Tenth Annual Meeting 27 



material it took quite a force of men to keep the fires from 

 burning too briskly, and so as to keep them making plenty of 

 smoke. I would rather depend on covering in some way. 



"Returning to 1900, very soon after the cold snap we found 

 ourselves at the beginning of one of the most severe and pro- 

 tracted droughts that many of us ever experienced. It was only 

 the pieces that were on naturally moist ground, or where arti- 

 ficial watering could be applied, that yielded much of a crop, 

 although good cultivation and keeping the ground in good con- 

 dition was of very great benefit. The outlook for strawberries 

 was good, but extreme drought began to tell on them after the 

 first pickings, and quickly cut them short, drying many of 

 them up on the vines. In fact, this was the case with all kinds 

 of berries to a more or less extent. Blackberries, in some places, 

 suffered even worse, completely drying up before picking com- 

 menced. I saw a patch owned by an experienced and gener- 

 ally successful grower, and upon good ground, and yet they 

 were an entire failure. In this case the good care was not suflfi- 

 cient to save them. He would have had a wonderful crop in 

 an ordinary season, as the vines were loaded. I had a very fair 

 crop as it was, the berries being grown upon a northerly slope, 

 on a medium and gravelly soil. Raspberries suffered about the 

 same as strawberries, some pieces giving a partial crop, while 

 others were ruined. I knew of some fields that gave light pick- 

 ings, while a few did quite well. I am sure with both black- 

 berries and raspberries good cultivation had very much to do 

 with the returns. I saw some fields of late strawberries that 

 did well, but they were upon good moist ground and had the 

 best of care, but I think these crops were the exception rather 

 than the rule. We had given our berries of all kinds good care, 

 and our strawberries were well mulched, but in mid -season we 

 found the drought had cut our crop short about one-half. 



"I read of a grower who cultivated his strawberries right 

 through the whole of the picking season with good success. 

 I should hardly have thought that the best way, as it would 

 seem that the fruit must certainly be more or less dirty from 

 the dust that surely would arise. I think I would rather 

 depend upon a mulch to help retain the moisture. It would 

 seem to me that constant cultivation all through could be 



