80 THE NEW AGB1CULTURE. 



" G. W. HOFFMAN. It is all used on the land, intermixed, I sup- 

 pose, with the surface soil during the working, as I have said, to 

 the depth of fifteen inches. We saw workmen engaged in excavat- 

 ing a trench, and the compact clay taken from the bottom was dis- 

 tributed over the land to be brought into cultivation. The work- 

 men said that the hard clay would become friable upon exposure, 

 and pointed to places where it had been thrown where it had be- 

 come soft and yielding. The first working of ground below that 

 trench, we were told, was last May, but the workmen said they 

 would go over it again soon and take out such stones as had been 

 overlooked in the first picking. 



" Prof. LAZENBY. Still another question "Were those strawberry 

 plants that were put out last October potted previous to placing 

 them in the ground? 



"G. W. HOFFMAN. I do not know that they were ; I suppose 

 they were not. They were not as prolific as the older vines. 



"President McCANN. We were informed that the strawberry 

 leaves kept green all winter, and that the ground was almost free 

 from frost during the coldest weather. Mr. Cole told us that frost 

 rarely penetrated more than an inch or two, while ground not 

 treated was frozen fully three feet deep. Of course, if the soil re- 

 mains open and there is snow protection strawberry plants may 

 keep fresh and green through winter. 



" G. W. HOFFMAN. There is certainly very great change produced 

 by the new system. How much may be credited to irrigation, how 

 much to very thorough working, and how much to manure, I can 

 not decide. Mr. Cole spoke very highly of forest leaves as a 

 mulch or manure, and, I think, he has made very free use of them. 

 Speaking of leaves, he said : ' They are the very best manure God 

 ever supplied for agricultural use.' 



" Now, as to this system of irrigation, there may be a great deal 



