PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 621 



of a pear to au individual, telliug him it was the Bartlctt, wliich he pro- 

 nounced to be very fiue; then lie gave him the other half under another 

 name, which he said was not near as good as the first. He ventured to 

 say that examples of this kind are very common. 



There is a great diversity of opinion in regard to the foreign strawberry. 

 He was inclined to think that they are not adapted to our country. The 

 Triomphe de 'Gand, La Constante, and a few others, he had seen grown 

 very successfully here, but there was no foreign strawberry that will com- 

 pare with our own native varieties for hardiness. It is not underrating 

 foreign strawberries to say that they will not suit our climates. He had 

 at one time 360 different kinds of strawberries. Many of them were from 

 abroad; but he found that most of them required a great deal of nursing, 

 more than he wished to give them, and after two or three seasons he threw 

 many of them out, and he would advise others to do so, and replace them 

 with our native varieties. The soil that he found best adapted to the 

 strawberry and fruits generally, was one abounding in carbonaceous mat- 

 ter, such as muck, decayed leaves, &c. This is Nature's pabulum; it is 

 that on which she nurses her first-born; it is that upon which she builds 

 her forests, and upon which she feeds her choicest productions. What is 

 wanted is a light, carbonaceous soil, and a little manure with it. The 

 carbon can be got into the soil in the form of muck, leaves, charcoal dust, 

 etc.; the manure should be old and well rotted. With such a soil there 

 would not only be an abundance of fruit but also of good quality. 



Adjourned. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



June 14, 1864. 



A meeting of the Association was held at the room of the Institute, at 8 

 o'clock P. M., the president, B. C. Townsend, Esq., in the chair. 



During the miscellaneous business quite an animated discussion arose on 

 a motion of Mr. Peter B. Mead to appoint a committee to endeavor to secure 

 a location, in the Central Park, for holding the spring exhibitions, in 

 which General Hall, Messrs. Mead, Hogg, Carpenter acd the President 

 took part. The motion was finally laid over. 



The Strawberry. 



Mr. Peter B. Mead said he occupied some little time at the last meeting 

 in discussing some general points of strawberry culture. He then spoke 

 of there being two kinds of strawberries, one for the epicure and another 

 for the market. The time would come when there would be no distinction 

 of this kind, as the cultivation of the finer kinds of strawberries and 

 fruits generally would become more popular. It is not quite so now, as 

 the public taste is not yet educated to that point. In reference to the pre- 

 paration of the ground for the strawberry bed, he would remark, in the 

 first place, that the ground could not be too thoroughly prepared. It 

 ought to be worked at least two feet deep — two and a half feet would be 

 better — a soil somewhat like light loam would be best. With that he 

 would incorporate a large quantity of carbonaceous matter in the form of 



