30 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



been a better prospect of a good crop than there was the previous 

 fall, but when the beds were uncovered in the spring the vines 

 were all black, Crescents and all, and he thought that all were 

 dead ; but the Crescents soon put out new crowns andformeJ new 

 fruit stems and now promised to yield a good average crop of 

 fruit. Patches in the other beds, scattered here and there, but 

 usually along the edges of the beds and in the lowest places, de- 

 veloped a new growth, and the plants now living promised a very 

 fair crop. 



Mr. Harris, President of the Minnesota State Horticultural 

 Society, said that the strawberry beds were much injured through- 

 out his section and in the western part of Wisconsin. Some of 

 the fruit growers, who usually sold $1,000 worth of strawberries, 

 did not realize one hundred dollars for this season's crop, and some 

 did not get even ten dollars. Various reasons are assigned as the 

 cause. He had no theory in regard to it, but thought that it 

 might be, in part at least, the result of the very early freezing up 

 of the ground and plants in the fall. The plants had not 

 ripened their wood, and the sap freezing up in the cells so 

 enfeebled them that they were not able to stand the winter. In 

 digging plants in the spring, he found that the roots to some were 

 all black and dead; other plants had part of their roots killed, 

 while part were still white and uninjured. Such plants grew 

 rapidly at first and blossomed very full, but they did not have 

 strength to mature the fruit ; the ends of the berry were green 

 and seed}^, and the cap was larger than the fruit. Where covered, 

 the results were about the same as to injury of plants, but not as 

 many were killed outright. 



In reply to a question of Mr. Plumb, he said the ground was 

 very dry in the fall, when it froze up, and also dry in the spring. 



Mr. Marscomb, of La Crosse, had suffered in the same manner, 

 perhaps more than the rest. He had one patch, of six acre", that was 

 nearly all killed ; so that he did not get over two hundred quarts 

 from the whole field. The bed stood on high ground ; soil was 

 sandy ; but a black sand. He had never practiced covering in 

 the winter, and never before had lost his plants by freezing out, 

 but this season, nearly all were killed. The few left were on the 



