102 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Rubus Canadensis, or dewberry, is another of our wild, delicious (?) 

 fruits which grows so abundantly in some of the newer portions of our 

 country. This plant does the best on rocky or sandy soil. It grows long 

 and trailing, is prickly and has from three to seven smaller leaflets than 

 the high blackberry, the racemes of flowers with more leaf-like bracts, 

 fruit of fewer grains, and ripening earlier than that of the high black- 

 berry. Some excellent berries have been developed from crossing these 

 two species. 



The next subject presented was 



A FIRE HOT BED, 



By J. C. Duffey, of which the following is an abstract: 



A hot-bed was described which was heated by fire heat instead of manure. 

 The construction of the bed was not essentially different from that of an ordi- 

 nary hot-bed, only that underneath it ran a six-inch sewer pipe which conveyed 

 air from a home-made coal furnace. The bed worked well and even upon the 

 first year of its construction it was not much more expensive than the ordinary 

 bed. Manure for hot-beds at the college costs twenty-five cents a load in Lan- 

 sing, three and a half miles away, and it was found that the coal heat cost no 

 more. Further details are omitted, as the bed was to be tried another year. 



Mr. H. S. Thiers chatted about 



WIRE TRELLIS FOR PEAS, 



Substantially as follows : 



Several long rows of early peas in the college garden were trained for the 

 purpose of determining the relative cost of methods of training. One lot was 

 trained to brush in the ordinary manner. Another lot was trained on wool 

 twine stretched lengthwise the rows, and the third lot was trained to No. 20 

 wire in the place of wool twine. The wire proved to be the best and cheapest 

 trellis, even counting only the first year, although it will last many years. Its 

 advantages over the brush were especially marked, for it not only cost less to 

 buy and stretch the wire than it did to cut and stick the brush, but it made a 

 neater and more substantial trellis, allowing closer cultivation and recpiiring 

 less work in picking. The wires were stretched upon pieces of two by fours 

 driven firmly at distances of some twenty feet apart. The first wire was placed 

 about a foot from the ground. Three wires were used. Wool twine was used 

 the same as the wires but it sagged and became unmanageable. 



Prof. Bailey said an object lesson would next be given on 



LOCATING ENTRANCE WALKS AND DRIVES. 

 BY C. L. HINEBAUGH. 



Unfortunately, nature has not made for our use those very essential conve- 

 niences, walks and drives. The fact may well be regretted, for their con- 

 struction is one of the most important matters with which the landscape 

 gardener has to deal. It is upon their proper arrangement that the success of 

 our other improvements, in a great measure, depends. Properly located walks 

 and drives convey the idea of habitableness, imparting an air of welcome and 

 freedom to a home and grounds ; while, on the other hand, there is nothing 

 which will mar the beauty of a residence more than to have its walks and drives 

 laid out regardless of beauty, convenience, or usefulness. 



