432 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



any special value, and therefore finds a ready sale. Each year it gains in 

 favor, but as it is a variety having but recently originated at Kansas City, 

 and rarely planted elsewhere than at Olden, the public know little of it. 

 Oldmixon Free and Bonanza are two of the very best of the white and red 

 free-stones, and are largely grown at Olden. Henrietta, Salway, Columbia, 

 and Wilkins were also extensively planted; but being late they were not in 

 condition to be examined except as to their productiveness, and in this 

 respect they were up to the standard. Wilkins is a white cling, which is 

 equal to the old favorite Heath cling in quality, and larger, and which 

 after years of trial has practically supplanted that variety. Peach-growing 

 at Olden is certainly a success, and other large orchards are being planted 

 in southern Missouri. The main advantagps are cheap land that is of 

 sufficient fertility, a climate usually exempt from damaging frosts, cheap, 

 reliable labor, and along the railroads good facilities for sending the crop 

 to market either fresh, evaporated, or canned. 



STRAWBERRY CULTURE IN EASTERN VIRGINIA. 



There being large interests in strawberry culture in the tidewater section 

 of eastern Virginia, my assistant, Mr. "W. A. Taylor, was sent to visit the 

 farms near Norfolk and Portsmouth the second week in May. In most of 

 the strawberry-growing districts of the United States other fruits also are 

 grown for shipment. About Norfolk no other fruit than the strawberry is 

 grown in any quantity, as the climatic and soil conditions are not favor- 

 able to general fruitgrowing. The principal business is the growing of 

 truck crops; mainly potatoes, cabbage, kale, spinach, etc. 



The method of strawberry culture followed here is such as will best fit 

 into a general system of double cropping, where commercial fertilizers are 

 the main dependence of the trucker to keep up the fertility of the soil. 

 The soil of the region is a shallow, sandy loam, underlaid with clay. It 

 was originally covered with a thick growth of small pine. It is naturally 

 warm, moist and easily drained, though very flat and only a few feet above 

 sea level. 



The method followed by most northern strawberry growers requires the 

 exclusive use of the land for one full year before the first crop of fruit is 

 secured. This requires a considerable outlay for labor in cultivation and 

 hoeing, for which there is no immediate return. In such a climate as that 

 of tidewater Virginia, where winter is but cloudy and rainy weather, 

 interspersed with light snowball and only occasional frosts, the cost of the 

 cultivation and hoeing necessary for the narrow rows and clean culture of 

 the Northern method is even greater than at the North. Late frosts in 

 spring, which frequently destroy at least the early bloom (owing to dis- 

 tance from market only the early fruit is profitable), would thus cause the 

 loss of the labor and money expended during the previous year and 

 increase the risk in a line of fruitgrowing that is at best quite hazardous. 



These causes, in connection with the experience of the truckers in grow- 

 ing and handling other perishable crops to meet the Northern demand for 

 garden products out of season, explain the reason for the development of 

 the system of strawberry culture now followed by leading growers near 

 Norfolk. 



The Norfolk Method. 



Strawberry plants are set out in April, in rows midway between the 

 rows of growing potatoes, cabbage, or other truck crops. The rows are 



