STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 45. 
with litter of some kind. Horse manure, with plenty of straw in it is first rate. 
Cut straw is excellent, and need not be removed in the spring. Evergreen 
boughs, corn stalks, swamp hay, rotted sawdust, tanbark or leaves, if they can 
be kept on—anything that will shade the ground, and prevent it from thawing 
every bright day, will answer. 
When growth commences in the spring, and the freezing nights are past, the 
bed may be uncovered, if the covering is such that the plants can not push 
through it. Paths,eighteen inches wide should be made between the rows. If 
plants are needed, they should be taken up m narrow strips, and those on each 
side shaved off with the hoe, so as not to injure the roots of those left to bear. 
If the plants are then over the bed, the spaces between them must be covered 
wttn a mulch—the paths also—to keep the ground moist and the fruit clean. 
A good mulching will sometimes double the crop. Let no deep stirring be giv- 
en in the spring. Small weeds will do but little harm till the fruit is mpe. 
Large ones may be shaved off with the hoe, or pulled up by hand. 
In regard to picking and marketing, get everything ready as far as possible 
before the berries ripen. Engage your pickers, women first, then girls, and 
last boys. In picking leave out the small berries. They add but little to the 
measure, while they injure the appearance of all the rest. 
As soon as the last of the berries are picked, plow up the bed and plant some 
late crop. In this way three crops can be taken from the soil in two years, and 
the énemies of the strawberry are destroyed, mstead of being left to multiply in 
an old neglected bed. it will cost less, im this way, to raise a new bed every 
year, than to clean out an old one, and put it in proper condition for bearing. 
If grown as above, we have nothing to fear but drouth and late frosts. 
Heavy mulching will insure against the former, and leaving the beds covered 
late in the spring is about all we can do for the latter. 
To sum up, in a few words, the principal causes of failure, are allowing 
the crowns to get covered by deep planting or improper cultivation, allowing the 
plants to bear the same season they are set, disturbmg the roots late in the fall 
or in the spring, neglecting to cover in winter and planting unsuitable varieties. 
What kinds to plant. 
This is a most important :pomt and can only be learned fully by experience, 
but depends mainly on our soil and marketing facilities. For large cities where 
the very finest fruit brings a great price. it may be advisable to grow the large 
varieties in preference to those more productive but of smaller size. Where no- 
great discrimination is made, those kinds that can be produced at the least cost 
should be grown. If the fruit has to be sent toa distance, varieties that will 
bear transportation must be selected. The Wilson has been the standard mar- 
ket berry, and is a safe variety to plant. When well grown and fully ripe, it is 
a good berry, but it has been brought into disrepute by being poorly grown and 
marketed in an unripe condition. It succeeds in al) parts of the country and is 
very productive when the season is favorable but dimimishes in size after the 
first picking. 
The Capt. Jack is, in my opinion, the best market berry yet introduced. It is 
a seedling of the Wilson, and a decided improvement on its parent. ‘The habits 
of the plant are about all that could be desired—hardy, healthy. vigorons and 
productive, ripening up its crop ina dry time better than any other variety.. 
