202 State Hoj'ticiiltural Society. 



whole of the two years. Ofttimes results do not show the first year, but 

 will show the second year in increased size, color, and quality of fruit, 

 and this is the ideal we shall try and secure above all things. 



We shall then appeal to you in the name of our State, for the honor 

 of the State society, for the glory of your own county, for the reward 

 to 3'Ourself individualh, that you do your very best this year and next 

 to grow and select the highest type of specimens that it is in your power 

 to secure with all the knowledge you have and with the assistance and 

 the advice and instruction given *you by the society. 



We appeal to you, for your own benefit and instruction, for the 

 grand return it will give you individualh^, for the increased knowledge 

 it will give you personally, for the good opportunity it will open to yoil 

 for experiment, for the new insight it presents for the study of plant 

 growth and plant feeding, and for the securing of new facts in fruit 

 growing that may be of untold value to you in your work and to our 

 State in its development. 



If, in making this display, we shall discover some facts that will 

 help to make horticulture a success, what a reward that will be. 



Putting aside a few vigorous, healthy, prolific, individual trees, or 

 vines, or plants, which shall receive the proper care, and cultivation, prun- 

 ing, girdling, thinning, spraying, covering, sheltering, protecting, fertiliz- 

 ing, gathering, handling, packing and shipping, you will secure a great, 

 the greatest, lesson you have ever received, and the State the greatest 

 shew ever made by any people in the world. 



A blank should be furnished so that a record can be kept of the 

 steps taken in the production of the specimens sent for display, and then 

 these experiments will be immensely valuable to us all. 



Strawberries should be planted this spring in good land thoroughly 

 subsoiled, the best of care and cultivation given during the summer (water 

 if needed), all runners kept off so as to secure good strong crowns. The 

 next year at blossoming time all stalks cut off, except two, or three, or 

 four, and the berries on these thinned to three, or four, or five berries. 

 The plants should be fertilized after blooming time with three pounds 

 of muriate of potash and one pound of nitrate of soda per square rod, 

 put on the ground not too close to the plant and hoed in, and you may 

 be sure you will have seme berries .that will astonish even yourself. 

 Mulch plants well and then you can water them if necessary. 



For putting up in jars this next summer, we want the thinning of 

 the plants in the row to one foot apart, and then thinning the stalks and 

 berries the same as above. Fertilize the same as above also. Leave 

 stem on each berry. 



