76 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



"We have just finished setting a field of strawberries in drills thirty 

 inches apart. I propose to cultivate them with a horse hoe the fore part 

 of the season ; the latter part, when the runners push out, with the hand 

 hoe, and let them cover the ground. The cost of setting this plantation 

 has been $15 an acre, exclusive of the manuring. Now, can this bed be 

 made to produce more than one crop profitably — if so, what course is to be 

 taken next season with it, when the crop is taken ofi" ? I should like to 

 know what is the best mulching where tan bark is not to be had. We have 

 used spoke shavings, but found them injurious to the soil ?" 



Mr. Pardee. — I think he may have three crops or more from his bed. 

 Saw-dust is a good mulch, so is straw, and so is new cut fine grass, if not 

 put on too thick. I should be afraid of salt hay. Plaster, I know, is 

 injurious. Lime and ashes are valuable. In the fall, pull up the weak 

 runners and cover the ground with straw. The second crop will be best. 

 When the old vines get too thick, run a plow right through the old row, and 

 leave the new plants that come from the runners, by which a strawberry 

 bed may be kept in bearing many years. 



Wm. Lawton, New Rochelle. — I have used salt hay freely, with great 

 success. It makes a very nice, clean mulch, and I find the vines very pro- 

 ductive when I have used salt marsh hay. It prevents runners from taking 

 root, and where it is required to get new roots, the salt mulch must be 



removed. 



POTATOES. 



Solon Robinson read a letter from Joel Hitchcock, of Lawrence, St. 

 Lawrence county, N. Y., declaring his belief that he had discovered a 

 method by which he could avoid the disease producing the potato rot, and 

 that in experiments continued six years he had greatly augmented the pro- 

 duct, and raised the quality of the potatoes to a high standard of excel- 

 lence, and made the vines so healthy that they bear seed-balls abundantly, 

 while upon ground treated in the ordinary way, the potatoes were unripe 

 and watery, the vines without seed-balls, the tubers aff"ected with the 

 disease, and only half the quantity from the other part of the field. In 

 conclusion, he offered to send a bushel of the potatoes, which he believes 

 are restoi-ed to healthiness, to be planted by members of the club, to see 

 if they will produce healthy crops, and, if so, he will tell how to do it. 



On motion of Mr. Robinson, it was 



Resolved, That the secretary request Mr. Hitchcock to forward the 

 potatoes by express, and that he distribute them as soon as received. 



Solon Robinson also read from a letter, written by George H. Gale, of 

 Exeter, N. H., the following remedy against the potato disease : 



" You must select the soundest tubers and sprout them in due time by 

 laying them on a sunny side of a bank, and cover them slightly with horse 

 manure to sprout, and then put them carefully into sand or gravelly loam 

 (new ground is the best) as soon as the ground will allow from the frost, to 

 get them as far matured as possible before the critical period arrives ; when 

 that time comes and the leaves show much rust, cut the tops close to the 

 ground to prevent any communication to the tuber." 



