EVERBEARING STRAWBERRY FIELD. 65 



future time, but it is neglected and finally the weeds will ruin 

 the patch. It is easier to plow those under and plant a new bed 

 than it is to take care of the old ones. 



Mr. Rasmussen : I would like to ask the speaker if for a 

 period of years he has irrigated half a field of strawberries and 

 let the other half go. ■ 



Mr. Brackett: I irrigated the whole bed, and it all went. 

 All the irrigation in the world wouldn't have helped them ; they 

 were root-killed in the winter. 



Mr. Rasmussen : If you had irrigated half and let the other 

 half go you could have compared them. How do you know what 

 the result would have been? 



Mr. Brackett: Because I watched Mr. Endsley, of Lake 

 Minnetonka, who put up a $2,000 plant, pumping from Lake 

 Minnetonka, and only used it two years, and if he hadn't had 

 plenty of water he wouldn't have used it that long. 



A Member : What kind of everbearing strawberries are 

 there? 



Mr. Brackett : There are probably fifty or a hundred varie- 

 ties of the everbearing strawberry. The Americus, the Progres- 

 sive and the Superb are the three leading varieties. The Pro- 

 gressive is probably the most popular, you will hear it recom- 

 mended very highly, but the Americus has done the best for me. 

 Now, whether that is on account of my soil or what it is, I don't 

 know. 



A Member : You have the clay soil ? 



Mr. Brackett: Yes, sir. 



A Member: Isn't there a difference in getting results on 

 sandy soil by irrigating than to irrigate on heavy soil ? 



Mr. Brackett: Yes, sir, there is a difference. On sandy 

 soil you are much more liable to get root-killing. Now you will 

 find a great many strawberry patches killed out next spring by 

 root-killing because they have gone into winter quarters dry. 

 The ground is dry, and you will have injury to them, and you no 

 doubt will have injury to the raspberries and apple trees if they 

 are dry and no mulch around them, by root-killing. 



Mr. Rasmussen : Wouldn't it have been a good idea to irri- 

 gate them so they would not have gone into winter quarters dry ? 



Mr. Brackett: Now, Mr. Underwood has an orchard down 

 there of several hundred acres. I want to ask him if he irrigated 

 this fall so they do not go into the winter dry. 



Mr. Underwood : I can't irrigate, they grow on a side hill 

 where I couldn't possibly irrigate, but Mr. Brackett knows I lay 

 great stress on having moisture in the ground. I irrigate them 

 in this way. Every tree has a little channel cut around it up 

 above it, and the water that falls runs into the basin where 

 the tree sets, and they get their irrigation in that way. This 

 moisture that is needed, if you can't get it from the side hill in 

 the way I do, you get irrigation anyway. Don't let them go into 

 the winter dry. 



