STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETV. 



S9 



straw, — as leaves are likely to be blown away, — there should not be a 

 vacant place upon your ground. 



Mk. Miller — How long can you keep a strawberry field in bearing? 



Dr. Hooton — This is my fourth year, and I think I can keej) it in 

 good bearing order for another year; I keep up the cultivation; I first 

 use a plow that simply lifts the ground, without turning it over, running 

 from twelve to si.xteen inches deep, then take the cultivator and the 

 harrow, and finish up with the hoes — cleaning all up nicely. 



Mr. Miller — How many bushels of fruit do you get to the acre? 



Dr. Hooton — Last year 1 got from fourteen to fifteen thousand 

 quarts from four acres. I never set plants in the fall or in the summer ; 

 it is an expense for nothing. The spring is the time to set your plants 

 and get them in as early as you can ; and the next spring you will get a 

 better crop than you would with fall planting — and what is very impor- 

 tant — you will have a better stand of plants on the ground. If you will 

 try this plan 1 think you will not wish to plant at any other time. 



Before the plants start to grow the second spring, open up the mulch 

 and leave it upon the ground as a protection to the plants, and then the 

 pickers can get down upon their knees, and work easily. Keep the 

 pickers in the space between the rows, and never let them get on the 

 plants. I never let a team and wagon drive upon my strawberry beds. 

 1 think it is a fair conclusion, that if you are thorough and neat in your 

 strawberry culture, you will be most likely to get your reward. 



Foice — Do you use any fertilizers on your strawberry beds ? 



Dk. Hooton — Yes, sir. 1 have applied two barrels superphosphate 

 on two-thirds of an acre. 1 also put on ,one »vagon load of ashes, on 

 rows by the side of those which had the phosphate — same kind of 

 plants — and the result was quite satisfactory. 



I also put one barrel of land plaster on two-thirds of an acre, sprink- 

 ling the plaster around the crown of the plant. Where the land plaster 

 was applied, there were more berries but not so large, and the foliage 

 was not so abundant as where I applied the phosphate; the plants upon 

 which I put tlie phosphate were the most magnificent I ever saw ; they 

 stood fully one foot above the ground. 



Foice — What time did you make this application ? 



