4i STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



that, if it is fertilized with the Sharpless, it will hold np until the end 

 of the season. The blooms on the Orescent are not good fertilizers. 

 and do not do well with any but the Sharpless, and I have tried many 

 varieties. The blooms of the Sharpless are strong and full of pollen, 

 and my experience has been that the Crescent seedling, if fertilized 

 with the Sharpless, will bear up well through the entire season, and 

 they do not get too small with me for shipping. I have only one fer- 

 tilizer, and that is the Sharpless. 



By Mr. Hopkins — I agree with Brother Williams' paper in almost 

 every particular, except in regard to the fertilizer ; I do not know what 

 the Sharpless may do with him, but with me it is a shy bearer, and 1 

 cannot get a berry out of it ; I have tried it for two or three years, 

 and if it did not get killed in the bloom it would almost always blast. 

 I would like to ask Mr. Williams if he is sure that he is using the 

 Sharpless ! My experience is that it blooms early, but does net bloom 

 long. It certainly is not characteristic of the Sharpless, so far as I 

 have any knowledge of it. It is a good berry, the quality is unsur- 

 passed, but I never heard of it being used as a fertilizer before, and 

 the gentleman may have something else, although he may know what 

 he is doing. I endorse the paper in almost every particular, and in 

 regard to the subsoiling, I think that is one of the most essential 

 points I have ever had any experience with in strawberry culture ; I 

 have for the last two years, and shall continue to practice subsoiling, 

 it doesn't make any difference whether it is a dry season or a wet 

 season, subsoiling seems to have a good effect. If it is an excessively 

 wet season subsoiling seems to give a good under drainage, and I can 

 tell the difference between the berries of those that are subsoiled and 

 those that are nof, the berries are firmer and hold up better ; and in a 

 drouth it is the same way ; we all know it is good for a wet season, 

 and I believe it is just as good for a dry one. 



Now, in regard to the other paper that was read by the gentleman 

 from Exeter, it sounds as if it was from a way back there : now when 

 it comes to using Downing and such as that for fertilizer, it seems a 

 long way back. The gentleman made some very large calculations but 

 I am very much afraid it may turn out like Brother Freeman, he origi- 

 nated a new strawberry, and the way he figured, it would yield sixty- 

 four thousand quarts a day. 



By Mr. Williams — In regard to the Sharpless, I cannot say posi- 

 tively that I have got it, and I very much doubt if there is any gentle- 

 man here who could say he has got anything unless he originated the 

 berry himself. My original stock of berries that I call the Sharpless, 

 I sent to Ferry, Detroit, for them fourteen years ago. In patronizing 



