda county that have borne crops of barley and wheat 

 for more than a half century without receiving any fertilizers other 

 than water from our mountain streams. 



3Tr. Sniit/t — 1 am well satisfied that fertilizers would be of ben- 

 efit, even in California. If I did not use them liberally I am sure 

 wife and I would not now be with you to enjoy these meetings. 



J)r. liidpnih, being called upon, read the })aper of Mr. P. M. 

 Augur, of Connecticut : 



THE EXP.VNSIOX OF SM.\LL- FRUIT CULTURE AND ITS 



EFFECTS. 



r, ■ r. M. AIGIR, OF CONNECTICITT. 



This subject is one of special interest to all admirers of the good and 

 beautiful, and to those who favor liealthful luxuries in the household; and 

 yet we are confronted with an idea at the outset, to wit: the danger of an 

 excess of a porishnblo commodity in overcrowded markets. Therefore, to 

 recommend an indiscriminate rushing of every land-owner into small-fruit 

 growing would be impolitic and unwise. 



This business truly needs wise foresight and thoughtful precaution. A 

 surplus of grain means delay in ]>roritable returns; a surj)lus of small fruits 

 means Icxs instead of iHoi/. Here the law of demand and supply shouKI be 

 rigorously heeded and its lessons carefully followed, and here again the law 

 of " the survival of the fittest" must appear. Thus, every yeir thousands 

 abandon small fruit culture as unprolitable, while other thousands embark 

 in it as an experiment, many, of cour.-^e, t") be di.sipnointed. 



That ten times greater supi)Iy of delicious strawberries and other })er- 

 ishable small fruits could be judiciously used we all admit. Many a man 

 smokes his half dozen or more cigars daily as a matter of course who never 

 feels that he can atlord a good dish of strawberries for his family at home ; 



