HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 41 



to plow up every year? Wouldn't it generally be of advantage to 

 the growers'? 



Pro! Green. That is very true; whenever the beds are troubled 

 with fungus, we should fruit them but one year. 



Mr. Wilcox. There is nothing very important I wish to state 

 just now, but merely to touch upon what Prof. Green has said, I 

 might mention that Auger of Connecticut has recommended it. It 

 is a plan which I have great faith in where people will use it with 

 sufficient care. Unless we do give the beds high culture and the 

 best of care, we had better depend on the old matted row system. 

 There is one advantage that might not be of so much value in 

 Minnesota as in the east. For this class of cultivation certain 

 varieties like the Sharpless aud Jewel are best, which form single 

 large stools and produce large berries, but whether they will do 

 well in Minnesota, is a reasonable matter of doubt. 



Prof. Green. (To Mr. Pearce) Are your Crescent Seedlings 

 troubled with fungus? 



Mr. Pearce. They are, but not seriously. 



Prof Green. Have you any beds two years old? 



Mr. Pearce. No, all strawberries are affected and each year are 

 becoming more so. It is only a matter of time, if we don't take it 

 in hand, before it is going to drive us out of business. It has 

 already driven hundreds out, and they don't know what the matter 

 is. They say it is sunburn. We must get right down to the bot- 

 tom facts and find out what we are going to do. It is in our power 

 to head this disease off and raise fruit, and good fruit but it must be 

 be done intelligently. It is the easiest and simplest thing in the world 

 to do if you go at it in an intelligent way. The disease is a parasite,and 

 in a very short time will take all the nourishment out of the plant. 

 But if we use the solutions I have named, and as I make them, 

 there is no question about healthy plants. Have no fungus or 

 anything of the kind on your plants and put them on a good, clean 

 bed, properly prepared and you will grow plants that are perfectly 

 free from the disease. 



President Elliot. I don't know but we have carried this discus- 

 sion as far as we can with profit and as far as our time will permit. 

 The next paper on the program is currants, which we will take up 

 the first thing after dinner. Dr. Frisselle has a pretty good article 

 I think and we would like to have it listened to by as many as pos- 

 sible. I have a paper on gooseberries from Mr. Strubler, of Illi- 

 nois. In regaid to this, I wish to say that while going through 

 our markets and commission houses in Minneapolis last summer I 

 ran across some of the finest gooseberries I ever saw on the market. 



