STATE HOKTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 363^ 



Would it not be best to recommend when setting an orchard at least to set one at 

 each corner of the orchard for landmarks, or for ornament and to give the family 

 fruit while they are living in hopes of something better. 



The Secretary then read the following paper by John F. Dayton^ 

 President of the Alamakee County Agricultural Society : 



AN ARGUMENT FOR THE MORE EXTENSIVE CULTIVATION OF 



SMALL FRUITS. 



By John F. Dayton, Waukon, Iowa. 



Since the recent severe winters have demonstrated that' the culture of winter 

 apples in the northwest is almost futile, and the peach and pear cannot withstand 

 the extreme cold of this section, while the cherry seems also to have abandoned us, 

 the inquiry arises, "Upon what must we depend for our fruit supply ?" 



Fruits are now recognized, not as luxuries, but as necessities; health requires that 

 the system of man receive the benefits of their cooling acids during the heats of 

 summer, and in winter they are equally necessary to combine with the heavier foods 

 of that season. As we are precluded from growing fruit that will keep fresh during 

 the winter months, and as the products of regions with milder climate are expensive, 

 and dilficult to obtain except in the larger cities, most persons rely upon dried 

 fruits or the canned products of eastern factories for their supply; in these forms 

 fruits have lost much of their delicate flavors and many of their valuable qualities, 

 and have not the cleanliness and healthfulness of those put up at home. 



While horticulturists are laboring to originate and while the earth is searched, 

 in vain so far, for the long keeping apple, the pear, peach and cherry that will 

 succeed in our continental climate with its violent extremes, we are apt to over- 

 look the fact that we can grow with ease, in any part of the north or northwest a 

 full supply of small fruits, which, canned by the skillful housewife, will provide all 

 the year round a sufficiency of palatable sauces, iellies and fruit acids, so that we 

 may need no more to eat the dried apples wherein the fly hath dwelt, or break our 

 molars upon pebbles called currants, or lacerate our throats with the sand of the 

 desert prune. 



The strawberry is a fruit that grows native in localities far to the north of the 

 boundaries of Minnesota, it is proof against the freezing of winter and may be 

 relied upon to furnish a supply of fruit annually. 



True it may be said that the sti-awberry plant is liable to injury by the heaving 

 of the ground under the influence of sunshine and frost, yet this does not occur 

 unless there is thawing as well as freezing, and in northern sections there is less 

 danger than where the winters are more open, the risk here being almost wholly 

 in late fall and early spring. This difficulty is obviated by a thorough mulching of 

 the plants with some loose material, such as clean straw, prairie hay, or sorgum 

 bagasse applied as soon as the ground freezes, letting the mulch remain on the 

 plants in the spring until the freezing weather is over, then raking the mulch into 

 the paths between the rows. 



It may also be truly said, that the strawberry is liable to injury by late frosts ia 



