50 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



cess. They furnished sufficient protection for the vines, in winter, 

 and in the spring the vines grew up through the stalks, and seemed 

 to have greater vitality and vigor than when covered with anything 

 else. He had tried various methods of covering; had used oat 

 straw and raised more oats than strawberries the following season; 

 had also tried old clover hay and harvested a good crop of hay 

 from the beds instead of berries. He was satisfied that cornstalks 

 and marsh hay were the best things we could have for covering. 

 The first season, he would leave the stalks on the beds; they would 

 protect the vines from the drought, and also keep the fruit clean. 

 After the first crop was harvested, rake off the stalks and let the 

 vines cover the whole ground. 



President Smith said he did not try to raise a second crop of ber- 

 ries where the first crop was a large one; if from any cause he failed 

 to get a good yield the first season, he let the bed stand the second 

 year. It seemed absurd and cruel to turn under strong, healthy 

 looking vines, but his experience had been that a heavy crop of 

 fruit exhausted the vitality of the plants, so that the succeeding 

 one would be deficient in number and in quality, the berries small 

 and imperfectly developed. This is especially true of the Wilson. 

 Some of the new varieties seem to have greater vitality and may 

 yield two or three crops before becoming exhausted. 



Mr. Tuttle reported that a number of the new kinds were much 

 stronger growers than the Wilson, and would probably yield paying 

 crops for two or three seasons. He was much pleased with the 

 appearance of the Red Jacket, a new berry from Iowa. Also with 

 the Crescent Seedling. While at the east in 1876, he saw beds of 

 the Crescent, three and four years old, which appeared very strong 

 and vigorous, and were bearing good crops. 



Mr. Kimball stated that he had tried refuse sugar cane to cover 

 his beds with, and never had more flourishing vines or a larger 

 crop of berries. 



Mr. Palmer had not tried bagasse on strawberries, but he was sat- 

 isfied from experience, that there was nothing better for the winter 

 protection of grape vines. 



