42 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
.February, so I started to pick them. 
Perhaps I got two hundred boxes of 
soft fruit and I threw out what we 
could not ship and sold the rest at 
$2.00 a box. That, no doubt, was the 
result of the drought, and I am con¬ 
vinced that non-cultivation and close 
planting had a great deal to do with 
it. The trees are large ones, interlock¬ 
ing their limbs and roots so as to oc¬ 
cupy all available space. In my other 
groves, the trees have come through 
in fine shape; they show little curling 
of their leaves and have a good setting 
of fruit today. If there is a drought 
on, I would cultivate often and keep 
the surface very fine where this does 
not interfere with treatment of dis¬ 
eased conditions. You know it has 
been said that two cultivations are 
equal to a rain. 
The planting of trees according to 
the new horticultural method, which 
I suppose you all understand as the 
Stringfellow method, is also a matter 
I would like to speak about. Quite a 
number of years ago, our former presi¬ 
dent, Mr. Adams, and myself met Prof. 
Budd, who was one of Mr. Stri ngfel- 
low’s first converts, at an American 
Pomoloo'ical Societv Convention in 
o 
Washington, and we went over the 
ground thoroughly. Soon after, we 
planted according to this new method 
experimentally. On uncultivated 
ground, it is claimed to work finer than 
where the ground has been thorough- 
1 }^ cultivated beforehand. The roots 
put down and go deep and do not suf¬ 
fer from drought; the fruit is finely 
and highly colored, and will stand ship¬ 
ping better, according to the claims* of 
its advocates. I planted some of them 
by the Stringfellow method and, some 
of them by the old method in alter¬ 
nate rows, and during this drought 
those trees planted by the Stringfellow 
method have come through and show 
but very little harm from the drought, 
while the alternate trees set by the old 
method have suffered some. I think 
the conditions have been exactly the 
same except the difference in the meth¬ 
od of planting. Those trees have been 
planted at least eight years, long 
enough to have them; sho'w definite re¬ 
sults. 
Mr. -What is the size of the 
tree? How do they compare? He 
(Mr. Stringfellow) claims a larger 
growth. 
Mr. Hart—It is rather in favor of the 
“new horticulture” style of setting 
trees. I went over them just a short 
time before coming here to note that 
particularly, and it is in favor of those 
set out by the Stringfellow method, 
though not very marked. The ground 
in both styles of planting was thor¬ 
oughly cultivated. 
Mr. Longley—I set out a grove that 
way some twenty years ago. I did not 
know that it was anybody’s method in 
])articular. I had not found out that 
the roots went down straight, but that 
may be the cause my grove did not suf¬ 
fer. I know of a neighbor who was 
setting out some lemon trees some 
seventeen years ago and he tried the 
experiment. He set one of them ac¬ 
cording to my suggestion. For the first 
vear, the tree that had the roots spread 
out made the best growth, but the next 
year the other one came up with it, and 
the two are very much alike. I do not 
know that the roots have anything to 
do with it. 
Mr. Kerr—I was about to ask to have 
