STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Ql 



and the yield was \ cry large and profitable, although I got but fifteen 

 cents per quart for the berries. 



Mr. Mili.fk — How much do you think the application benefited 

 you in the crop ? 



Mr. FRKK^fA^■ — About, I should say, twelve hundred dollar?, on the 

 one and a half acres — for without the fertilizer I do not think I could 

 have got twenty dollars out of it. 



Mr. Wif.r — I would recommend Cramer's Seedling strawberry as 

 a very valuable berry for family use. It is not fit for a market berry, 

 >)ut you can use it with less sugar than any other, and for canning pur- 

 poses I know no better; the color is too dark, and it is too small for the 

 market. 



Mr. E.arle — I would like to ask Dr. Hooton, if he has compared 

 the hill-culture system with the row system of his neighbors, so as to tell 

 which gives the best yield. 



Dr. Hooton — I do not think I have any statistics, but I believe 

 my neighbors think my strawberry crops are about as good as any one's ; 

 and my practice is to me satisfactory, and I shall not change. 



Mr. Earle — I think soiue, by the row system, have heavier crops — 

 perhaps double — with the expense of one cultivating. Still I think the 

 hill system is very nice. 



Mr. Freeman — In Southern Illinois the soils, except the bottom 

 lands, are rather destitute of humus, and we have a drouth just at the 

 time of ripening of the berries, hence the importance and benefit of the 

 application of gypsum or some fertilizer to help the plants. 



Dr. Hooton — 'I'here is one fact, to which 1 wish to call attention. 

 I hear it stated, that in this locality a large number of plants have died, 

 — that many whole fields have died outright, — while my fields, under this 

 system have not died. I'here are very few good healthy fields in this 

 neighborhood. I would like to know if this is so elsewhere. 



Mr. C? avton— \Vhirh system do you think will last the longest .•* 



Dr. Hooton — I think the ///// system will preserve the plantation 

 longest. T think this system will preserve the plants in a healthy con- 

 diti<jn for four years. 



Mr. Scokield, Freeport — I have never been successful in the culti- 

 vation of strawberries. I have a neighbor who has for five years raised 



