EvArORATED RASPBERRIES. 549 



— in many of the best berry sections. There are no close competi- 

 tors of these two varieties for evaporating purposes. The red 

 varieties are seldom evaporated, because there is little demand for 

 the product, they consume much time on the tray, and too many 

 berries are required to make a pound. Shaffer is moi*e frequently 

 dried, although it has no conspicuous place in the industry. A 

 fuller account of these varieties will be found in Part II. 



When evaporated raspberries were first put upon the market they 

 brought prices which would fairly intoxicate the sober berry growers 

 of these days. Thirty to forty cents a pound were common prices, 

 but these were clearly in excess of the value of the goods, and prices 

 fell and production increased. For the last three or four years the 

 price has probably averaged about sixteen or seventeen cents a 

 pound. The demand is brisk. There is^ profit in dried berries at 

 this figure if the grower secures a good crop ; but there are patches 

 enough in which twice this price would not leave sufiicient margin 

 to be worth the counting. With the figures which I have given and 

 allowing 1^-cent per pound for the drying of the blacks and 2 cents 

 for the reds, the grower can figure out the yield which he ought to 

 have to secure him the profit which he wants. 



II. THE FIELD. 



The farmer must grow his berries before he dries them, and he 

 oftener fails in the former than in the latter operation. It will not 

 be necessary to enter into many details of the cultivation of the 

 raspberry, for its treatment is simple, only requiring close attention. 

 Land known as good wheat or corn land is always suitable for the 

 raspberry. The remarks in Bulletin 99 respecting land for the 

 blackberry, as well as methods of training and pruning, will apply 

 almost equally well to the raspberry ; and the same may be said of 

 the directions for winter protection, although it is rarely, if ever, 

 necessary to protect the bushes in western New York. Black rasp- 

 berries are usually headed back when from 1^ to 2 feet high. It is 

 important that this heading-in be done about as soon as the canes 

 reach the desired height, rather than to leave them until consid- 

 erably higher and then to cut them off to the required point, for the 

 laterals then start low and the bush becomes stout and self-supporting. 

 It is a very general mistake to head back raspberries too late or too 

 high, causing the laterals to start nearer the top of the cane and 



