92 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



oil barrels are preferred on account of their durability. Inch 

 holes are bored in alternating rows eight inches apart, giving 

 space for 135 plants. Some soil is placed in the barrel, straw- 

 berry plants are inserted in the first row of holes, then more soil 

 filled in, and so on, till the barrel is full. The plants are easily 

 kept watered and fed by turning water and liquid manure into 

 the barrel. 



The advantages of the barrel method of growing strawberries 

 are that no runners grow, and the whole strength of the plant 

 is directed toward growing fruit. The berries are perfectly 

 clean, all cultivation and weeding are dispensed with, and there 

 is great economy of space. Five bushels are the maximum yield 

 of berries, and three or four the average, depending on the va- 

 riety and management of one of these barrel gardens. 



MORAL ECONOMICS. 



Now this subject of the Home Garden involves quite a range 

 of instructive thought, if we turn away from the purely material 

 side of the question and discuss it from its ethical and moral 

 bearings as it relates to home and home influences on the farm. 

 Life it is said, is what we make it. The influences emanating 

 from the Homes of our country exert a greater power over the 

 lives of its citizens, for weal or for woe, than all other influences 

 combined. The ideal home justly included in the sacred 

 trinity of "Mother, Home and Heaven," stands in our New 

 England communities at least, as a mighty bulwark against the 

 floods of evil and demoralizing tendencies incident to our time. 



TOWN AND COUNTY. 



Efifects are results of causes. For the past decade there has 

 been a rapid increase in the population of our cities, and largely 

 by the influx of young men from the rural country. There is a 

 cause for this. What is it? Without attempting to answer this 

 question in detail, I am compelled to say that one reason is lack 

 of congenial home surroundings, coupled with the fact that 

 farmers themselves encourage their sons and daughters to 

 think that there are more honorable, pleasant and easier ways of 

 gaining a livelihood than that of farming. And it is too often the 

 case that this class of farmers set no example of dignifying their 



