SUMMER MEETING, 1897. 265 



hired inau to set out strawberry plants. When I began to instruct 

 him, he said he knew thoroug-hly how to do it. So I went my way. 

 I had already set out fifty plants. . When I went to inspect his work 

 he had completed about 750. Dry weather came on, and of this lot 

 only fifty lived, all but ten of these being of the lot I set out. On in- 

 vestigation I fovind the plants had been set about three-fourths of 

 an inch too high, and am satisfied that was the only difficulty. He 

 afterwards set out a thousand more according to my instructions, 

 nearly all of which lived. There was not more than an inch differ- 

 ence at the most, only a little thing, but it was the difference be- 

 tween success and failure. 



"I spoke to this society some time ago about my method of cover- 

 ing strawberries and was criticised by some of the members. I 

 cover as soon as the plants have attained their growth, as deep as 

 the}'^ can be without smothering. I believe that it will add iiity per 

 cent to the crop. I have tried this plan now more than three years 

 and am satisfied that the little matter of covering all the bare 

 ground and working the covering in between the rows deep enough 

 to positively prevent any freezing and heaving or cracking of the 

 soil saves the roots of the plants, and I think it will pay. 



"Here is another thing, and I suspect it will draw criticism also. 

 Where the wind blows as it does at my place, I have made the mis- 

 take of letting my raspberry canes grow too tall before pinching 

 them. I find that where I pinch the canes early, I get mj' tips ear- 

 lier than I otherwise could, and that those earlier rooted tips were 

 the surest to grow. One of the reasons of the failures which so 

 many of us have is the fact that the tips are rooted too late and too 

 green. 



"Another thing I consider all important, and that is watching the 

 conditions when we do our work as to weather. I have found, par- 

 ticularly this year, that a day or two's difference in time, even when 

 the work was done with the same care, made a great difference in 

 results. I raise a good many box elders. Much depends on keep- 

 ing them free from weeds when quite young. By sowing the seeds 

 in the fall, or early in the spring, as I used to do, the weeds get up 

 before the elders do, and to keep them clean requires a great deal of 

 work. Accidentally I soaked some seeds in a gunny sack this 

 spring for about eight days, and thinking they would not be good 

 for anything was going to throw them away, but finally thought I 

 would plant them. In two daj^s they were up and in two weeks were 

 (?) inches high, growing much faster than the weeds. I have con- 

 cluded this is a little thing worth noting. 



"One other point. In handling our deciduous trees here in this 

 climate after a long, dry winter, I cut away all the growth that has 

 new buds on it, all the developed buds in sight, when I set them 

 out. I get a healthier growth than if I leave any of these branches 

 on. As an experiment this spring, in setting out 4:00 apple trees, I 

 cut them every one down to two buds of last year's growth. Everj' 

 one is growing, and I never saw nicer, larger growth than these 

 trees show. They were quite severely root-pruned also. I advise 

 you to experiment a little in this climate and see if this is not a good 

 thing here. I have practiced this on elders, on flowering shrubs 

 and other things, and thus far with good results." 



