PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 33 



apiece. They will cost me |75, and I am well satisfied. They are nice 

 plants, varying from a foot to a foot and a half when I get them, and they 

 are very strong growers. Before I set them out, I made 940 cuttings, and 

 there are 600 still growing. Off from the Wilders I cut 4,000 more this 

 fall, and they were the only currants that were set last spring that made 

 any growth at all. Victoria, set right next to them, made all the way 

 from six inches of growth to a foot, and Fay came next ; they made from 

 three to five inches growth. 



Mr. Eeid: I would like to have Mr. Wright tell us of the character of 

 the soil in Ohio where they grow the English gooseberry so successfully. 



Mr. Wright: The soil in which those gooseberries are grown is a 

 mixture of clay loam and gravel. 



Q. Pretty moist? A. Not over and above. It is subject somewhat to 

 drought; but we, as growers of the gooseberry, find that the gravelly 

 hot soil is best, with a sufficient addition of barnyard manure as a 

 fertilizer. 



Q. The climate, you say, is subject to drought somewhat? A. Some- 

 what, the same as in Michigan. 



Mr. Eeid: The reason I ask the question is that there seems to be a 

 disposition among those who have spoken, to refer to mildew as the 

 result of branches being near the ground, and the ground being too 

 moist. The scientific investigators all say that the cause of mildew is our 

 excessivelv hot and drv summers. The gooseberry succeeds better in the 

 moist climate of England. When I have seen mildew it has been on top 

 of the bushes, as much in one place as another. 



Mr. Hanson: I have two acres of rather damp ground. Shall I plant 

 them to gooseberries and currants, or black and red raspberries? 



Mr. Wright: Just one moment. As regards mildew, we base our 

 theory upon the fact that we are subject in England to mildew on our 

 grain crops, in the same proportion, or more so, that you are here in your 

 small fruits, and whenever we get a mildewed crop of wheat, we get it all 

 in one night, and we get it on soil that is subject to an under current of 

 water, land which can not be sufficientlv drained. It is claimed that the 

 hot air that prevails at that time, and the evaporation of moisture from 

 the under current of water, kills our wheat; and when we have a whole 

 field of wheat killed by mildew, it is always killed at a time when we have 

 excessively hot nights. The same is true of the gooseberry. We think 

 the cause of mildew is this hot air and the dam])ness of the earth not 

 having sufficient room to evaporate from the fact that the bushes are so 

 near the ground. 



Mr. Eeid: Yes, but our gooseberry mildew comes in a time of drouth. 



Mr. Hawley: If I may answer Mr. Hanson's question, I would advise 

 setting currants, because I have currants to sell, and no raspberries! 



Mr. Hanson: This is the situation with me: I planted a young plum 

 orchard last year; set the trees sixteen feet apart, and there were about 

 four acres in the lot. About half of this is low, damp, sandy loam. 

 Now, I presume if I plant anything it must be of the bush variety, and of 

 course I would like to know which would pay better, to plant raspberries, 

 or gooseberries and currants. 

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