226 STATE HORTICDLTUEAL SOCIETY. 



went out on the public road and got a bushel or so of fine road 

 dast, putting the same into a wash tub then pouring enough water 

 into the tub to make a thin grouting. Then getiing my fine Crys- 

 tal City plants I dipped the roots of each bunch in the grout- 

 ing, then placing them in a basket I was ready to plant. So I 

 commenced to dig holes along my rope line with a hoe, when along 

 came my friend Franz Gustafson and said 'if you will come over to my 

 house I will lend you my hedge dibble ; it will be juet the thing to set 

 these with." I said, "what is a dibble? I don't know how to use a 

 dibble." But I went over home with him, and as soon as I seen the 

 dioble I said, "glory! that's just the thing I want." So with basket of 

 plants in one hand and dibble in the other I went merrily to work, 

 planting nearly all the ground in Crystal City before I happened 

 to think that, perhaps, Crescent was almost as good a variety as Crys- 

 tal City, but as Jim had advised 2,998 Crystal Citys, I thought they 

 were surely the best. So I healed in most of the Crescent plants in 

 case I needed them for replanting the Crystal City bed ( but by the way 

 all of the Crystal Citys grew) ; and now came the hoeing and cultivat- 

 ing. I hoed the bed 13 times and plowed nine times, and how the 

 Crystal City grew and took up all the land was a caution, and to say 

 that I was proud of my future prospect would be putting it vary mild. 

 So now as the fall of the year was at hand, I asked Jim what to do 

 next, and he said "mulch them, mulch them good with straw." I said, 

 "how much ?" And Jim said that he had noticed in J. M. Rice's Sar- 

 coxie Vindicator that Hicks had predicted a very hard winter and 

 thought about 12 or 17 inches deep would be about right. Bat as 

 straw was a little scarce that year, I only got my straw on about four 

 or six inches deep. So all went along lovely till spring of 1884 ; then 

 came the problem of what to do with so much straw. Bat, as usual, 

 I went to Jim for advice, and he said " burn it ;" but after a little due 

 reflection he said that, perhaps, it would be a better plan to rake the 

 straw off the row into the path. Bat I said, "Jim, the Crystal City does 

 not leave a path." Nevertheless, I went to work raking the straw off, 

 and then I discovered that I had mulched too deep ; the foliage had 

 all bleached white. But Jim said they would come out all right; 

 bleeching would not hurt Crystal City like it did common kinds. So 

 as spring advanced, out came the patch in full bloom, and oh ! what a 

 sight ; wasn't I proud, though 1 But pride goeth before a fall, and lo ! 

 when harvest time came nearly aF the berries I had came from one 

 row of Crescent that I had planted at one side of the bed, on the 

 poorest land I had. The Crystal City was a complete failure, except 

 as to fertilize my one row of Crescent. But Crystal City and like kinds 



