294 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



lumps; plow deeper, disk harrow, fine harrow and roll. The ground 

 is now ready for the plants. One plant set in April is worth ten set 

 in May and twenty-five set in August, generally speaking, for a per- 

 manent bed. If I use both staminate and pistillate varieties I set 

 alternately one row of the former to two of the latter; rows three 

 feet apart and plants two feet apart in the row. I never go to an old 

 bed for plants. Cultivate immediately after setting and after ev- 

 ery rain, before ground becomes encrusted, conserving moisture by 

 preventing evaporation. Should the season be dry and showers in- 

 frequent, cultivate once a week very shallow and not too close to 

 plants. Keep off all runners the first season except for a few plants 

 to reinforce should they be needed. The cost of cultivating is the 

 same whether there is a good stand or a poor one, while a good 

 stand makes a difference in the yield and lessens the cost of produc- 

 tion. Mulch as soon as ground freezes, preferably before snow 

 comes, with marsh hay, just enough to cover the ground and plants 

 nicely, which is mostly needed around the hills the next season to 

 keep berries clean and hold moisture in the ground. 



Right here is a point that admits of no argument. This year's 

 crop of strawberries will depend very largely upon the way the 

 plantation was managed last season. There is'nt much you can do 

 except anticipate, and in the over fifty years that I have been per- 

 mitted to exist, I believe that anticipation has brought me just as 

 much real enjoyment as realization itself. I have now for each 

 plant that was set last spring, a strong, healthy, deep-rooted hill, 

 that has been able to resist disease of all kinds by having had such 

 culture as has made its growth continuous, with from one-half a 

 dozen to a score of crowns, which will have from one to three and 

 even more fruit stems. This means to me, with my faculty for anti- 

 cipating, one quart of prize berries with a possibility of tnore than 

 double that quantity. 



If. for reasons beyond my control, I should get no fruit at all, I 

 am far better situated than my neighbor across the way with his 

 matted row system, for I can continue during the season building 

 up my plantation by frequent cultivation, thereby adding fertility 

 to the soil, for tillage is manure, with the best of prospects for an 

 enormous yield next season. While he must abandon his planta- 

 tion, which puts him two years behind, for with all the labor that 

 he can bestow in trying to renew it he must meet with poor success. 



Don't understand me that I am in favor of the hill system first, 

 last and all the time, for I am not. But I am decidedly in favoi of 

 keeping my plantation in hills until it produces one crop, after 

 which I can deviate according to my best judgment. 



Raspberries. — In this article I will show no partiality between 

 the reds and the caps, for I consider them of equal value. For 

 while the red varieties may be more productive, the cap is more ea- 

 sily managed, can be picked cheaper and stand up better in the 

 boxes while on the market. 



While the two species are propagated by quite different methods, 

 with me the after culture and care is practically the same. What I 

 have said about preparation of soil previous to setting the plants 



