262 ANNUAL EBPORT 



and were paid for with wheat at fifty -two cents a bushel. This 

 man could not afford one dollar for membership in our Society, 

 but had just given an order to a traveling tree peddler for two 

 dozen strawberry plants (pistilate variety), with a beautifu 

 name only two dollars; a "tree rose," three kinds grafted on 

 one stalk, two dollars; five budded apple trees, imi^orted direct 

 fromEussia; only .f2.50; three Fay currants (the tree variety), 

 $2,50; one celebrated Russian Mulberry, one dollar; etc. Is it 

 Sbny wonder the poor victim of misplaced confideace thinks our 

 soil and climate unfitted for successful fruit culture"? 



In contrast to this we cite the exj)erience of Wm. Dauforth, of 

 Red Wing, His model farm is located on the Cannon Valley 

 Railroad, two and a half miles northwest of Red Wing. Mr. 

 Dan forth is by profession a civil engineer, aud his time is divided 

 between his profession and the care of his farm. A few years 

 ago he turned his attention to small fruits and bees. As a pre- 

 paration for the business he secured the best books and papers 

 he could find and carefully read up what had been learned by 

 others. He procured a swarm of bees and familiarized himself 

 with their habits; he also planted a few raspberries, straw- 

 berries, currants, grapes, etc., and with book or paper in 

 hand began to study j)lants and vines. A 5 a result he has to- 

 day an apiary that is first-class in every respect, winters his 

 bees without loss, controls the swarming, regulates the pro- 

 duction of honey, and this season secured over one hundred 

 pounds of choice honey per swarm. His strawberry crop this 

 year was a surprise to himself and all his neighbors. There was 

 very little rain during the season and the drought was severe on 

 all croT)S in his locality, yet his strawberry crop came out abun- 

 dant in quantity and excellent in quality. The varieties grown 

 were Wilson, Crescent, Downing, Glendale, Manchester, Old 

 Ironclad, and some others, but Wilson and Crescent were the best. 

 His ground is clay loam, had been j)reviously manured and was 

 in fairly good condition. He set his plants in April, in rows 

 four feet apart, Wilsons sixteen inches, and Crescents twenty- 

 four inches in the rows; the cultivation was shallow but fre- 

 quent; throughout the season the runners were thrown along the 

 rows, forming matted rows of plants about two feet wide; all 

 weeds or grass growing among the plants was pulled out by hand. 

 In November he mulched the whole surface with straw, with the 

 exception of a few rows where he used straw between the rows 

 and cornstalks over the plants; they all came out bright and 



