STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 24:T 



ages and good measure given. Buyers like to see well filled boxes. I 

 have found boxes bought of X. W Well & Co., St. Joseph, Mich., the 

 best for my trade. I find that few customers know the difference in 

 size of boxes, and believe the small size well filled give better satisfac- 

 tion than large ones poorly filled I have generally ordered the large 

 ones, but I have ordered from Minneapolis a few times and got small 

 ones badly mildewed. Boxes should be bought and made before warm 

 weather. If shipped to distant points, arrangements should be made 

 with reliable firms before the shipping .season opens, or great loss 

 may occur If you have more at any time than your regular custo n- 

 ers will take, do not overstock your home market and reduce the price, 

 but ship the surplus to a commission man and get what you can. The 

 markets are not generally overstocked more than three or four days, 

 and it is easier to hold the market at a fair price than to get it raised 

 after it has once made a break 



Another important consideration is in having the shipping season 

 as long as possible. I find that an unmulched old strawberry bed fur- 

 nishes the earliest berries, and by keeping the mulch on part of the 

 new bed I prolong the season a few days. And that the earliest and 

 latest berries sell the best. 



REPORT FROM FOURTH DISTRICT. 



By Vice President iV. J. Stubbs, Long Lake. 



Officers and Members of the State Horticultural Society: 



It is with pleasure that I present you with a few notes on the prog- 

 ress of fruit growing the past season, on the north shore of Lake 

 Minnetonka and vicinity. 



Although the past season has been remarkably dry, with the excep- 

 tion of apples the yield was an average one. 



Of all our small fruits, the strawberry takes the lead for general 

 market purposes. The Crescent and Wilson are planted mostly. On 

 sandy soil the Manchester succeeds well, and is quite free from dis- 

 ease; the berries are large, uniform in size and verj- attractive in col- 

 or, making a valuable berry for market. 



Of the newer varieties the Bubach and Jesse aie very promising; 

 the plants set last spring that survived the dry weather made a fine 

 growth, showing great vigor of plant, and yi»^lded berries that were 

 large and of good flavor. These varieties are slow of propagation. 



