SOILS ADAPTED TO STRAWBERRIES. 99 



Mr. C. L. Smith: I think Mr. Widmoyer made it very clear. 

 He spoke about the slope he had there close to the Mississippi 

 river, running down to this old slough and running into this 

 stiff clay soil which gave him the best berries. I think you will 

 find this true in the experience of planters all over the state. 

 There are years in a wet season when that kind of soil might 

 do all right, but taking it one year with another, that gravelly 

 clay, if it is "worked deep enough, if the strawberries receive 

 good cultivation, will produce the best fruit. I know this, that 

 on that kind of soil, taking it one year and another, I get the 

 best growth of plants, they are less likely to frost, and Mr. 

 Lyon will bear me out when I say that the bulk of the straw- 

 berries that come to our market are grown on a sandy soil, a 

 sandy subsoil; the largest crops have been grown on that kind 

 of land, and the heavy stiff clay soils, such as Mr. Wedge speaks 

 about, should be avoided. Take the sandy soils, a gravelly 

 clay loam, the more sand mixed with the clay the better, if 

 you wish to grow a good strawberry crop. 



Mr. M. Pearce: I think the lay of the land has a good deal 

 to do with growing a good crop of strawberries. On my ground 

 I have different lays of land. I have one location on which 

 strawberries always do well; they have never been known to 

 fail on that location. It is a piece of land not over rich, slopes 

 a little to the south; it has a little elevation to the west, and 

 then slopes off gradually. It seems to be protected from the 

 winds, and when snow comes, it comes to stay, and when the rain 

 comes down there it keeps the land moist; and I will say, accord- 

 ing to my mind, if people who want to grow strawberries would 

 just study the matter carefully in regard to location and soil, a 

 location where the wind does not blow everything off, and 

 select good land, I think they would generally succeed in rais- 

 ing strawberries. I have pieces on my land that have the 

 appearance of being much better than the location I am speak- 

 ing of, but the crop is a failure. I can make a success of rais- 

 ing strawberries there every year, and I keep that piece only 

 for berries; I just use it for that purpose. We have such places 

 all over the state, where the snow will lie and the winds Avill 

 not come and blow off everything. That bed is now nicely 

 covered with snow, while the others are entirely uncovered. I 

 tell you there is a good deal in that, 



Mr. L. E. Day: Do you recommend a southeast slope? 



Mr. Pearce: It depends upon what protection it has. This 

 slope of mine is rather to the south than to the southeast. 



