State Agricultural Society. 479 



of all these fruits in their season, and yet the price in most of our 

 markets is as high, or higher, than years ago. This may, in a measure, 

 be accounted for by the cultivated taste and increased demand, which 

 has far outstripped the increase of population. 



We are aware that there is a general desire for information on the 

 subject of growing small fruits. Many of our small farmers and others 

 are turning their attention to it as a business, and many families who 

 have a few rods of land in cultivation, could, by using some discrimina- 

 tion in planting the proper kinds to keep up a rotation, have their 

 tables supplied from April to November with the most healthy and 

 desirable fruits. 



The facilities for procuring plants of all the new sorts of our nursery- 

 men, and from abroad through the mails (which charge only half a cent 

 per ounce, and allow packages of four pounds weight to be carried), 

 though not as yet half appreciated, has stimulated many to great exer- 

 tion in small fruit growing; and many acres are now planted where but 

 a few years ago there were none. With a constantly increasing demand 

 many more will turn their attention to growing these fruits. The busi- 

 ness is not now considered an experiment, but an established and suc- 

 cessful occupation; and like growing the larger fruits, if prosecuted 

 with energy, skill, and economy, will return corresponding profits. 



The skill necessary to grow these fruits successfully and with profit 

 must be learned by experience, as well as other things. The main ob- 

 ject of most persons who cultivate them for market is profit, and to 

 secure the greatest return for the capital invested, several points must 

 be carefully considered. 



First, and one of the most important, is the location of your grounds. 

 Procure your site as near the city and your market as possible. Land 

 within a mile of town is cheaper at two hundred dollars per acre for 

 this business, than the same quality of land three miles away at one 

 hundred dollars per acre. If you will calculate the difference in interest 

 on the cost of the land first mentioned, and compare it with the many 

 disadvantages you will labor under in being far from market, inconve- 

 nience of procuring help at a critical time, wear and tear of teams, etc., 

 you will readily perceive the importance of a good location. 



Next, use careful discrimination in selecting the kinds of fruit that 

 succeed best in your locality, and such as will keep up a rotation 

 throughout their season. Visit the grounds of your neighbors who are 

 successful fruit growers; have your wits about you and your eyes 

 open; ask questions about everything new to you, and you will get 

 more practical information in an hour or two spent for the purpose, 

 than you can get by reading all the essays ever written upon the 

 subject. 



It was not my intention to enter into a description in detail of how to 

 grow small fruits. The subject, thus treated, would fill a volume, and 

 necessarily create an elaborate discussion of particular theories relative 

 to the different plants, locations, soils, and fertilizers for the different 

 sorts, etc., and cannot be contained in a short essay. I shall, therefore, 

 confine my remarks in this connection, to a few of the leading and most 

 valuable sorts of raspberries and blackberries which I have under culti- 

 vation on my ground, and of these can speak from experience, leaving 

 other varieties of fruits for members to discuss who can speak of them 

 from the same standpoint. 



The raspberry is one of the most delicious berries we have, coming, 

 as it does, directly after the strawberry; in fact, the earlier sorts of this 



