merely suggested as the usual ones applied, and it should be borne in mind that there is little danger in applying an over-dose of either potash or phosphoric acid, as neither one leaches out of the soil to any extent, nor does either one, when present in moderate excess in the soil, produce the injurious effect on the orchard that an over-supply of nitrogen does. They should be applied as early in the spring as possible, and worked into the soil as much as is possible with the method of culture adopted.

We come now to the question of cover-crops for the orchard, by which is meant some crop grown in the orchard, usually late in the season, and exclusively, or at least mainly, with the object of improving the soil of the orchard. That it can be made to play a very important part in the upbuilding of an old orchard has been shown time and again. Some of the best ones for Massachusetts orchards are buckwheat, rye, soy beans, cow peas and the vetches. The chief advantages derived from their use would be that they take plant food away from the trees in the autumn and thus help to ripen them up; that they catch and hold nitrates in the soil after the growth of the trees has stopped, and when these substances would otherwise be washed out of the soil; that they help to pulverize and rot down the sod, which is especially important at the beginning; that when they are plowed under they furnish humus, which in turn furnishes plant food to the trees; and that in the case of soy beans, cow peas and the vetches they help to keep up the store of nitrogen in the soil by what they take up from the air and store in their roots. This is by no means all that these cover-crops do, but it covers the main points, and serves to show how important they are. The general plan of their use would be this: that the orchard would be plowed as early in the spring as the soil would permit and thoroughly fitted as outlined earlier. Then thorough cultivation would continue up to the middle of July, when the cover-crop would be sown. The only important deviation from this course would be in the case of some of the leguminous cover-crops mentioned, particularly soy beans and cow peas, which often give better results if sown in drills earlier in the season, the last of June or the first of July, and cultivated several times before the orchard is laid by. Of course, the objection to this is that the cultivation by this method is much more costly, since it must be done with a one-horse cultivator, a row at a time, instead of with a disc or spring-tooth harrow, covering three or four times the space. But even this objection is often, if not usually, overbalanced by the much better growth of the cover-crop.

After cultivation ceases and the cover-crop is sown nothing further is done to the soil until the following spring, when the cover-crop is plowed under, and the programme begins again. Where a good growth of one of the nitrogenous cover-crops can be secured it is often possible to obtain all the nitrogen needed for the orchard in this way. I should feel inclined to begin with buckwheat as a cover-crop in

starting an old orchard because it is peculiarly effective in rotting down sod and putting the soil in fine physical condition. This might be followed in a year or two with either soy beans, summer vetch or cow peas.

As to amounts of seed per acre of the different crops suggested the following will be found right for ordinary conditions:

Summer vetch, .

Winter vetch,

1 bushels broadcast; 1 bushel in drills. 1 bushel broadcast; bushel in drills.

And lastly there is the question of top-grafting the trees. I have already said that I should consider the necessity of this a strong factor against the orchard, for it requires considerable time, two to four years, and not a little expense, to work over the trees into other varieties. But it frequently happens that odd trees in an orchard are of unsatisfactory varieties, and it is sometimes worth while to graft over an entire orchard where the trees are relatively young and otherwise in good condition. Where this is to be done I believe it is generally advisable to employ an expert grafter or grafters to do the work. There is often a local artist who will undertake the operation, or, if the orchard is of sufficient size to warrant it, a professional grafter can be secured from a distance. In either case it is better business, and more satisfactory generally, to pay by the stub, and to have the grafter guarantee the scions to live. Of course in such a case one must have confidence enough in the man to insure that he will not put in grafts needlessly, but after all it is better to have too many grafts than not enough, and with a little knowledge and supervision on the part of the owner there is usually little difficulty on this score. If the owner is situated so that he can do so I should strongly advise his furnishing the scions himself, and too great care cannot be exercised in selecting them. They ought to be taken from bearing trees, and if possible from those of known productiveness, and they should be thoroughly well matured and not too long jointed. Let them be selected while the trees are still dormant, and stored in moist soil or sawdust in the coolest possible place; if an ice house is available so much the better.

A great many problems will undoubtedly come up in renovating an old orchard besides those which have been discussed, and modifications will have to be made to suit special fruits, such as peaches and plums, but if a campaign along the general lines indicated could be made among the old, and at present profitless, orchards of the State, either cleaning them up or cutting them down, it would certainly do a great deal toward putting Massachusetts fruit on a better footing with both dealers and consumers, and it would make an addition to the income of the farmers of the State by no means to be despised.

