26 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Straavberry. 



1875. Yield, 1,156,801 qts. ; value, $214,940. 

 1885. " 3,929,497 " " 400,859. 



The strawberry is pre-eminently a home fruit. Propa- 

 gating itself as it docs very rapidly, and yielding a return 

 Tvithin one year from planting, there is no possible reason 

 why every farmer's table should not be supplied with an 

 abundance of fruit during its season. 



For the past few years the crop has not been a very pay- 

 ing one, but I fear the growers are more to blame than the 

 purchasers. The tendency of the markets has been to call 

 for large, shov/y fruit, while grovrcrs in general have been 

 adopting a sort of cheap method of cultivation, which could 

 only produce small, inferior fruit, especially with such varie- 

 ties as the Crescent. 



What seems to be needed is better cultivation, better fer- 

 tilization and more care in the preparation of the fruit for 

 market. Of the two systems of cultivation, — the liill and 

 matted i"0W sj^slem, — it is unquestionably the fact that the for- 

 mer will produce the largest and best fruit, and if by econ- 

 omy of labor in the use of the horse cultivator more and the 

 hand hoe less, we can reduce the cost of production a little, 

 it will be the most profitable, for large, fine fruit will always 

 sell at good prices, while small and inferior fruit will often 

 not sell at any price, and only injures the market for that 

 which is better. 



Few insects injure the strawberry in this section, and 

 under good cultivation most varieties are free from leaf 

 blight. The white grub or larvtc of the June bug or May 

 beetle is sometimes injurious when the plants are set on 

 newly turned turf land, and are to be avoided by cultivating 

 the land, for two years previous to planting with straw- 

 berries, with some clean hoed crop. 



The varieties which have given the best results with us 

 are the May King, Miners Prolific, Sharpless and Golden 

 Queen. All of the new candidates for public favor have 

 been planted, but require further trial to prove if they are 

 any better for general cultivation than those mentioned. 



