ANNUAL REPORT. 143 



l"'uni;ou.s troubles, which were unusually prevalent this season, 

 came in for a share of the discussion. Dr. G. V. Clinton of the 

 Connecticut Experiment Station addressed the meeting on this 

 topic, and questions and discussions occupied the time until 

 dinner was announced. 



At 12.30 an excellent shore dinner was served by Landlord 

 Sanford, and for nearly an hour the fruit growers and their 

 lady friends discussed the menu of sea-food. 



Following the dinner, busses were taken for the trip to the 

 Plant farm, where many interesting sights awaited the visitors. 

 The Messrs. Plant welcomed all, taking just pride in showing 

 their splendid crops of fruits and general farm staples. The 

 Plants are acknowledged to be expert farmers, but even in this 

 unfavorable season their crops presented a fine appearance and 

 were unusually thrifty. The first item of interest was the straw- 

 berry field, with a crop of onions growing between the row^s of 

 berry plants. This method of double cropping has been prac- 

 tised on this farm for some time, and both crops have succeeded 

 well. 



The raspberry and dewberry fields were next visited. Large 

 and satisfactory crops of both fruits had been harvested, the 

 picking season being just over. A few of the mammoth dew- 

 berries w'ere found, however, that gave the visitors a taste of 

 this delicious fruit, large, juicy and jet black. Mr. Plant grows 

 chiefly the Austin variety and was led to plant the dewberry 

 quite largely from the great success of the berry in Delaware 

 and Maryland. While it ripens extra early and brings good 

 prices, it is not a full success in this State on account of not 

 being quite hardy. It is also a hard plant to control, the vines 

 matting thickly near the ground and the fruit difficult to pick 

 because of the many thorns. 



The large pear orchard, carrying a good crop of fruit, the 

 ample barns lighted by electricity and w^here the very heavy 

 crop of hay had just been stored, and the extensive dairy, were 

 all interesting and instructive points of interest. 



Perhaps no single feature of Mr. Plant's farm is more worthy 

 of mention than the intensive cultivation given each crop and 

 field. Good care, intelligently given at the right time, cannot 

 help but result in paying crops and must go far toward over- 

 coming unfavorable weather conditions, even in a season like the 

 present one. 



