368 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



eties are you planting?" The answer was, "Countess and Crescent 

 with a few Bederwood." 



They grow their plants separately, but mix them in the basket. 

 When planting they hardly ever have a failure, and sometimes very 

 large crops. Only two days ago I was on the Minneapolis mar- 

 ket, where I met several growers with loads of berries. One man 

 had twenty crates of "Countess and Crescent." They sold for $2.00 

 per crate. Close by was another man with two crates of the largest 

 berries on the market. He got $2.25 per crate. Each one had two 

 acres in berries, and that was a fair test of how they were going to 

 yield. Last season was hot and dry. "Countess" and "Crescent" 

 made a full matted row, while the big varieties withered and dried 

 up in the hot sun. Every one can see where the "ups and downs" 

 are in this case. 



Some ten years ago I prepared three acres of good land which 

 had been well manured and planted to potatoes the year before. I 

 ploughed eight inches deep and planted early in the spring. I set 

 several varieties which had done well for two years before, but 

 mostly the Bederwood, and gave them the best of culture all season. 

 In the fall it looked the best of any bed I ever raised. The foliage 

 was immense. I covered them with rye straw for the winter. Early 

 in the spring they were all alive, but, alas! the Bederwood was 

 struck with a rust or blight, and soon it spread to all the other 

 varieties, and I lost my whole crop. There were two dead furrows 

 the length of the field, and at the bottom of them I picked about 

 one hundred quarts of small berries. I concluded that nature had 

 taught me a lesson, that it was not necessary to go to so much ex- 

 pense to grow berries. 



Had this field been planted to Countess and Crescent I would 

 have sold several hundred dollars worth from it. 



Strawberry experts tell us to plough deep and subsoil, and 

 make the ground as mellow and loose as possible. That is all right 

 if you want plants for sale, but all wrong if you want fruit. 



Again they will tell you to cut off all the first runners until some 

 time in August. Here in Minnesota it is generally always dry at 

 that time, and no runners can catch. I save the first runners and 

 cut off the last. I have tried a good many new varieties. While 

 some proved extra fine, the majority were worthless on my soil. 

 Those new varieties have caused me more failures than all the 

 droughts and frosts put together, so I will try these high priced 

 varieties very sparingly hereafter. 



The Clyde is the only new berry I have tried in the last ten years 

 that I find is worth growing. They have many defects, but some 



