412 ANNUAL REPORT 



eel better with rae than any other variety. Where they do reas- 

 onably well I think yon will find nothing to eqnal them. I under- 

 stand it to be the fact they do not do as well in some portions of 

 the countiy as they used to. But they do better with me, as I 

 have said, than anything else. I never saw finer plants than 

 mine were a month or so ago when I covered them, and never had 

 a finer j^rospectfor a crop another year than I have to-day. 



Last year my crop averaged over two hundred and fifty 

 bushels per acre, on three and a half acres of land. As I said, I 

 have the Wilson; but ifit does not do well in your neighborhood 

 set the Crescents; if you want something nice, get the Manches- 

 ter. It is later than Wilson, it lengthens out the season, is lar- 

 ger than Ci'osent and in form and color on the table I think it 

 is the most beaut ilul of anything that ever I have seen. I have 

 picked quarts of them that werejust about as perfect in form as 

 anything ever turned in a lathe; but they won't bear shipping as 

 wc^ll as the Wilson, although they are fairly firm. 



I have tried many new varieties and not a year passes but I 

 turn under a lot of varieties that I have woiked with three to 

 five years and that I discard as worthless. I had a bed of James 

 Vick of trial plants which I turned under as soon as the fruifc 

 was picked. I had Windsor Chief, Jas. Vick, Bidwell, Piper's 

 Seedling, Sharpless, Kentucky, and several other varieties. I 

 don't say they were all worthless, but as compared with Wilson 

 they were not worth planting on my land. 



MULCniNG. 



Prof. Porter. Have you ever tried mulching by sowing oats 

 and allowing them to grow up so as to cover the plants'? 



Mr. Smith. No, sir; I spend money enough to get rid of 

 weeds without planting them. 



Prof. Porter. I have known it to be tried in several cases 

 where it proved very effective. The oat plnnt grows up and in 

 the winter makes a covering for the plants, and serves after- 

 wards as a vci-y fine mulch for them. Another question: Do 

 you not consider in the prairie district that snow makes a very 

 good covering? 



Mr. Smith. The best of anything. 



Prof. Porter. Yes, I have found that to be so, and for that 

 reason it seems to me the oats would prove of advantage as the 

 stalks would catch the drifting snow and hold it. Sugar cane 



