100 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of varieties adapted to our soil and climate, will bring more profit than 

 ten acres with an ignorant, hasty selection and culture. 



My failures are too numerous to mention, but I will quote a few. 

 I planted too many varieties of trees, vines and plants. More than 

 twenty years ago I planted more than sixty varieties. I set five yellow 

 Belleflowers and they proved a failure. I planted also Baldwin, Green- 

 ing, Northern Spy and many others. I planted also too many sweet 

 apples for market; they proved profitable for hogs, though, as one acre 

 of sweet apples is worth ten of corn. It would have been worth 

 thousands of dollars to me had I planted for every 1000 trees 500 Ben 

 Davis, 200 Jonathan, 100 Winkler, 100 Little Red Romanite, 75 Wine 

 Sap, 25 summer and autumn varieties, such as Red June, Red Astrachan, 

 Early Harvest, Sweet June, Maiden's Blush, etc., etc. 



Were my land limestone I would plant Grimes' Golden in place of 

 Jonathan. Willow Twig is a profitable apple on some soils. With me 

 it blights more than all the other varieties combined. This shows how 

 necessary it is to discover what to plant on our own soil. 



Of blackbearies I tested over thirty varieties. For profit the 

 Early Harvest leads, followed by the Kitiatinny, Synder and Taylor's 

 Prolific. Two hundred miles north Snyder and Taylor would take the 

 place of the Early Harvest. 



Of raspberries I tested twenty varieties. The red sorts failed to 

 pay me. The black-cap varieties paid when planted on rich land, and 

 were well cultivated. Souhegan or Taylor is the first to ripen, Gregg 

 the latest. Hopkins is one of the best, so is Ohio ; but the Kansas 

 with me is as the Ben Davis apple. 



Of strawberries I have tested over one hundred varieties, and met 

 with many failures, buying many new varieties and paying enormous 

 prices. I watered them and I fed them much as one would a $100-calf» 

 and then they did not prove half as good as the old standard sorts. I 

 have reduced my main planting to five varieties, namely : Robinson^ 

 Bubach, Windsor Chief, Warfield, and Michel's Early. The first four 

 are very large, the Michel is the earliest to ripen, and one of the best 

 fertilizers for the three pistillates. 



I made mistakes in planting apple trees over two years old and 

 peach, pear and plum over one year old ; also in topping or heading^ 

 low. I now aim in trimming to avoid forks and to grow a center branch 

 for a leader. 



Plowing deep and close to trees is injurious ; shallow culture often 

 repeated is beneficial. I have watched and taken notes of the signs of 

 the moon, but have never been able to discover any difference, but 

 have seen a big difference in favor of good care and culture. 



