o20 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



WAYNE COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



REPORTED BT SECRETARY GRISWOJJ). 



OFFICERS FOR 1886. 



President — N. T. Bradner. 

 Vice President — H. 0. Hanford. 

 Secretary — Dean F. Griswold. 

 Treasurer — Lafayette Dean. 



Several meetings have been held during the year and much interest man- 

 ifested. Although the membership has been small, each member has shown a 

 disposition to work, and the meetings have been well attended. The following 

 are some of the papers read before the society: 



THE CULTIVATION OF STRAWBERRIES FOR HOME USE. 

 BT MRS. KATIE SMITH, NORTHVILLE. 



In treating this topic, although an enthusiast upon the subject, I must beg 

 you to remember that I am merely an amateur, and cannot bring you much of 

 interest compared with those who have had years of experience, and therefore 

 an abundant source to draw from. In offering a few brief notes, however, I am 

 at liberty to refer to a neighbor, Mr. Cady, whose strawberry bed recommends 

 itself to every passer-by. 



So much has been written on the choice and preparation of the land, the 

 merits and demerits of certain soils, the selection of the best varieties, the 

 methods of cultivation, the frosts that kill, the insects that destroy, and the 

 birds that appropriate, that a novice might well be deterred from attempting 

 its cultivation, and only for the enterprise that says / will, and that discards 

 much that is deemed essential to success, the strawberry would 'be to many 

 families an unknown quantity. So I consider the first requisite to be a firm 

 determination to grow strawberries. The next and very important factor, is a 

 bank to draw from — the agricultural bank, the foundation of a farmer's pros- 

 perity, and the source of supply to all vegetation, and especially to the straw- 

 berry, for it is a gross feeder, no other fruit exhausting the fertility of a soil 

 so soon as this. 



In selecting varieties, my first choice would be the Crescent, as being 

 of good size, good color and quality, very firm, and carrying well through 

 the season ; the Crescent last year being the first and last that I picked. It is 

 a pistillate variety, and near it I have the Sharpless, a variety that has been 



