388 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



tree soil on your place make your soil to conform to that kind as near as 

 you can. Light, chaffy soils are to be avoided. Black land seems to have 

 the fault of growing too much wood and not enough fruit. It also has 

 the fault of not giving good color to fruit. In a seven-acre blackberry 

 plantation where the rows are eighty rods in length, and where soils of 

 almost all kinds are encountered, we find the heaviest loaded bushes and 

 the plumpest, juiciest berries on the higher clay points that were once 

 covered with large sugar tree and white oak timber. Canes are more 

 hardy, thi-ifty and upright in growth. We should recommend that all clay 

 land be thoroughly underdrained with drains not above two to three rods 

 apart. Don't try to get something for nothing. Our country is now old 

 enough to begin to do things right, and this is one of the most important 

 things to do. 



The Climate.— While the climate is a very important condition to suc- 

 cess, there is not a great deal to be said about it. The climate of Indiana 

 is all right for bush fruits, and barring a very severe winter now and then 

 and occasional late spring frosts we have little to complain of in the mat- 

 ter of climate. Raspberries have suffered most from severe winters. Not 

 since the year of '95 have we had general destructive late frosts; and the 

 season of 1901 we note as the most destructive to the blackberry crop 

 from excessive heat and drouth. We lost a great many berries last season 

 during the heated period for lack of help in picking. Hot? Indeed it was. 

 I think every fruit grower will remember it. But these extremes of 

 climate are the exception and not the rule and no one need hesitate to 

 plant bush or any other fruits in Indiana on account of the climate. 



The Man.— As previously noted in this paper we believe man to be the 

 most important link in the chain of conditions that relate to success. The . 

 man who is going to succeed with bush fruits can take "any old soil," in 

 almost any climate, and get proper results. Man can bring success or 

 failure at will. If the man isn't right, there's no use to talk about soils, 

 cultivation, climate or anything else; success can not come. You can not 

 imagine success without intelligent thinking man. He must know what 

 he's about. He should have a natural like for the beautiful and the more 

 intricate things of nature. He should be able to see something more in 

 the business than blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries and dollars. He 

 should have good business qualifications to enable him to place his 

 products upon the market to the best advantage. He should be indus- 

 trious, or weeds and thistles will infest his plantation and rob him of his 

 profits. 



Planting and Cultivation.— Planting should not be attempted until 

 there has been thorough preparation of the soil by frequent harrowing 

 and pulverizing until there is a fine level surface. The plowing should be 

 deep. Ground should be in a state to crumble, so that the soil may be 

 easily worked about the roots of plants. When everything is in readiness 

 ground should be marked off in rows about seven feet apart for black- 



