192 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



A cultivator is run between the rows soon after the setting- and 

 about once ever}^ week or ten days until towards fall. In the earlier 

 part of the season, the cultivator is run as close to the rpws as can 

 be done without damaging the plants. We do not clip off the run- 

 ners that start in the earlj'^ part of the season, but turn them into 

 the row where plants are wanted and encourage them to take root 

 as earlj- as possible. After runners are starting freelj^ the cultiva- 

 tor is gradually narrowed up until it onlj'- cleans a space between 

 the rows from sixteen to eighteen inches wide, and the plants in the 

 rows are kept clean by hoeing- and hand weeding. Some attention 

 is given to directing the runners to points where plants are wanted, 

 and clipping late runners or thinning plants of varieties that multi- 

 pi}^ too freelj^ is sometimes done. The beds are generally fruited 

 two seasons and then plowed under. 



Our plants set in 1892 very generally made a good stand and filled 

 the matted rows finely. They also, apparently, came through the 

 winter of 1892 and '93 in good condition, and up to the morning of 

 May twenty-second looked unusually promising for a large crop of 

 fruit. Upon that morning, they were considerably damaged by hail, 

 that knocked off what blossoms had opened and cut and bruised the 

 buds and foliage. Later the plants blossomed freelj^ and we antic- 

 ipated an averag-e crop. On the fifth of June, I went down to the 

 World's Fair, and remained until the sixteenth, and upon my return 

 found the crop practically a failure. A large proportion of the fruit 

 had blighted, and many of the plants looked to be dried up or 

 scorched with heat, although nothing else on ni}' place seemed to 

 be suffering from drouth at that date. An examination showed the 

 presence of considerable numbers of fully developed insects closel}'^ 

 resembling "chinch bugs," and the stems and leaves showed the 

 appearance of having been sapped of their juices b}^ some insect. 

 The weather for one week previous to this had been very warm, and 

 the soil was rather dry. An examination of the roots showed that 

 man3' of them were already dead and others spotted with mould, or 

 fungus, of some sort, and some varieties were affected much worse 

 than others. The Burpee, Louise and Warfield showed the greatest 

 injury, and I think that more than three-fourths of the plants finallj'- 

 died out. The Parker Earle, Bubach No. 5, Lovetts Early and Mrs. 

 Cleveland looked the best, with Michel, Crescent and Pearl not 

 much behind. The Crescent and Bubach gave the most and best 

 fruit; the Burpee, Louise, Jessie and Parker Earle the least. The 

 Michel gave one verj-^ fair picking, but proved to be two or three 

 days later than the Crescent. 



The varieties set in 1893 for the next season's fruiting and trial are 

 Crescent with Bederwood, and Warfield with Michel and Parker 

 Earle. We reluctantly abandon the Jessie as of no value on our 

 place, it having given but one satisfactory crop in six j'-ears. We 

 also seta few plants of Greenfield, Van Deman, Saunders and Eclipse, 

 and give Lovett, Sandoval and several others further trial. 



Raspberries. Our raspberries have proved a fair success this 

 past season. The plantation was made in the spring of 1892. 

 The varieties are Ohio, Older, Progress, Nemaha, Johnson's 



