306 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



seeds and plants that they may be tested before being placed on the 

 market. 



This bulletin contains the notes on some of the small fruits grown the 

 past season in the gardens at the college. Many of the varieties have 

 been under test for a series of years, and we only include such kinds as 

 have been grown for at least two seasons. 



The soil upon which they have been grown is a rather stiff, sandy loam, 

 and, in the case of the strawberries, it has been well enriched with stable 

 manure. The other fruits were supplied with sufficient plant food to 

 make a good growth. 



The soil and climate have much to do in determining the value of a 

 variety, and sorts that do well in one section often are quite valueless in 

 others. As the principal fruit belt of the state is along the east shore of 

 lake Michigan, it was thought advisable to establish a fruit-testing sub- 

 station in that region, in order that more reliable data might be furnished 

 the fruitgrowers of that section, as to the value for planting of the new 

 varieties that are being sent out each year. By carrying on the work at 

 two points in the state we are able, by comparison of results, to draw more 

 accurate conclusions as to the value of a variety. 



The work at the sub- station in South Haven is in charge of Hon. T. T. 

 Lyon, and the results of his observations have been published in Bulletins 

 55, 67, and 80, and in the reports of the State Board of Agriculture, and 

 of the State Horticultural society for 1889, 1890, and 1891. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



The strawberries under test number about one hundred and fifty 

 sorts, including a large number of unnamed seedlings sent here under 

 numbers by the originators for trial. When they can be obtained the 

 number of plants used for a test is twenty-four; but, very often, the origi- 

 nators only send a half dozen or sometimes a dozen, and this number is so 

 small that we often have to spend a year in propagating them, before we 

 have enough for a test. 



The plants are kept one half in narrow rows, and the balance in hills, 

 for a comparison of the two methods of cultivation. Late in the autumn, 

 they were thoroughly mulched with straw and marsh hay, which was 

 removed from over the plants as soon as growth commenced in the spring, 

 but allowed to remain between the rows to keep down the weeds, and 

 retain the moisture. The plants came through the winter without injury, 

 and up to the middle of May promised a full crop of fruit, but, while in 

 bloom, they were subjected to three severe frosts, which nearly destroyed 

 the crop upon many of the varieties. 



^ It so happened that, in several cases, the greatest injury was done to 

 varieties that were considered the most hardy, and this seemed to be due 

 to a characteristic of the plants that generally adds to their value. Varie- 

 ties with stout flower stalks, bearing the blossoms above the leaves, as 

 does the Crescent, were severely injured, while others with weak stems as 

 are found in Haverland, were little injured, owing to the protection afforded 

 by the foliage. 



The effects of the frost were so uneven as to render the weighing of the 

 crop on the different sorts, as an index of their productiveness, both use- 

 less and deceptive, and the statements here made, as to the yield of fruit, 

 are, for the same reason, based in part on their behavior during the one 

 or more years that they have been previously fruited. 



