128 State Horticultural Society. 



Harvest. It is the coming berry. The Mercereau is a good hardy variety. 

 As I have to leave this afternoon, I want now to thank the good people of 

 Versailles for their kindness and courtesy to me. 



Mr. Moore — I think the Early Harvest is the best. 



Mr. Goodman — Taylor and Snyder are good varieties. Ten acres 

 of small fruits pay better than i6o acres of farm. Blackberries are one 

 of the most delicious fruits. No home is complete without them. 

 Thorough drainage is needed to succeed with these berries. Soil that will 

 not produce corn will grow blackberries and enrich the soil in a few years. 

 In growing on a commercial scale it pays to put vegetables or goose- 

 berries in between. In preparing the ground plow in the fall and replow 

 and harrow in the spring. The rows should be six feet apart for Early 

 Harvest, and for Taylor and Snyder, eight feet, and the plants three feet 

 in the row The wide space makes cultivation easy. The first year plow 

 with the cultivator, and mulch with straw in the fall. As soon as the 

 season is over, cut out the old canes, and thin the young canes to four 

 stalks to a hill. Pinch back at three feet to make them branch. The fruit 

 should be marketed when not too ripe. Build up your home trade. Use 

 the Hallock berry box, which is square, and comes ready made. Do not 

 mash the fruit; treat your customers courteously; give full measure and 

 keep a record so as to see the results. Be enthusiastic over what you have 

 and the people will be hungry for your fruit. I have some twenty acres in 

 blackberries — the Taylor and Snyder varieties — and we find that they are 

 good money-makers. This berry leads all fruit for the amount produced 

 on a certain piece of ground. It will yield from 50 to 150 crates per acre. 



Mr. Evans — Early Harvest is the best, and Snyder and Taylor are 

 the berries after the Early Harvest. We have had 20 acres in black- 

 berries at Olden for ten years, and that land is now in corn and looks 

 better than I ever saw it before. 



Question — How can the old canes best be removed from the land? 



Sec'y Goodman — There will be no trouble in this whatsoever if the 

 patch has been properly cared for. To take out, use a knife with a hook 

 at the end ; cut the old canes and pull them out, then drag them out of 

 the rows. Or put on a big pair of boots and thick gloves ; take hold of 

 the cane and kick it off at the bottom. They will break off easily. To 

 drag the canes out of the rows, have a mule dressed in breeches to prevent 

 too severe scratching, and hitch him to a rake, or double shovel, and so 

 drag the trimmings out. There will be no trouble at all if your patch 

 has been kept in the right shape. The plants are simply little trees, with 

 laterals only a foot long, and are not hard to get rid of. 



Mr. Evans — This is a nice growing town, and the manufactories here 

 will double your population. But you have not enough fruit to supply 



