STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 237 



than any other small fruit iu this locality. The first pickings were 

 small and inferior. About the middle of the season the drouth was 

 broken by some heavy showers, which gave everything a new lease of 

 life, and strawberries did fairly well to the end of the season; some 

 late patches on moist land yielded a good crop and brought fair prices 



The rain came at the right time for raspberries, the reds yielding 

 the largest crop I ever remember of seeing in this vicinity; black 

 raspberries, what few were grown, did very well. 



Blackberries yielded a large crop of fine fruit and brought high 

 prices. This delicious fruit is sadly neglected, by our fruit men. Cur- 

 rants were also a good crop, and brought high prices. If our fruit men 

 don't move faster in this matter in the future than they have in the 

 past, it will be a long time before our markets are glutted with either 

 blackberries or currants. Gooseberries, like the Wilson strawberry^ 

 won't grow on my soil. 



THE PRIZE ESSAYS. 



I am glad our Society has taken a new departure this year, and in 

 the right direction, namely, ofi'ering prizes for essays written by young 

 men and young women. I have often felt and remarked that for some 

 reason young men and women do not attend and take part in these 

 meetings as much as they should; the making of intelligent horticul- 

 turists ought to begin with youth and vigor. The Society can do 

 nothing that will yield grander results than that of getting the young 

 men and women of the State interested in horticulture. 



I would suggest that, instead of offering only one large prize for the 

 best essay, that it would be better to offer smaller prizes and more of 

 them. Composition in the country is sadly neglected. Many of the 

 young folks understand fairly well how to grow crops of fruit or veg- 

 etables, but you ask them to put their ideas on paper and they can't 

 do it, since they are not trained in that way. 



DISCUSSION. 



Prof. Porter. With regard to the cause of blight on potatoes, re- 

 ferred to by Mr. Lyon, 1 would say that 1 observed the same condition 

 on our grounds. I have been investigating the matter somewhat. As 

 " two swallows don't make a summer," 1 have nothing to say as yet 

 as to remedies, at least till another season. 



Mr. Smith. I had a patch of Early Rose that was heavily mulched, 

 using about five inches of mulching on the surface between the rows; 



