2IO THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



We have a car placed on siding near the station and have 

 nearly all day to load in. We have a wire once and some- 

 times twice a day from our agents in Boston, which keeps us 

 posted on that market and often helps us determine how many 

 to use in our home market. 



That is an outline of how we cultivate and market our 

 strawberries. Of course, like everything else, the growing 

 of strawberries has its drawbacks. Last season our beds were 

 badly winter-killed and in a way that was entirely new to us. 

 The ground froze hard. Then came a heavy rain which filled 

 all the little hollows with water. Then the water froze solid, 

 and in the Spring we found the strawberries in these hollows 

 nearly all dead. We estimated our loss at least four acres 

 by that freeze. This fall we have dug holes in some of these 

 hollows, about three feet deep, and filled them with salt hay. 

 Of course, we have not had as bad a freeze as last season, but 

 we are satisfied it has done us good already. Would dig themi 

 at least a foot deeper another year. As I have stated before, 

 you have got to have good bearing varieties to get a crop that 

 will pay, and the trouble is you don't always know when yon 

 have got them. You may have a variety that is doing well 

 this season. The next Spring you set acres of them, and 

 when they fruit the next season you discover less fruit and less 

 vines than the previous season. They show loss of vitality, 

 both in growth and fruit and vines. But there are some kinds 

 that do well nearly every season, like the Haviland and Gandy. 



There is another thing you want to watch and that is to 

 keep them true to name. Buy your plants of a man that keeps 

 his plants true to name. I remember it took me four years 

 to get the genuine Haviland. T got all sorts of spurious 

 plants and set acres of them, and the loss can hardly be esti- 

 mated ; but that all goes in as experience. I know it is almost 

 impossible to keep them from mixing, but every grower should 

 try his best to do so, as it means a big difference in the crop. 



Now, in regard to what is a good crop. We have had 

 acres that have produced 6,000 quarts, and one season I 

 remember our whole crop averaged over 5,000 quarts to the 

 acre. Last season it was 3.500 to the acre, including the four 

 acres that were winter-killed, and the prices were above the 



