ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 219 



raise any that are found covered by being set too low ; after the 

 first cultivation very few are lost ; if the weeder is kept going 

 every few days, very little hand work will be necessary until the 

 runners are well started. 



Our greatest foes in the matter of weeds are those that live 

 over winter, of which there are quite a number; unless we do 

 thorough work v^-ith hoe and fingers, if necessary, late in the 

 season, we have a lot of these to start up in the spring and 

 surprise us by their rampant growth, just about when the plants 

 are blooming. 



The most profitable work I have ever done on strawberries 

 has been in irrigating them in dry seasons. I have had cases 

 when putting on water three or four times has made a difference 

 of from $300 to $400 per acre. I don't think there is any crop 

 that will pay more liberally for water than strawberries. On 

 some soils I have no doubt water could be turned down the rows 

 to advantage, but most of my soil is too porous to use that way 

 of applying it. I have to spray the water on, to do any good ; 

 by spraying I don't mean as we spray our fruit trees, but apply- 

 ing a good lively shower of from twenty to forty gallons a 

 minute. Forty gallons per minute will just about cover any 

 acre a day if kept going; it takes 27,000 gallons to give one 

 inch in depth over one acre and in a dry time this ought to be 

 applied once in five days. I use 2 inch iron pipe and fire hose 

 for conveying the water where I want it, then have a large 

 sprinkler that can be attached to any length of hose, with a man 

 to attend to it and change it from place to place as wanted. To 

 get best results, irrigation should be commenced early, if needed 

 at all ; the berries will be a little later in ripening, but this will 

 be oft'set by the greatly increased yield. 



In regard to marketing, I think Mr. Sherwood has covered 

 that ground pretty thoroughly. I will only say that we must 

 have the berries carefully picked, put in clean, new baskets, and 

 get them to some place where they are wanted. It is useless 

 to try to force them onto a glutted market. Very often when 

 one market is overloaded, some other place within reach would 

 be glad to take them at a fair price. In short, study the markets 

 if you would secure the profits. 



Following Mr. Eddy's paper the contents of the Question 

 Box came up for discussion. Questions on a great variety of 



