STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 393 



The meeting was called to order by the president, and the 

 minutes of the previous meeting read by the secretary. Mr. 

 Pearce said that he had recommended one and one-half inch 

 pots for strawberries, but wished the minutes to be changed so 

 as to read two- inch pots, that being a more suitable size. 



MR. pearce' S PAPER. 



President Pearce then read a short paper, the main points of 

 which were as follows: 



In growing raspberries for home use and the market it is very 

 essential that we should be well acquainted with each variety. 

 They should be early, medium, and late, hardy, prolific fruit, 

 large, and of good color and quality. He would not recommend 

 the dropping a good hardy market variety, such as the Phila- 

 delphia, Mammoth Cluster, and other varieties, on account of 

 the fruit being second class. More than two-thirds of the people 

 who buy fruit select that which is the best looking regardless of 

 quality, but not so with all. Some have a cultivated taste and 

 alw ays buy certain varieties of berries if they are in the market. 

 Consumers of berries, as a rule, like a change, and it is well for 

 growers to have them. It is the early berry that brings the high 

 price. The first that come to the market sell for from twenty- 

 five to thirty-five cents per quart, and those that come ten or 

 twelve days later from fifteen to twenty cents per quart. Mulch- 

 ing, to some extent, will increase the size of the fruit, but will 

 make them ten or twelve days later than the same varieties that 

 are frequently cultivated and not mulched. 



I know of no variety that is adaj)ted to this climate that is as 

 early as the Turner. The fruit is of good size and a bright scar- 

 let color, firm, and of excellent quality. The Philadelphia is an 

 old variety, hardy and very j)rolific, and if not frequently culti- 

 vated or mulched the fruit will be small and imperfect after the 

 first or second picking. The fruit is soft, of a dull brown color, 

 and second or third in quality, but is grown in large quantities, 

 owing to its great productiveness. It ripens from a week to ten 

 days later than the Turner. 



The Cuthbert is growing rapidly in favor. The plants for a 

 number of years have proved very hardy, prolific, and some- 

 times long in bearing. The fruit is very large, of good quality, 

 firm and fascinating in color. They begin to ripen a few days 

 later than the Philadelphia, and sell readily. 

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