TRANSACTIONS OF TEE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



He says: "We have a plenty of strawberries growing spontaneously 

 upon the farm, and, consequently, I have never taken pains to cultivate 

 this kind of fruit, but I shall take a deep interest in these plants, and if 

 they succeed well in this cold latitude, I shall take pleasure in introducing 

 them to my neighbors There are many other farmers who have "plenty of 

 strawberries growing in the fields " — or rather what they call plenty — and 

 never having known anything of better fruit, which grows four times as 

 large in the garden, wliere the wife or children could step out and pick as 

 much as the family could eat in a few minutes, have been contented to 

 live on, year after year, upon the fruit of the field, gathered with toil and 

 in insufiicient quantity. We trust that the production of these little 

 plants will teach many a lesson, and give impulse to improvement in many 

 a garden. Mr. Sherman says: "If my strawberry plants live and do 

 well, I shall have cause to tiiank the generous donor as long as I live, and 

 my children after me will associate tlie name of Horace Greeley with the 

 origin of this valuable accessory to the luxuries of the old homestead, and 

 generations yet unborn shall 'rise up and call you blessed.'" Mr. Sher- 

 man asks the following questions : — 1st. What kind of soil is most suita- 

 ble for the plants ? 2d. What kind of manure is best adajited to their 

 rapid and healthful growth ? 3d. Will it do to plant the several varieties 

 in the same locality, on account cf their mixing ? 



Mr. A. S. Fuller in answer to the above : — 1st. "Any moderately rich, deep 

 loam." 2d. " Any rich, well-rotted compost." 3d. "Yes; but it is better 

 to plant them in separate beds. As to the time of planting, there is really 

 no wrong time during the growing season, if the ground is moist and is 

 kept moist, and the plants well shaded if the weather is hot. It is a 

 mooted point whether the best time to plant strawberries is autumn or 

 spring. With care they will succeed well in both seasons — as a general 

 thing, probably best in spring. 



Minnesota Sweet Corn. 



Mr. Silas Gaskill, Spring Valley, Fillmore county, Minnesota, says 

 that he has a variety of sweet corn far superior to that lately mentioned 

 by our Iowa correspondent, which grows in remarkably small ears, but 

 very early, while this of Mr. Gaskill's grows in ears of twelve inches 

 long, large grains upon a small cob. The seed came from the Patent 

 Ofiice. 



Osier Willows. 



A correspondent of Campbclltown, N. Y., writes as follows : *' I wish to 

 obtain, through the Farmers' Club, information in regard to the culture of 

 the osier willow. I can purchase a quantity of land at a low rate, in which is 

 about twenty acres of very fertile alluvial creek flats. Said flats are dry 

 enough for tlie cultivation of ordinary crops, but are liable to be sub- 

 merged at uncertain seasons, sometimes to the depth of two or three feet. 

 I wish to inquire whether or not such soil is suited to the growth of the 

 willow. Will it pay to cultivate it, and what profit ? Is there a demand 

 for it in New York, and what prices are paid ? How should it be set, cul- 

 tivated, assorted, and prepared for market ? What is the best variety, 

 andwhere can cuttings be obtained ?" 



