STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 95 



your labor it would be more than you could reasonably hope to 

 receive. 



We set our plants exactly two feet apart in raised rows 

 which are made three feet apart using the late runners from the 

 bearing bed. We have tested many varieties but all have proved 

 worthless with us except the " Crescent Seedling " and " Lovett's 

 Early." Just now we are experimenting with the " Glen Mary " 

 and " Marshall," the latter we think will prove especially desir- 

 able for under the most adverse conditions, the roots eaten by 

 the grub, the ground tunnelled by the mole in search of the white 

 pest, yet where there has been anything left of the root the plant 

 sends out large dark, glossy leaves, and every late fall runner 

 sends up a flower stalk ; the color and size of the fruit is excep- 

 tionally fine. 



While no rain fell the past summer during the picking season 

 and the weather was excessively warm our strawberry crop did 

 not sustain the least injury from drought or the scorching rays 

 of the sun. The plants were so large and vigorous, that the 

 fruit was sufficiently nourished, and entirely protected by the 

 heavy foliage while a deep mulching of pine needles spread on 

 the fall previous prevented the moisture escaping from the 

 ground. 



W^e find as a rule the strawberry a sure crop and if the berries 

 are kept up to a high degree of excellency, carefully picked into 

 perfectly clean baskets there is no lack of market. 



I have never heard or read anything in regard to the polleni- 

 zation of strawberry plants by bees but have noticed whenever 

 the bees work the strawberry blooms the fruit is more perfect. 

 This year the blossoms were uncommonly fragrant and the bees 

 worked them more than they ordinarily do ; we never found an 

 miperfect berry and we had no more fertilizers than usual. 



We have vainly endeavored to raise cherry, plum and pear 

 trees — the flamboyant pages of fruit catalogues advertising the 

 " earliest known varieties ; " that will give a paying crop the 

 third year from planting, and flourish in any soil from Labrador 

 to Florida, have no longer any charm for us — we have wasted 

 too much of our substance, not only in new varieties but in 

 standard sorts as well. Also they have been planted and culti- 

 vated with care; in a year or two the leaves of the plum and 

 pear turn yellow, the bark of the cherry cracks open ; soon all 

 are consigned to the brush pile. However, we have not 