STRAWBERRY CULTURE.

BY PROF. F. A. WAUGH, HEAD OF THE DIVISION OF HORTICULTURE, MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.

Henry Ward Beecher is generally credited with the saying that doubtless God might have made a better fruit than the strawberry, but doubtless God never did. This curious remark would never have kept in circulation so long had it not met with popular approval. In reality this seems to express the settled judgment of a large section of the American people. The strawberry is indeed one of our most popular fruits. It is abundantly used by every one, from the honest laborer to the malefactor of great wealth.

Probably statistics would show that the consumption of strawberries per capita is larger in Massachusetts than in any other State in the Union. This State has an unusually large population of wellpaid laborers, artisans, clerks and other good, homely, honest people, generally comprised under the term "the great middle class." These are precisely the people who are the best customers for all classes of fruits. They constitute the great strawberry market.

With such a market at our very doors, it is strange that strawberry growing has not developed into a larger industry in Massachusetts. As a matter of fact, many carloads of berries are shipped here every year. These shipments are not confined to the early spring months, before the local crop is ready, but they continue throughout the season, when Massachusetts berries are being harvested. All through our own berry season car-lot shipments are coming forward from the Hudson River section and from Oswego, N. Y. This indicates clearly that our own growers have not yet occupied the home market.

The reason for this is not altogether clear. If there were a large margin of profit in the growing of strawberries doubtless it would not take long to develop sufficiently extensive plantations within the State to supply the home demand. It is certainly true that a good many growers have not found the strawberry business profitable. Nevertheless, on the face of the returns, it would seem that farmers, fruit growers and market gardeners favorably located with respect to soil and shipping facilities would find a paying opportunity in the growing of strawberries.

There is another side of the question also to be considered, namely,

the growing of berries for home use. More than almost any other fruit, the strawberry suffers by being shipped and roughly handled in markets. The fresh berries out of one's own garden, thoroughlyripened on the vines, picked in the cool of the morning, and eaten at noon with plenty of Jersey cream, these are what make life worth living and a national inquiry into the status of the farmers' appetite unnecessary. It certainly is a fact that more attention should be given in Massachusetts to the growing of strawberries for home use.

SOILS AND LOCALITIES.

Strawberries can be successfully grown in every town in Massachusetts, so far as climate and locality are concerned, - that is, wherever a reasonably good soil is available. The strawberry plant is not extremely fastidious in the matter of soil. Any land which will produce good garden crops, especially good potatoes, will answer for strawberries. A rich, friable, warm loam is best; but even heavy clay or sandy soil will grow strawberries if sufficient care is taken.

The soil should be in a reasonably good state of cultivation before the plants are set out. It is considered bad practice to plant on newly broken sod land. If strawberries can follow corn, celery, tomatoes or other well-cultivated garden crops good results may be expected. If the plants are to be put out in spring, as is the usual practice, the land should be deeply plowed in fall and left to weather through the winter.

HOW TO GET THE PLANTS.

Doubtless the simplest way to get strawberry plants is to buy them of a good nurseryman. This is a perfectly safe proposition and nothing need be said against it. At the same time, many persons prefer to grow their own plants, and where this practice can be followed it is certainly to be recommended. In our experience, we have found a certain danger in buying plants, even from the very best of nurserymen. In the first place, it is not always possible to get the varieties wanted nor to get the plants when wanted; and, what is more serious, plants frequently suffer more or less damage in shipment. Even when packed in the very best manner they dry out more or less; or, if they do not dry out, they may mold or heat. These difficulties may be entirely avoided by growing one's own plants.

The importance of beginning with strong, vigorous, one-year-old plants cannot be too much emphasized. The weak, diseased plants, some minus roots, some minus crowns, and some two years old, sent out by bogus nurserymen, are not worth planting. A two-yearold plant which has once borne fruit is not fit to transplant; yet a considerable percentage of cheap plants offered every year on the market and taken from old fruiting beds are these two-year-old, worthless stock.

The simplest and surest way of getting plants is to take them from the sides of the fruiting rows. Each plant sends out runners during