386 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



A few hanging baskets are also an addition to a window in the 

 winter. Oxalis is a continual bloomer. The ivy geranium is also 

 to be recommended, as is also the English ivy. 



In regard to watering house plants, I should advise the washing 

 of the plants quite often to remove the dust. Better give them a 

 soaking twice a week than a mere moistening of the surface every 

 day. 



Don't complain of "poor luck" with flowers and, thinking of the 

 past failures, decide that winter plants are "more trouble than they 

 are worth." Remember that "we gain more knowledge by a loss 

 than by a victory, if we turn it to advantage," and the failures of 

 past years may mean the successes of this. 



SMALL FRUITS IN FREEBORN COUNTY, IN 1896. 



G. H. PRESCOTT. 



Small fruits of all kinds made a good growth in 1895, and were 

 covered in the usual way in the fall and promised a good crop for 

 the next year. Strawberries looked well when uncovered in the 

 spring. We had no frost to injure the blossoms, but the harvest 

 was not satisfactory. I am unable to say why the old beds gave 

 better results than the new vigorous plants in the new beds. Black 

 and red raspberries were covered with earth, caine out in the 

 spring in good condition and bore good crops, but not any better 

 than others left uncovered. 



Blackberries were covered with earth and let lay as long as we 

 dared, on account of breaking off the buds. We had a splendid 

 crop, especially the Ancient Briton, which had no hard core in them. 

 As in drier seasons, we had a dry spell just in ripening time, but by 

 irrigating freely the berries ripened until the last ones were fine, 

 plump berries. 



The blackcap bushes we sprayed with water every evening 

 thoroughly. For the blackberries, we dug a shallow trench near 

 the row and let the water run along the trench, and when it had run 

 to the lowest place, we considered it enough for that time. This we 

 repeated once a week. We prefer letting the water run; spraying is 

 not enough and costs more. 



Prices for fruit were better this year, (1896). Strawberries, 15c. at 

 first, and 12V^c. later; raspberries, 20c. to 15c.; blackberries, 20c. to 

 15c. 



An Effective Mode of Watering Plants.— Sink an ordinary 

 flower pot two or three inches in the ground near the plant to be 

 watered, first putting in the bottom of the hole a handful of trash to 

 enlarge the surface for absorption. Then pour the pot full of water, 

 and it will be graduallj'^ absorbed through the hole in the bottom of 

 the pot and without wetting at all the surface of the ground. The 

 size of the pot will have to be governed by the size and requirements 

 of the plant to be watered. A. gallon pot between each couple of 

 tomato plants in a row serves the purpose well. 



