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Caption: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1869
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273 Our All wise Father made no mistake when He gave man the fruits of Eden for his food, nor has man, by his wisdom, found a diet more wholesome or acceptable. Anticipating confidently the presence of a large number of thorough, practical cultivators of small fruits, believing that the time would be more profitably spent in discussion and hearing the results of their experience than in listening longer to one, my endeavor has been briefly to introduce the subject for the evening. DISCUSSION. Mr. RICHARDS—I would like to ask what the currant worm is like. I am troubled with a worm, but don't know that it is the currant worm. Dr. WARDER—This worm is related to the caterpillar. It is voracious, and entirely strips the leaves of our currant bushes. Mr. RICHARDS—The worm to which I refer is striped and strips off the leaves from the bushes. Dr. WARDER—I think the gentleman has the currant worm. I would like to have Mr. Rice tell us how he grows his big crop of strawberries. Mr. R I C E — I do not grow them, they seem to grow themselves, and with no difficulty. I prepare the ground by trench plowing, fifteen inches deep. Set the plants out in rows, three feet apart and eighteen inches in the row, and keep them in rows. I think now I shall adopt the plan of keeping them in hills. I keep the runners cut off. In the fall, when the earth begins to freeze, 1 cover with hay. i gathered from four and a half acres 610 bushels of strawberries. This year I did not have as large a crop as last. The price of berries this year, however, has been, as a rule, greater than last year. 1 think it is one of the easiest crops to raise. I would as soon raise a crop of strawberries as a crop of corn, after the labor of setting is completed. I remove the hay in the spring from the top of the plants, and, using the fine prairie hay, I can go right in with the cultivator ; this is why I prefer the line hay to the coarse. Mr. H. J. DUNLAP was called upon to give his experience in strawberry culture. He said: I do not know that I can say anything more to the point than has been said by my friend Mr. Rice. Plow deep, set good plants in well prepared soil, cultivate clean, keep the runners cut off, and you cannot fail to have a large crop of this line berry. _**33
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