92 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



and the flavor in it larjielv depend on tlie stamina of the seed, and right 

 there is one point of which I wish to spealc. As soon as the weather in 

 spring becomes warm, the buds begin to swell, and in a few days they 

 come right out. If then you take the dirt all ofl; the roots, without any 

 resource for them to draw on, you ask them to go through the exhaustive 

 process of pollen secretion without any resources except the food al- 

 ready stored in the plant; and you injure the plant more than by any 

 other neglect of which you can be guilty. On our forty acres last spring 

 we had about fifteen to twenty men, and I watched those plants. We cut 

 over them two or three times. Make an experiment: Let a lot of plants 

 shed all the pollen they have; then take a row right beside them and 

 cut the blossoms off before they get through the process of pollen ex- 

 haustion; then go and see the fruit you get. You will never let any more 

 plants exhaust themselves by producing pollen excessively in that way, 

 as they will do. Cut most of it off — it is drawing on the resources of 

 the plant. Next year you will get a big crop; and if you carry that out 

 they will last two or three years longer. I believe you can pick a big 

 crop of berries one year longer by cutting off. That is one of the points 

 1 wish to emphasize particularly. I cut off the blossoms the first season 

 and thereby get a better flavored fruit. 



Mr. Morrill : There might be other reasons for this, but that would be 

 one good reason for it. 



Mr. Kellogg: Your ground seems to be rich in nitrogen. Did you get 

 any fruit at all? 



Mr. Pitt: Yes, sir, some very nice berries, and the plants I got were 

 selected plants, very nice plants, but they seemed to grow all to foliage. 



Mr. Morrill: What variety? 



Mr. Pitt: I had Bubach and Jessie, but I had several varieties I can't 

 remember. 



Mr. Morrill: eTessie is liable to killing by frost. 



Mr. Kellogg: I would not set Jessie. 



Q: Parker Earle, how is that? 



Mr. Kellogg: Sometimes the first berries of Parker Earle will have 

 stamens, but later on they do not have stamens. I would not use it. On 

 some grounds sometimes it will work. It depends on how it has been 

 treated. If the blossoms have been cut off the stamens will gain strength. 



Q: Did not the berries set enough, or they did only not grow very 

 big? 



Mr. Pitt: The berries were of good size, all of them that I got, but 

 they were few. 



Mr. Morrill: Did they bloom plentifully? 



Mr. Pitt: No, I do not think they did. ' 



Mr. Kellogg: They will bloom just as full, make just as large a blos- 

 som and as much fuss about it, as though they were going to grow a big 

 ci'op of berries, but the blossoms all drop off unless there are perfect 

 flowers near them. 



Mr. Morrill: How do you cut blossoms? 



Mr. Kellogg: Well, I just take a pen-knife and got the cluster with 

 the finger, like that, or reach in. 



Mr. Morrill: You do it with your men, don't you? 



Mr. Kellogg: Yes, sir, I do. 



Mr. Morrill: Just take a pair of sheep-shears and you will never pull 

 a plant. 



