STATE HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 39 



thing it ought to be fertilized with the Wilson. The fruit is about 

 the same as to firmness and color, and there is nothing that bears 

 shipping better than the Crescent. But if fertilized with the Countess 

 they are apt to be very soft; I think too soft to ship any distance. 

 Fertilizing with Wilson you will find a great difference in that respect. 

 I have some on the table there that one would almost call the Wilson; 

 they are about the same in color, are firm and nearly alike in shape. 

 I prefer the Wilson as the best to fertilize for that purpose. 



Mr. Pearce. I want to add a word to what has been said about 

 fertilizing the Crescent. It is the earliest berry we have aud it is also 

 one of the latest, and that is one reason why we can sell it to farmers. 

 They need to be fertilized clear through their season; I would there- 

 fore fertiliz*^ with Wilson, Glendale and Downer's Prolific. I think 

 we should never confine ourselves to one fertilizer but have two or 

 three good varieties. The more you fertilize the better the berries. 

 The Countess is good, the Wilson is good, Charles Downing is good, 

 and James Vick is good. It don't hurt to put them all in, for if one 

 misses another may hit. 



Mr. Harris. I don't think it is best to have too many kinds'in one 

 patch if you are going to send your berries to market. At a certain 

 meeting about a year ago I said that I thought it made a difference in 

 the quality of the berry to fertilize with different varieties. From 

 experiments I have conducted the past season I am inclined to think I 

 was mistaken and that it is something in the air, or in the soil that 

 makes the Crescents darker one season than another. This spring I 

 set out Crescents and fertilized a section of the bed with Wilson, a 

 section with Sharpless, a section with the Downing, a section with a 

 variety that I procured in La Crosse that they call the P'oundling, 

 with Hart's Minnesota, and with another variety that I obtained at 

 St. Charles; and on picking the berries and examining them I could 

 not see any difference between those fertilized with one variety from 

 that of another, and I don't think any one else can. This may be 

 owing to the season. I am inclined to thing that the influence of the 

 male plant upon the other the present year doesn't have any impres- 

 sion. Those plants planted and fertilized with different varieties the 

 progeny would be different; but of course one year don't settle this 

 question any more than "one swallow don't make a summer " 



Mr. G. W. Fuller. Downer's Prolific and Countess are very much 

 alike. The Sharpless, of course, you detect anywhere. I have ex- 

 perimented a little with covering. Those that I covered came off the 



