EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 219 



KEPORT AT SUMMER MEETING. 



PROF. S. B. GKEBN. 



St. Anthony Park, July 8, 1892. 

 Mr. President and fellow members of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society: 



It is my earnest wish that the summer meeting of our society shall 

 prove an enjoyable and profitable affair, and I have no doubt that it will, 

 for I have myself been several times most agreeably entertained by our 

 worthy president and his charming wife, who are to be your hosts. I 

 know you will enjoy the time spent with them and in the nursery. I 

 would like to be with you, but various circumstances seem to make it 

 necessary for me to go East a few weeks at this time and so to be absent 

 from the meeting. If I were to be with you I should, undoubtedly, talk 

 some of the station's strawberry crop, which is just now at its best, and I 

 think perhaps a few preliminary notes on it may not come amiss at this 

 time. 



We have two strawberry beds; from one. we are taking the first crop and 

 from the other, the second. Taken as a whole, the old bed is rather more 

 productive than the new one, but please bear in mind that the old bed 

 was well thinned, cleaned and manured after the crop was gathered last 

 July and is now much like a new bed. 



NOTES ON A FEW VARIETIES. 



Among the varieties that are freely advertised and have, undoubtedly, 

 come to your notice are the following: 



MicheVs Early, {h). I think well of this variety as a pollen producer, 

 but it does not produce much fruit and has not been as productive this 

 year as last. Yet the fruit this year was rather larger and better in 

 quality. I mean to continue using it as a pollen producer. It is a vigorous 

 grower and free from rust. 



Haverland. (p). This variety has done much better this year than last 

 and is in many ways our best berry and most productive. The foliage is 

 healthy and the berries are elegant. I think it will produce rather more 

 fruit this year than the Warfleld. 



Warfield. (p). This berry holds its own and is very productive. It is a 

 better keeping and selling berry than Haverland. It is quite acid and 

 our customers especially like it for canning purposes. 



Parker Earle. (b). We have not had a ripe berry yet from this variety. 

 It is at least ten days behind Warfleld, and will ripen with us about July 

 13th. It is well loaded with green fruit and promises a good crop. It is 

 very healthy and blossoms late. I think it a safe berry so far as late 

 spring frosts are concerned,but coming so late and in such warm weather, 

 I am afraid it will be very apt to fail to mature its full crop. 



Bederwood. (b). This is a very promising new berry and has done re- 

 markably well with us this season. It is bi-sexual, has lots of pollen, and 

 I think it well worth trying. Its foliage is only slightly affected with 

 rust. 



Great Pacific, (b). I am somewhat disappointed in this variety. Some 

 of the fruit is large but much of it is small and irregular in shape. 



