18 ANNUAL REPORT. 
passed some Sanford corn, Hubbard squashes’ and five varieties of field 
beans, and then came upon the fruit garden, where had been set out three 
varieties blackberries, nine varieties raspberries, eleven varietics currants, 
one variety ‘gooseberry and eight varieties strawberries. Then we met 
some fine looking corn, called by its improver, Mr. W. T. Scott, foreman 
of the farm, State Farm Yellow Dent. About ten varieties of! field corn 
are growing in different locations upon the farm. Many of these, however, 
are represented by only a few hills or rows, while others that have given 
promise of value in the past are planted in larger quantity. 
West of this corn were set the grafts of ten or twelve varieties of apples 
and crabs procured from the extreme northern part of Vermont. Next 
we came to the nursery containing elms, maples, larch, pines, spruce, &c. 
The pines here showed the blasting effects of last winter, as they do else- 
where. We must not forget to mention the Russian apple trees set out by 
Colonel Robertson several years ago. These stand on sandy soil and 
appear to be doing well. It was noticed that while the grafted growth 
was unimpaired last winter, whatever branches had grown up from the 
stock were partly or entirely killed. 
The survey of the farm was quite too hasty to permit of many questions 
or criticisms. Several of the party, however, ventured the opinion that a 
large quantity of manure was needed to bring the farm up to a highly pro- 
ductive state. It is worthy of remark that this great variety of seeds and 
plants has been planted and cared for with a very small amount of labor. 
Less than an average of two hands besides the foreman have done all the 
labor of preparing the soil, planting, manuring in the hill and row, culti- 
vating, hoeing, etc., and this where the nicest care was required in every 
operation. Having completed their hasty visit to the University farm, the 
party returned to the University, where the remainder of the programme 
of the meeting was carried out. 
Col. Stevens then read his essay on strawberries, after which a 
vote of thanks was tendered and a copy requested for publication 
in the Transactions. 
[Col. Stevens has not been able to furnish a copy for publica- 
tion.—Serc’y. | 
DISCUSSION. 
Cultivation. 
The question was asked if wild strawberry plants would not pro- 
duce as good berries as the tame ones if cultivated as well. 
Mr. Harris :—The berries of wild plants brought under cultiva- 
tion are not as large as those of the tame plants left uncultivated. 
Have a bed of Downer’s Prolific 12 years old that now gives better 
berries than the new beds. The Wilson, if cultivated before the 
fruit ripens, develops the seeds more prominently. Would culti- 
