44 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ges of temperature, by opening and closing the ventilators, guided by the 

 thermometer, which we closely watch within and without. 



Onions do well year after year on the same ground, but we must use 

 fertilizers, for the richest muck will, after a time, need them. We are 

 giving ours a heavy dressing of manure this winter. It is very important, 

 I find, to have our muck well drained, so we can work it early in the 

 the spring; and, if too wet, the onions will run more to scullions, or be 

 soft and spongy and, of course, poor keepers. Still, if too dry when bot- 

 toming, the crop will be very much diminished. 



We hope to regulate, to some extent, the moisture in our muck by plac- 

 ing a cut off in the outlet, which can be easily done by sinking a cistern 

 in the hard land, plastering it with cement, and running the tile through 

 it, and there fixing a gate that can be opened and closed at will. 



I need not continue this subject further, but cheerfully submit it for 

 further discussion; and, if this short chapter from my experience shall 

 lead the way to the redemption and utilization of any other stagnant 

 pond, now marring the beauty of our noble state, I shall feel amply 

 repaid. 



FRUITGROWING ON LIGHT SOILS 



was treated in the accompanying paper by Mr. Roland Morrill of Ben- 

 ton Harbor: 



This topic may refer to a great variety of soils, ranging from an extemely 

 rich, sandy loam to the barren sand plains which are generally considered 

 worthless and no doubt have no value today but may have in the future. 

 The soil referred to can not mean any soil which contains much clay, clay 

 loam, or having a clay subsoil; at least I shall not consider such soils as 

 coming within the limits of my topic, and will treat only of such soils as 

 are composed of sand or sandy loam resting on a sand or gravel subsoil. 

 I would state also that my experience and observation have been confined 

 mainly to soils that grew heavy, hard-wooded timber, such as beech, maple, 

 and oak, and what I say may not be applicable to pine lands in all cases. 



One of the first things to determine, if you are planting in such soils, is 

 whether you wish to plant for market or for home use only. If for the 

 latter purpose, you can plant anything that thrives at all in your vicinity, 

 as a partial success is much better than to deprive your family of a full 

 line of fruit; but if you are planting for market, the case is entirely differ- 

 ent, as you must then come into competition with men who are favorably 

 located, and you will not grow rich very fast from half crops or inferior 

 fruit. 



Among the small fruits which succeed well on good light soils, I will 

 mention strawberries, grapes, raspberries, and gooseberries, about in the 

 order named; at the same time, fair crops of blackberries and currants can 

 be grown in good locations; and if it be pine land, I would place black- 

 berries first in the list of the above fruits. 



The different varieties of each fruit seem to have their likes and dislikes 

 in soil, which makes it important that we make proper selection of vari- 

 eties. Of this I shall speak further on. For general fruitgrowing, I am 

 convinced that a rich, sandy loam, resting on subsoil containing a fair 

 proportion of clay, is superior to all others, the next best being the same 

 resting on compact gravel or sand, and the poorest is a poor sand resting 



