TRANSACTIONS OF NORTHERN ILL. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 341 



THIRD DAY. 



EVENING SESSION. 



Met at half past seven. 



Messrs. L. Woodard and L. K. Scofield were appointed delegates 

 to the meeting of the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society, which takes 

 place next week. 



The President announced that the discussion of Strawberries was 

 the first thing in order. 



Several members spoke of the destruction of plants by the cold of 

 last winter, and by the strawberry worm — leaf roller — already described. 



Mr. Budd said that a neighbor of his had used salt on his strawberry 

 plantations for six years ; he now sows eight bushels per acre. This seems 

 to keep off the white grub, so often destructive in strawberry beds, and 

 his plants were also free from the strawberry worm. The salt seemed to 

 benefit the crop, while it destroyed the weeds, especially the dandelions. 



Mr. Douglas said that it requires three years for the white grub to 

 mature ; he had used at the rate of ten bushels salt per acre, without per- 

 ceptible effect. 



Mr. Hill said June grass and white clover are the worst enemies in 

 a strawberry field ; but salt enough to kill them would kill the strawberry 

 vines also. 



Mr. Wier said that the only remedy for grubs that he knew is keep- 

 ing the ground entirely clean by cultivation one year; the grubs cannot 

 live without live plants to feed upon. 



If he was confined to two varieties for his own use, they would be the 

 Nicanor and Kramer. 



Mr. McAfee — The white grub spoken of will perfect itself where no 

 living vegetable tissue exists. Mr. liudd did not say that the salt posi- 

 tively killed the grubs upon his neighbor's strawberry field, but that the 

 ])lants were not devastated upon by grubs or other insects, while other 

 plantations in the vicinity were. Salt sometimes changes the mechanical 

 condition of the soil; and, perhaps, it was so in this case. 



Mr. Slade had a]:)plied ashes to a part of his plants, and the portion 

 thus treated had been more preyed upon by grubs than other parts of his 

 grounds. He had mulched a part of his vines with corn stalks, but did 

 not perceive that this affected the work of the grub either way. 



Mr. Wright had rows of Kentucky, Wilson and Green Prolific, side 

 by side, and the Kentucky was the only one that survived the last winter. 



