STilAWBEERIES IN THE PINE REGIONS OF MINNESOTA. 1 89 



killed out, but plants on heavy land and where I had not kept them 

 very clean came out all right. I cultivate on the matted row 

 system, as I find they will stand the frost better when plants 

 are allowed to grow close. I did not spray as I should have done, 

 but I was not home at the proper time to do it. 



We began picking berries the first day of July and continued 

 for about twenty days. The season was short this year. My plants 

 were scattered over one and a half acres, and from this land J 

 harvested 1,200 quarts of very fine berries. 



One remark that will probably interest some is that' I have a 

 bed of berries that I have cropped five seasons and the fruit is yet 

 well up to the standard size. I sold the first' six hundred quarts 

 for $2.00 a case of sixteen quarts, and the rest for $1.60 a case. 

 Sold all berries in my home market. 



Mrs. Jennie Stager : I would like to know something about the 

 blight of strawberries. In our section there were acres of straw- 

 berries that were entirely blighted after the berries were large 

 enough to ripen. One day they would be in good condition, and 

 the next they would look as though fire had passed over the berries ; 

 the leaves were black just as though they had been frozen. We lost 

 most of our berries in that section through blight', or whatever it 

 was. I would like tO' know something about it, so I could tell the 

 people what to do in case such a thing should occur again. 



Mr. Wyman Elliot: Can you give the date of that blight 

 when it occurred? 



Mrs. Stager : I do not exactly know the date, but it was near 

 the first of July, because I had ordered a lot from a young German, 

 and as he did not bring the berries I w^ent up there after a few days 

 to see what was the matter. They showed me the vines with berries 

 on them all dead, and they were large enough to pick. The whole 

 field looked just as though they had been frozen, the leaves and all 

 were black. 



Mr. A. Brackett : They had been frozen, the roots had been 

 frozen because they were without . proper protection or something 

 of that sort. 



]\Irs. Stager: They, were covered. 



Mr. Brackett: If you had dug up those plants you would have 

 found the roots had been injured by the winter, and after the fruit 

 commenced to mature it weakened the plant. The strawberry plant 

 is susceptible to blight, and where the plant is injured it is subject 

 to blight, and it was a case of strawberry freezing all over the 

 country. The crop was good, and when they commenced to ripen 

 a few would be all right, and the rest were killed. 



Mrs. Stager : At this one place I went they had put on straw 

 as soon as it froze, they had put on just enough to cover the bed, 

 and later they covered the bed over with six to eight inches of straw. 



