258 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. H. J. Baldwin : It depends entirely upon the kind of soil. 

 I have often seen where we got too large a stand in a wet season. 

 Some kinds, like the Dunlap, will make four or five times as miany 

 plants as they ought. Every person has got to use his best judgment 

 in the matter. 



Mr. Busse : In raising plants for next year's crop, I find that 

 the early plant produces the biggest berries. It gets a larger crown 

 and is strong, as a plant ought to be. 



Mr. Moore: I just wish to say a word before this discussion 

 closes. I am a pretty well preserved man for my age, but unfor- 

 tunately, as you have learned, my hearing is becoming defective. 

 It is somewhat embarrassing to attend a meeting of this kind under 

 this condition. I am a horticulturist, and I intend to remain such, 

 and as long as I am of any use I intend to serve you. (Applause.) 



THE VINEYARD IN JULY AND AUGUST. 



E. G. E. REEL_, EXCELSIOR. 



Owing to the variation of season these past few years, it is some- 

 what difficult to know when July or August is likely to begin, so I 

 may be excused if I encroach on other months to some extent. Right 

 here I want to say that if in this paper you find a too frequent use 

 of the big "I," it is not in a spirit of egotism on my part, but rather 

 what I have found to be the best and most practical method of man- 

 agement after twenty-one years of experience in commercial vine- 

 yarding in Minnesota. 



Cultivation up to July should have consisted of one light plow- 

 ing as soon as the vines were unearthed and tied to the trellis, and 

 hoeing and forking the earth away from the base of the vine ; 

 whatever other cultivation is done should be with a toothed culti- 

 vator. The Planet Jr. strawberry cultivator seems the most efficient 

 tool I have tried. Tying is about done by July first. I use the tendrils 

 of the vine almost exclusively. These may be manipulated so as to 

 take the place of string, grass or cloth and will be found to hold 

 even in a strong wind. After a few hours they harden and hold 

 much more firmly than any of the usual ties. The secret of tying 

 with them is to hold the shoot against the wire and pass the tendril 

 around both shoot and wire in as large a loop as possible and 

 draw as closely as the tendril seems able to stand. A half hour of 

 practice is time well spent, for it will save many hours in preparing 

 other ties. It is also the most rapidly done. 



Although spraying is the keynote of success, I would not be 

 willing to say how often it should be done, for the weather condi- 

 tions vary so greatly that while in some years the sprayer, like the 



