180 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The choke cherrj^ and the black cherry are productive, and at 

 home here the same may be said of the sand cherry. While these 

 cherries may not be valuable for the market, no farmer or fruit 

 grower will object to having them in his garden. 



The dwarf Rocky Mountain cherr}'^ sent me last spring from Colo- 

 rado has made a fine growth, but so far I can see no difference in 

 any respect between it and our Dakota sand cherry. 



PEARS. 



My Russians have done well in every respect except bearing-. 

 None of them show anj^ injur^^ from cold, and onlj^ one tree blighted, 

 which was the last tree of my Bessainanka. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



The crop was the finest we ever had, and it is hard to tell which 

 variety was the best. The Warfield is the firmest one on the list, 

 with a decided tendency to productiveness. The Haverland seems 

 fully as productive, and the fruit is larger and of better form, 

 but it is soft and not as good a grower. The Crescent still holds its 

 own for home use and for near market. M}' largest specimens w^ere 

 from the Crescent. 



The date of full bloom was June 4, there being only one or two 

 daj's' variation from this date in any of the varieties. The date of 

 first pickings was Jul}^ 1. Michels Early ripened about two or three 

 days earlier that the above date. On part of our plantation, we left 

 the mulching in the spring until very late and, thereby, kept the 

 bloom back on the plants so treated about ten da3's; but there was 

 only from four to six days difference in the ripening of them and of 

 those froin which the mulch was taken off early. 



One of the trials of the strawberry grower is imperfect fertiliza- 

 tion. I find that with ordinary management the strawberry is inore 

 inclined to imperfect fruit on very rich soil than on soil of only 

 ordinary fertility. I have demonstrated this to my entire satisfac- 

 tion. The Crescent and some other pistillate varieties will bear a 

 fair crop on rather poor soil without any perfect flowering variety 

 near them, while if so planted on soil that is very rich lliey will 

 bear nothing but nubs, or iinperfect fruit. We had but little rust 

 on any variet5^ 



I shall follow the following plan the coming season with straw- 

 berries: Plant largelj'^ of the Warfield and Crescent for fruit, and 

 later of Michels Early and Enhance for perfect flowering varieties ; 

 set on soil that never has been manured, in rows four and one-half 

 feet apart, with the plants about twelve inches apart in the row; 

 mulch about the time the ground freezes or as soon after as is con- 

 venient, and in the spring leave the mulching on as long as possible 

 without smothering the vines. We shall get our early fruit from 

 t)ur old beds, which we let fruit three or four seasons, and our late 

 fruit from our new plantations, that have been retarded by keeping 

 the mulching on late in the spring. I have got the most fruit 

 where I have mixed the male and female varieties in the same row 

 in the proportion of one of the former to two of the latter. 



