2(5 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



has shown fine specimens ripened in frames a month in advance of 

 the regular season. 



Mr. Garfield said that he had had only one or two j'ears' expe- 

 rience in cultivating strawberries in this method. The beds were 

 now covered with leaves, and he puts on the frames about the first 

 of March ; he does not give strong heat, as the plants do not re- 

 quire it. He waters about every day when the sun is out, putting 

 in hot water so as not to chill the ground. A bed, fourteen feet 

 by six, produced twenty-four quarts, just as good flavored as if 

 grown out doors, which sold for from fifty to sixty cents a box. 

 He waters when in bloom, with weak liquid manure. The ground 

 had been previously well manured ; he likes to manure heavilj'^ — 

 would like to give his grounds a dressing six inches in thickness. 



Mr. Wilder said that his experience in the use of fertilizers had 

 been the same as Mr. Hovey's, though with him they had never 

 produced such extraordinary growth as Mr. Hovey had described. 



Mr. Moore said that his remarks in relation to fertilizers had 

 been misunderstood. He thought vegetable manure and ashes 

 better than animal manure. He doubted whether the gentleman 

 who had spoken of a dressing six inches thick realized what that 

 meant ; it would require a hundred and seventy cords to the acre 

 to manure at that rate, and he did not think a crop of strawberries 

 would pay for such a quantity at ten dollars a cord. He believed 

 in having the ground rich, and when it is, he thought pure water 

 better than liquid manure. He would not condemn fertilizers. 

 The Wilson does not produce foliage enough to cover the fruit, 

 and is benefited by the application of Peruvian guano. Peat and 

 ashes are cooler than animal manures. A piece of ground just 

 cleared up will produce better strawberries than an old garden. 



Mr. Hovey said that he should not like to trust a hired hand to 

 apply guano, but would prefer to do it himself. A quart to a row 

 of Wilson a hundred feet long and six feet wide, or at the rate of 

 an ounce to a square rod would probably benefit it, but as com- 

 monly used it tended to promote the growth of leaves rather 

 than of fruit. He goes through his beds and digs in manure be- 

 tween the rows, after the fruit is gathered, to produce plants. 



Mr. Wilder said that he bad two rows of strawberries, each a 

 hundred feet long, which he directed a son of Erin to manure with 

 guano, and he put on a whole bag, and the result was, as might 

 have been anticipated, that the plants were all killed. 



