STRAWBERRIES. 437 



Prof. Green: I don't know just how much. I know eonie years 

 there was a difference of ten days or more. 



Pres. Underwood: It would be desirable to keep it on then? 



Mr. Brackett: I always keep mine on until the leaves begin to 

 bleach. 



Mr. D. Cook: How much later does it keep the fruit back? 



Prof. Green: Some of mine have been kept back ten days. 



Pres. Underwood: I am afraid Mr. Cook is trying to get me into a 

 hole. 



Mr. Cook: I have kept the blossoms back ten days, but the fruit 

 not more than three or four days. 



Mr. W. J. Kellogg: I do not think you can retard the fruit more 

 than three daj'S, and you can retard the blossom no more than the 

 fruit. I came up here to learii how to grow two hundred bushels of 

 strawberries to the acre every year without so much expense. 

 (Laughter.) 



Mr. A. J. Philips: There was one point in Mr. Hopkins' paper that 

 was perhaps lost sight of by some; it gave me a little information, 

 and that was in reference to putting down canes. In traveling over 

 the northern portion of our state, where there are some large planta- 

 tions located, every man invariably said this: "I never laid down 

 my canes when they laid down so easy." I never heard any one say 

 why it was, but Mr. Hopkins said he believed after quite a freeze if 

 the canes thawed out they were more pliable. This year we had a 

 freeze. There were quite a lot of potatoes in the ground, but it 

 was sufficient to freeze them so they will never be dug. Warm 

 weather came along afterwards. and the people laid down their canes, 

 and I think Mr. Hopkins' head is level on that subject; I think it is 

 the freezing and thawing that made them lay down so easy. 



Mr. Brackett: I had no trouble at all with breaking in laying down 

 my berries. I do not lay them so low; I cover them with hay instead 

 of with earth. 



Pres. Underwood: Do you find that suflicient? 



Mr. Brackett: That has been sufficient so far: I never have had 

 any trouble. 



Mr. Philips. We have in Wisconsin this year more dirt than hay. 

 (Laughter.) 



Mr. C. F. Gardner of Iowa: Is it a wise thing to wilt anything to 

 lay it down easy? 



Mr. Philips of Wisconsin: That would be a question to test next 

 spring. 



Pres. Underwood: I do not know whether it would do if you had 

 a large plantation to cover. I think the growth of the vines can be 

 directed a good deal during the summer so they will lay down 

 easily, and if a vine has been laid down once it has a natural incli- 

 nation to lie down again. I think it is a good idea to educate them 

 to lie down, like the turkeys who laid down and stuck up their legs 

 to be tied. (Laughter.) 



Mr. PhiIip.s,of Wisconsin: They used to tell that in Wisconsin about 

 the chickens when the preachers came around. (Laughter.) 



