Smyrna times., 1894-12-12
Meeting of Kent County Farmers
Institute in Smyrna
POINTS ABOUT STRAWBERRIES, APPLES
AND PLUMS.

POINTS ABOUT STRAWBERRIES, APPLES
AND PLUMs.
The Kent County Farmers Institute met
in the Opera House Wednesday afternoon
and evening before an appreciative number
of farmers, among whom kenton, Bren-
ford, Cheswold, Leipsic and vicinity were
we'll represented. The meeting served to
promote an interest among our hOrticultur-
lists, which was manifest by the number of
questions put to the speakers of the occa-
sion. A. J.. Hudson of this town was
elected chairman of the meeting and j.
Wesley Webb OF Dover secretary
The first speaker of the afternoon was A.
w. Slaymaker, a prosperous farmer of
Dover. He took for his subject straw
berries" He spoke of the value of care
full cultivation; how they should have
plenty of sunshine and water, and that
farmer to be successful nowadays must sell
such products as are largely composed of
water. This is the case with strawberries.
One Of the great noints Of fruit raising is TO
know how To hanqlE It, AOst farmers as soon
as their Fruits ready for shipment rush it off
in the heat of the day and before it reaches
the markets, many boxes are spoiled or
affected so as to bring poor prices At u
little expense ice could be used and in thus
keeping the fruit cool, will find ready mar
kets and bring good prices Good straw
berries will always sell. In naming over
the different varieties and their different
characteristics he gave as the most profit
able Variety the tovett He Gays the
LOvett, it properly cultivated, Is the hest
berry grown, and will Out-sell the Bubach,
Crescent or any Of the leading varieties.
APPLES AND PEARS
The next speaker was H. f. Vandeman of
Parksley, Va, formerly of the Horticul-
furo1 Dano nf WoebinufOr ro
marks were directed to 'apples and pears, )"
and in his interesting talk he was inter
! rupted several times by questions which
| were put to him by his hearers. He spoke
Of how this Peninsula was adapted to the
| growth Of such fruit and advised every
| farmer, If he had room, to grow an orchard
| of apples In speaking Of the different
varieties, he said that in most ever case the
market demands n red apple He could
not tell the reason why, but it was so. OF
| all the early varieties sent TO market the
| most profitable one was the Red Astrakh han
and always found a ready sale. 1t is a good
| apple, Of beautiful red color and well
! adapted for the Peninsula. A new variety
not commonly known to the farmers, is the
! Fannie. This, he thought, would be good
to try, for an early apple it could be profit
ably groYn in this section. lle spoke very
! mvorably of the Red June and the yellow
| TRANSPARENT. In touching upon grating
he rather preferred root to top grating,
and thought where properly done was a
great benefit to an orchard.
SO much time was taken up in the dis
cussion of apples that he had very little
time to dwell on pears. Naming over a
number OF varieties, however, he said the
best variety and one which took in the
markets from choice rs well ms remuner-
alive point of view, was the "kiefer." Why
this was So he said he was not able to ex.
plain rs be thought there was no variety
talked moro against than it. lie closed
with a short discussion about sev0ral of tho
leading varieties and their peculiar char
acteristics The meeting adjourned till
evening.
PLUMs
me evening session was not so nattering
~ attendance AS night is bad time to call
tIn larlhers out. However it was interest
ge.nbse ,ng nnh those who attended,. gained some
Ionaao'e i'1au points. The speaker Of the even
ing was d. w. Kerr a nrominent fruii
grower OF Denton, Md Refore enterino
upon the subject OF his remnrks s'nlums Z
ne mhue reference TO the lack of unity
organization. Never in history has there
been a UNITY among agriculturists and 4
lack of interest TO avail themselves of IN
benefits that such Organizations NAV evolva
In discussing the varieties OF 1lnms ~