606 ■ BOAKD OF AGKICULTUKE. 



Mr. DeVilbiss: I have always wanted to cultivate but my wife 

 wouldn't let me do it. We did it once and she thought it spoiled the 

 berries. 



Mr. Widney: This winter our strawberries winter killed from a differ- 

 ent cause than a severe winter, and those ol" you Avho have been in our sec- 

 tion know that we have a natural drainage of soil, in fact we have 

 a perfect drainage. We have a gravel bed with a loose clay subsoil 

 eight or ten inches thick, and the rest is sandy loam. We lost a great 

 many plants by winter killing as we call it. but we find that it was on 

 account of the land. There was frost in the ground and the water could 

 not sink through, and could not get away, so it laid on the bed all winter. 

 Ordinarily in our soil we are not bothered with winter killing. 



Prof. Troop: Some growers cultivate in the spring before it is time 

 to pick the berries. Some of the growers out our way practice that, but 

 not all of them. They take the straw off and cultivate, and put it back 

 again. It giv«es the plants a better send-off in the spring to cultivate be- 

 fore picking. Does anyone use a weeder in their strawberries? 



Mr. DeVilbiss: Yes, I do, and it is doing fine. 



Mr. Feebles: Two years ago I did. I tried cultivating in the late fall 

 and then using rye straw and the rye came up thick, and I went in and 

 pulled the straw off and kept on cultivating until I got all over the patch. 



Mr. Swaim: What is your objection to spring cultivation? 



Mr. Feebles: I like it because it conserves the moisture, and kills 

 the early weeds which would get a good start before the picking season 

 would be over. 



Mr. Swaim: Perhaps you are not in the habit of mulching very heavy. 

 Perhaps not enougli to keep the weed growth down. I do not see any ob- 

 jection to spring cultiv'ation, except that it makes more work and more 

 expense. 



Prof. Latta: Would the compactness of the soil have anything to do 

 with the question of spring" cultivation just before fruiting? 



Mr. Swaim: It might have. 



Prof. Latta: Do you think it would have. Prof. Hedrick? 



Prof. Hedrick: I thinlc it might have. 



Mrs. Meredith: We can count this in different ways. It takes about 

 three hundred to the acre to get one hundred and fifty bushels. It takes 

 you two years to raise what would be one crop of two hundred and fifty 

 ■bushels or five hnndiTd nnd fiftv bushels for throe vears. I am always 



