192 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. W. L. Taylor : Where it is not the practice to water straw- 

 berry plants a great deal of moisture may be conserved by thorough 

 cultivation. My strawberries have been injured where no cultiva- 

 tion was given after excessive rains and the weather turned hot 

 with bright sunshine. The patch would probably need cultivating 

 right away, and if I did not do it so much moisture escaped that 

 the ground became parched, but those pieces I cultivated all the 

 time did not take any harm at all. 



Mr. Dewain Cook: I have had quite a little experience with 

 this strawberry blight, and I believe Mr. Brackett has stated the 

 case correctly as I see if. Two years ago we had quite a lot of 

 berries. We had one patch of several varieties that promised the 

 largest crop I ever grew, and I picked from the Glen Mary, Beder- 

 wood and others about two pints of good berries. The season had 

 been wet during the previous autumn, and we did not cover this 

 patch. The next season after we gathered two pickings rainy and 

 hot weather came on, and I noticed that blight and rust appeared. 

 and I believe the root was partially killed, and the blight finished 

 them because of the enormous crop. 



Mr. Underv/ood: Wliajt killed the root? 



Mr. Cook : It was winter-killed. I have been hearing Mr. 

 Underwood talking about drouth for a good many years ; it was 

 drouth first, last and all the time. 



Mr. Underwood : If we are going to get any good out of this 

 discussion we want to get at the real facts, at the root of the mat- 

 ter, and not deal with theories. It does not make any difference to 

 me whether it is one thing or another ; what it is, that is the thing 

 we want to get at. Winter-killing, it seems to me, is a stock term, 

 and I would like to hear it explained. What is winter-killing? 

 That is the question. Is it caused by the cold weather, by the sun 

 or moon, or what is it caused by ? I would like to know what is 

 meant by winter-killing. What I understand by winter-killing 

 is nothing more or less than drouth, simply a withdrawal or ex- 

 pulsion of moisture from the soil and root. What is drouth ? It 

 is a lack of moisture. If that is correct I do not care whether it 

 is in the summer or in the fall, whether it is from the effects of the 

 sun or what it is, or whether it is in winter, you get the same 

 condition if it is drouth. And how can we overcome it? We can 

 overcome it by moisture. It must be done by furnishing moisture. 

 If this is correct we have the right kind of a premise to start with,. 

 and we can work out something to its logical conclusion; but to 

 simply say it is winter-killing, that does not mean anything, unless 

 you go south or go out of Minnesota where they do not have such 

 cold winters. I do not think it necessary to go out of Minnesota ; 

 we must find the condition that prevents us from growing fruit 

 here, and if it is winter-killing we must overcome it. I want to 

 know whether I am correct when I say that last year in the fore part 

 of the fall there was plenty of moisture, but in the latter part of the 

 fall, and just before it froze up, there was a period of dry weather 

 so the roots went into winter quarters in a drouthy condition, and 



