PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUMMER MEETING • i> 



the berries on dill'erent plants. One plant is loaded with fine specimens^ 

 while right by its side is another plant which has tlie same fertility of 

 soil and culture but produces small and inferior berries. What is the 

 cause? Simply, the second plant is a scrub. It does not have sufficient 

 potency of pollen or high life-giving power. The pistils are also in 

 a weakened condition. The seeds are lacking in vitality. It has been 

 allowed to breed itself into impotency. 



. A careful examination of the plants of the average grower will show 

 they are a mongrel mass. We can better understand this by using the 

 analogy of animal and plant life. A few years ago we had only the 

 all-purpose animal. Now, after a long line of matings and selections, 

 we have special breeds for the dairy, butter, beef, etc. Horses and 

 other stock have made the same wonderful evolution. Individual worth 

 in an animal is the more valuable if its pedigree shows a long line of 

 selection and mating expressly to produce certain desirable characteris- 

 tics, so it will transmit these qualities to its offspring with great cer- 

 tainty. 



Plants bred by the skillful horticulturist to produce large, luscious 

 fruit, will transmit this quality to their progeny with equal certainty. 



The name of the breeder of animals adds value in proportion to his 

 known skill in developing them. So the propagator of plants who has 

 made propagation a life study can detect variation and can bring to- 

 gether the good qualities necessary to accomplish the desired results. 

 But, when once attained, the inexperienced grower can easily perpetuate 

 tlieni by carefully following the prescribed rules, and thus the beginner 

 can reap the same reward as the skilled operator, and secure as great 

 results from his capital and labor invested. 



The successful cultivation of the strawberry requires that the ground 

 should be rich in humus (decayed vegetable matter), so as to be soft and 

 mellow, enabling the roots to penetrate to a great depth and fill the 

 ground with fine, fibrous roots. To do this, plow under a crop of legumin- 

 ous plants, like clover, or cow peas, and apply barnyard manure, about 

 fifty bushels of unleached wood ashes, and 500 pounds of fine ground 

 bone per acre. These will furnish potash and phosphoric acid, and 

 thus secure firm, rich, and high-colored fruit. All manures should, if 

 possible, be applied broadcast during the winter, so the rains will 

 wash them down and incorporate the juices with the soil to make it 

 immediately available when plants begin growing in the spring. Avoid 

 plowing under any considerable quantity of straw, as it prevents capil- 

 lary action from bringing the water up to the plants from the lower 

 subsoil, and thus causes the ground to dry out. 



There are four general systems of growing berries — the hill or single 

 plant, the hedge row, the half matted row, and full matted row. 



In order to understand the advantages of the different methods of 

 planting we must just consider how plants grow. If the soil is properly 

 fertilized and tilled, it would furnish enough food for all plants that 

 could stand on the ground. Only about five per cent., by weight, of 

 the plant comes from the soil, the balance coming from the atmosphere. 

 Tlie roots gather water and the minerals previously dissolved in the 

 soil, and carrying them up through the tree to the leaves, where they 

 are combined with carbon and other elements of the air, and digested, 

 the leaves performing the same office as the stomach and lungs of an 

 animal, after which the prepared food is appropriated by the plant. 



