VIOLA TRIAL STATION. 291 
VIOLA TRIAL STATION. 
WM. SOMERVILLE, SUPT. 
Small fruit in our neighborhood wasa good crop where raspberry 
canes were covered, but badly injured where they were not. Grapes 
are doing well. The apple crop on our place and in the neighbor- 
hood generally, I do not think any better than last year; the Duchess 
is falling off the trees badly, and the trees of all varieties that bore 
heavily last year have but few this year. In the spring every_tree 
was full of bloom, but for some cause the blooms fell off, and the 
apples did not grow. But we will have a fair crop. 
July 13th, 1898. 
MR. BUSH’S METHODS IN ORCHARD AND FRUIT 
GARDEN. 
A. K. BUSH, DOVER. 
(Extract from a letter.) 
Not hearing from me, you may think I am out of horticulture 
entirely, but Ican assure you and all our brothers engaged in that 
profession, that I am “strictly in it” and can be found at home 
almost any day in my orchard and fruit garden, with coat hanging 
in some near-by apple tree, giving demonstrations in practical 
weed-killing, cultivation and fruit growing in general. I am 
pleased to note that everything is growing nicely, as the season has 
been very favorable; even the chronic grumbler is wearing a smile, 
which becomes more visible as the large, all-round crop matures 
and is ready to harvest. ' 
My strawberry field of about an acre, growing between rows of 
apple trees, supplied berries in abundance fora half dozen families, 
and in addition to this demand my children sold enough fruit to 
quite pay the cost price of the land, forty dollars per acre, and all 
expense of growing the crop. Most of this fruit was sold at three 
and four cents per quart, on the ground; for our family use they 
were picked “on shares,’ saving all expense to us of gathering, 
boxes, crates, etc.—an ideal way of handling a crop of berries. 
My crop of raspberries, currants, blackberries, etc., are going the 
same way, at two or three cents below the market price of crate lots. 
The neighbors come for miles around to gather fruits on these 
terms. We could dispose of much more than we have on one ten- 
acre field. , 
It does me good to see the boys and girls “fillup” with fruit as 
they gather the same. Their parents say: “ Well, we shall try and 
have some home-grown fruit next year,’—when they see the possi- 
bilities of a fruit garden and note the enjoyment of the children as 
they sample its products. 
I would suggest to others who are losing money shipping their 
fruits a long distance by express to unknown and unreliable com- 
mission merchants, to test this method. My small fruits are all 
grown between the apple trees arranged as I taught in my institute 
