58 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



I have kept them eight days in good condition, without ice, and they 

 were in a better condition on the seventh day than Crescents were on the 

 third. I sent my berries last season to S. A.McFarland, of ]Mendota, III., 

 and expect they will sell them next year. I have been in the berry business 

 twenty years, and have tried nearly all the seedling varieties, and like this 

 seedling so much better that I am growing only enough of other varieties 

 to fertilize it. Yours truly, 



B. C. Warfield. 



Davenport, Ioava, Dec. m, 188H. 

 Samuel Edwards, Esq.:— 



Deca- Sir: Have you any experience in the use of stronr/ ashes on 

 strawberries. For the first time in my life I can get all the land will bear, 

 and wish to know the greatest amount I can safely apply to a square rod or 

 on an acre, spread now, so as to be leached in by snows and rains before 

 planting in'April next. Will harrow m at once, if ground permits, as it 

 notv will. Also, how much safely to bearing plants, as soon as frost leaves 

 in tlie spring, provided 1 brush off what falls on leaves. I knoiv I can 

 safely sow one and one-fourth bushels per rod on growing plants, but do not 

 know how much more I should immediately stir in shallow and replace the 

 mulch. * Yours truly. 



Wm. H. Holmes. 



DISCUSSION. 



D. H. Gray — 1 renew my strawberry beds but seldom make ii 

 new plantation. I do this as a matter of economy. My custom is 

 to remove my rows by tipping new plants. To do this I run my 

 plow where T want to turn the plants under, and on the opposite 

 side I run near enough to clean the row of all except the plants I 

 wish to preserve. I think my plantation gets even better as it gets 

 older. My own soil seems to need but little fertilizing, only enough 

 to keep the soil loose, and straw seems to do this best. 



Mr. Coe — We have settled down on the Crescent as the best 

 for both, market and family use. 



Mr. Gaston — I wish to say a good word for Bubach'sNo. 5. It 

 is very large, handsome, and I think it is the coming berry. 



Mr. Doan — Drouth is the great drawback to strawberry cul- 

 ture. As soon as it stops raining we resort to irrigation. For this 

 purpose we prepare large pools of water and use a steam engine 

 to force the water to the top of an elevation, from whence it is dis- 

 tributed wherever it is needed by iron pipes. We undoubtedly im- 

 prove the quality and vastly increase the quantity of the crop, and it 

 pays well for the expense. 



J. Webster — At Centralia we grow strawberries abundantly. 

 We mulch them at the beginning of winter with wheat straw or 



