234 Appendix. 



Planting. — Land well prepared before setting. Set tips if possible; 

 set in February, March, or April. Place them in rows eight feet apai't 

 and four feet apart in row. Keep clean from weeds and grass, the same 

 as strawberries. Plow, cultivate, harrow, and hoe, and they will bear 

 for five or six years well. The tip ends of the plants of the first year's 

 growth will rest on the ground. If new plants are desired, soon after 

 the first rains in September or October, go along with a hoe and cover 

 the tip end with soil one-half to one inch deep. These will root and 

 give new plants for setting the latter part of winter or sprin<;'. 



The second year, when the new shoots are from eighteen to twenty- 

 four inches high, clip off the top; this will cause them to branch and 

 form a tree. Some clip these branches again when they have giown 

 two or three feet, in August, and some leave them till sprrng and cut 

 back just as they wish them to bear. Permit only from four to six 

 shoots, or canes, to grow in a hill. Never cut back a cane to tv/o feet 

 after it has grown to be four or five feet high. Clean all of the old 

 canes out in fall or winter. 



Picking. — Here is the only drawback. Slow work. Many berries went 

 to waste this year for want of pickers. We can raise the berries to 

 perfection, but let no one conclude that they can run or manage a few 

 acres till they know where the help is coming from. It requires about 

 four to five persons per acre to gather them. The price paid for picking 

 is from 1 to two cents per box or pound. The picking lasts about three 

 weeks. 



Here the berries are sold to the canning company at 4 cents per 

 pound, or dried. At present prices it pays better to dry them. For the 

 past five or six years dried berries have sold for 16 to 18 cents per 

 pound, delivered at railroad station here. This year they were 22 1,^ 

 cents. A crate of twenty-four pounds will give from six and one-half to 

 eight pounds dried. This varies with the season. This year GOO potmds 

 produced 200 dried for me. 



In this climate they are easily dried. For the past seven years I have 

 dried nearly all of the berries raised on two acres, in the sun. Place 

 them on trays made of lath, three by four feet, covered with cloth, and 

 in about three days they are ready to gather in. The trays will last for 

 years if cared for. They are easily dried in a dryer. Do not dry them 

 too hard. When dry, if you have many, put them in a pile, and shovel 

 them over about twice a week till you are through drying the crop. 

 Procure sugar sacks, both inside and outside sacks, sack them as sugar 

 is sacked, and they are ready for market. 



When removed from drying trays, pick out all stems and leaves. There 

 is a ready market for such fruit every year. 



This year the cannery at Springbrook canned about 21,000 pounds of 

 fresh berries, and there were about two tons of dried berries shipped 

 from here at $450 per ton. 



This year the average income per acre was not far from $100. Some 

 more and some less. Where they were well cared for and all gathered 



