SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 399 



attacks of rust, or any other disease to which they may be liable. For instance: 

 One year ago cattle got upon one end of one of my beds and injured tbe plants 

 so much that the crop there was nearly a failure, although the roots were in 

 no way injured. Upon the rest of the bed the crop was very large ; the sur- 

 face of the earth seemed almost turned into berries. At the close of the 

 berry season the damaged portion of the bed gave every indication of health 

 and of its ability to yield a good crop for '85. Rather than destroy this por- 

 tion of it, I concluded to keep over the entire bed and do my best to nurse the 

 bearing portion so well that.it would give another fair crop, although the 

 plants gave every indication of being very much exhausted. The result is: 

 Of the bearing portion of the bed not one-fourth of the plants are alive to-day, 

 and if I gather one-fourth of a fair crop from them it will be more than I 

 expect. The portion of it that bore very little, by reason of its being injured, 

 gives every indication of a very large yield. 



Now the question naturally arises, Can one afford to cultivate a berry that 

 gives but a single crop? If the single crop is only thirty or forty bushels per 

 acre, which is perhaps a fair average taking the country through, I say No. If 

 the yield is from 150 to 300 bushels per acre, I say Yes. Now, readers of this 

 record, do not be frightened by the latter figures. With proper care such 

 crops are not difficult to raise. In '75 I picked, by exact measurment of 

 ground and crop, 3,571 quart boxes of merchantable berries from one-fourth 

 of an acre — at the rate of 446 bushels per acre. The year following I picked 

 96 bushels from one-fourth of an acre. I believe I have raised larger crops 

 than either of these, still as they were not carefully measured I will not assert 

 it positively. If my last spring setting of plants do not average over 200 

 bushels per acre this season, they will fail to do what they now promise. We 

 are now setting plants for next year's crop. The land has been heavily ma- 

 nured each year for the list six or seven, yet we are putting on from thirty to 

 forty loads, mostly of very rich compost, per acre. The soil is a rich light 

 loam, with rather a sandy subsoil. Of course we shall expect a very large yield 

 of fruit from it in '86. 



To sum up the whole matter in few words: The Wilson came into existence 

 at a time when it was far in advance of any other variety. For years it was 

 set almost universally. Plants were neglected, other plants allowed to overrun 

 and destroy them, they were set on poor land, and given very poor cultivation, 

 or perhaps none. Repeated settings were made upon the same land, with but 

 little interuption, and still less manure. The effort was made to obtain two 

 or three crops from the same setting. Meanwhile insects of all kinds injuri- 

 ous to them had abundant time to breed among them and add their influence, 

 which has not been insignificant, in causing what is called the failure of this 

 remarkable berry. That it now fails in some portions of the country to do as 

 well as it once did is perhaps an admitted fact. But whose fault is it? Since 

 I became acquainted with its peculiarities and its necessities, and know how it 

 has been treated in very many places, the only surprise to me has been that it 

 did not wholly "run out." I take no stock in the idea that the Wilson is dead, 

 or dying of old age. My own plants are as strong and healthy as ever, and 

 yield as fine crops. By letting them remain upon the ground only a single 

 year, insects have no time to breed among them, hence we are rarely troubled 

 by injurious insects of any kind. With pure Wilson plants, in rich land well 

 fed, I expect continued, bountiful crops, and shall not give them up until 

 certain of something better. 



