582 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



new vine, and much more prolific. Longworth's prolific is an 

 excellent variety. I would set strawberry plants as early in the 

 Spring as possible, pulverizing the earth very fine eigliteen inches 

 deep. I would put upon a bed twenty feet square the following 

 ingredients : one bushel of unleached ashes, one peck of lime, and 

 two quarts of salt, thoroughly worked in the soil; and when I set 

 the plants I would put a plank on so as not to tread down the 

 soft earth, and never let the bed be tramped afterward. I would 

 mulch the ground with tan-bark, or leaves, or salt hay, and never 

 dig between the rows. I believe strawberries can be grown at a 

 cost of fifty cents a bushel. The great error in strawberry cul- 

 ture is to allow vines to grow too close together. They never 

 should be permitted to grow nearer than one foot apart, and never 

 be manured highly, nor dug between during the bearing season 

 so as to injure the small roots of the plants. The roots, too, must 

 be kept moist. One plant has produced 260 berries in one sea- 

 son. 



, Mr. Lawton — One of the most important things in agricultural 

 pursuits is adaptation. It may be seen by the account of these 

 animals that they are not adapted to our purposes, however well 

 they may be to the region they inhabit; and it should be our aim 

 in all our remarks here, and we should hold this point steadily 

 in view — adaptation in all things. Grapes may flourish well in 

 one locality, yet may be very poorly adapted to other localities, 

 and so of many plants and animals. 



GOOSEBERRIES. 



Solon Robinson read from a letter the following extract : 

 I would first call your attention to the blight or mildew of the 

 gooseberry, which may be prevented by spreading liberally under 

 the bush horse manure. This should be done early in the spring. 

 Mr. Fuller, of Brooklyn — This horse manure mulching will 

 not answer. Salt hay is much better. Our native varieties, too, 

 are much less liable to disease than any other from abroad. We 

 can also improve the native variety; and certainly we should 

 grow gooseberries enough to make our own champagne, since 

 much of that imported is made of this fruit, without a drop of 

 grape juice. 



