STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIET?. 97 



Mr. Sawyer. Is it advisable to cover the earth between the 

 plants ? 



Mr. Varney. Not for a winter protection, but I would for 

 summer. The year I raised the large crop I used leaves for 

 mulching and covered them with* sticks and boughs, just enough 

 to keep the weeds down. I don't think anybody has seen a plant 

 this winter since the snow came on. 



Mr. Simpson. I have always succeeded in raising strawberries. 

 My soil is clayey. I have raised them a great many years on the 

 same bed. My mode of cultivating is to set them in hills in rows ; 

 let them grow one year and let the vines grow in between the 

 rows. In the fall I turn the old plants under and leave the run- 

 ners between the original rows to grow the next year. I think 

 success depends much on soil and mode of cultivation. A neigh- 

 bor, perhaps 50 rods from me, whose soil is light, cultivates them 

 differently from what I do, and gets a larger crop. I think he 

 raises from a piece of ground of about the same size as mine, 

 twice and perhaps three times as many as I do. He dresses 

 heavily with barn-yard manure. I generally cover mine, and in 

 the fall put a heavy dressing of barn-yard manure between the 

 rows on top of the soil, after I have turned the old vines under. 

 For covering, I use fir boughs or leaves. I think a covering of fir 

 boughs affords the best protection from the cold. I have never 

 failed in getting a fair crop of strawberries, and I think the same 

 would hold good of raspberries and currants. Raspberries need 

 high cultivation and very strong manure, the stronger the better. 

 I know several gentlemen who succeed well in raising them. 



President Gilbert. I would inquire if it is necessary to culti- 

 vate the Black Caps highly ? 



Mr. Smith. That has been my experience. We cultivate ours 

 very highly, and get abundant crops. I find them to be as profit- 

 able as strawberries. They don't require much care after you get 

 them growing. We don't cover them. 



President Gilbert. The conflicting testimony which we have in 

 regard to which varieties are most valuable, is quite probably due 

 to difference of soil and locality, and proves that it is necessary, 

 in order to give value to such testimony, to connect with it a 

 statement of the character of the soil. There are few varieties of 

 strawberries that will accommodate themselves to our soil, and 

 there are some of them that will succeed only in a peculiar kind of 

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