608 BOARD OF AGRICULTTJEE. 



Mr. Grossman: I have been asked as to mulching. As I have said 

 before, I mulch when the gi'ound is frozen hard enough so that the wagon 

 does not cut into the ground. 



Mr. Van Deman: I would like to say that I was out to Mr. Pierce's 

 place, and I noticed something that was new to me. He said he had 

 been having trouble with his berries freezing out, just as we have been 

 talking about, so a new idea struck him, and he is raising corn with 

 which to mulch his berries. That was a new idea to me. It would cer- 

 tainly be clean. He gi'ows the mulch right there on the land. I think 

 this idea is worthy of our attention. It would be nice to provide ourselves 

 with this mulch right at home. It seems to me that corn would be fine 

 to keep the beri-ies clean. I believe in mulching, and I do not know of 

 any better material for this than the straw, except for the fact that in 

 the straw there are so many kinds of seed. But it is also a dangerous 

 thing to put on manure, for it, too, has seeds in it. 



Another thing in regara to spring cultivation. I have tried it, but 

 I would not advise its use. It is too expensive, but I do believe in late 

 cultivation. 



Mr. Henry: Wouldn't you be afraid the corn would shade the ber- 

 ries too much? 



Mr. Van Deman: I would sow the com. I would make it just as 

 thick as I could get it to come up. I would cut it with a binder and 

 shock it until I needed it. 



Mr. Henry: Wouldn't the corn be worth more for feed than as a 

 mulch? 



Mr. Van Dieman: I think not. 



Prof. Latta: I have had reasons for letting this discussion go on be- 

 cause you seemed to be interested, and in such case the Chairman does 

 not feel quite competent to conduct this kind of a discussion, and he 

 will feel thankful if the leaders in this line will give him their sugges- 

 tions. 



We will hear from Mr. Widney, of St. Joe Station. 



Mr. H. M. Widney: I am like Mr. Grossman, and this has been a 

 very embarrassing time for me from the fact that I have not been active 

 in strawberry raising, until the past year, for three years. I have been 

 in other lines of business, but from what our Chairman has said I con-' 

 sider that he wants us to give our own practical experience on practical 

 fruit growing with practical reasons. 



There is one thing which we have not touched upon in our talks this 

 morning, and I feel that it is one of the essentials. You must have a 

 first-class plant or your strawberry culture will be a failure, sure. I 



