WINTER MEETING. 285 



Question : What is the best way of securing a plat of blue grass t 



Prof. Irish — So far as my experience goes, the Kentucljy is the 

 best. Prepare the land by thorough cultivation, removing the lumps 

 and rolling the land. Sow the sod very thickly and harrow in after 

 sowing and roll it agaiu, and if the season is wet it will not require 

 any watering, otherwise it will be necessary to water, or only a part 

 will grovv^, aud after it has been planted, every week or two weeks it 

 should be rolled again. 



Mr. Goodman — Why did you omit the Madam Plantier June rose? 

 It is beautiful, hardy, and is a pure white. 



Prof. Irish — I presume the reason I left it out is because it has 

 not come under my notice lately, and I have seen these others growing, 

 and have a good idea of them and can say they are good. 



By request Miss Ames again favored the audience with a solo. 



Small Fruit Paragraphs. 



Looking backward over this year's experience, I see, in the begin- 

 ning, an unusually dry spring season — so dry that to remove and set 

 strawberry plants was a hazardous undertaking, and the few who did 

 plant lost more than half their plants. Then, near the middle of May, I 

 see a severe frost, with continued drouth, blasting many of our berry 

 patches. The few strawberries that the frost did not get made a poor 

 showing toward a profitable crop. 



With the beginning of every season we have some new problems 

 to study. Past experience does not always suffice as a guide in the 

 beginning of a new year's work. Changes in program must be made 

 to suit each season; and yet, the work must be done largely in dark- 

 ness, trusting in the general outcome, whether it be a season of pros- 

 perity or one of adversity. 



Every year brings new inquiries for advice about berry culture. 

 The low prices of farm products cause a few of the "old line" farmers 

 to fall into the ranks of small fruit-growers; but they rarely come to 

 stay, as the low price of berry products drive them back to the corn- 

 field and pig-yard. Hence, there is a continual tide of wavering cul- 

 tivatiors of the soil ready for a change at every low tide in products 

 or prices. I am often asked the question, " Will berry-growing pay!" 

 I say, yes. To the patient, hold-fast fellow in seasons of adversity, as 

 well as prosperity, there is a living promise as old as the hills. I be- 

 lieve the periods of adversity in our lives are educators— but they are 

 rarely told. It is the successful actors whose stories more frequently 



