142 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Prof. Bailey: I presume that both sides of that question are correct 

 in a way. It will depend largely on the season and on the depth of plow- 

 ing. If the rye is turned so that it is only a few inches down, it may 

 act as this man thinks it does, in preventing the escape of the moisture 

 from below. I had in mind a deeper plowing, and in that case we do not 

 wish to have so much dry soil on top. If we have, at most, three or four 

 inches on top dry, it is the most we can afford. Of course it does not 

 always follow that we will have this bad result of late plowing, but the 

 probability is that the longer you leave it on, the less readily it passes 

 into decay. I have some doubt, however, whether that turned- 

 under old rye really would form a good conservator of moisture. These 

 remarks respecting subsoiling and draining apply especially to clay 

 lands and hard-pans. 



Q: What effect would subsoiling have on sandy subsoil? 



A: It might do harm. A person raised the question as to the kind of 

 soil for an apple orchard. It reminds me of our man Smith, who was a 

 good authortiy on hogs. He was driving along one day, when a farmer 

 hailed him and said, ''You are a good authority on hogs. My hogs have 

 been running in pasture all summer and they have not done well." 

 Smith says, "Shut those hogs up." Another man came along a little 

 later and said, "Smith, you are an authority on hogs; my hogs have 

 been penned up all summer and they aren't doing well." "Let them 

 out," said Smith. No doubt the man was right in both cases, and this 

 discussion of soil is similar. A soil that is leachy can be improved by 

 cultivation, and a soil that has a retentive bottom can also be alleviated 

 by culture. Ordinarily we want to make a hard bottom on our loose 

 lands, and in such cases I should exercise the greatest care to plow always 

 about the same depth, and make a bottom with the plow ; but a soil that 

 is hard may have to be plowed at different depths in order to break up 

 the bottom. 



THE NEGLECTED AND DEJECTED RASPBERRY. 



BY MR. W. F. KTRD OF ANN ARBOR. 



A score of years ago, in the eastern part of our town (Ann Arbor) might 

 have seen two plantations of the Cuthbert raspberry, the only ones 

 of importance in the vicinity. Their stately canes and branches waving 

 in the breeze, robed in green and decked with crimson bells, were a won- 

 der to the neighborhood. And, wonder of wonders! the crimson turned 

 to gold. Twenty, twenty -five and thirty cents per quart! Eight dollars 

 per bushel I — a congressman's pay for a whole day. 



Of course, evervbody rushed for the Cuthbert, and those who could not 

 get the Cuthbert planted other varieties, both red and black. Raspberry- 

 growing had a boom, and the acres were soon numbered by the hundreds. 



But a great change has taken place. The plantations for the most part 

 are now broken down, diseased, infested with insects, and wrestling for 

 dear life with timothv, June grass, and wild lettuce. In fact, the cham- 

 pion of berries has been playing the role of a by-word for some time. 



