300 State Horticultural Society. 



rush is on. Prepare the ground in spring by harrowing and dragging^ 

 then take a small one-horse turning plow and open up the rows, making 

 them from seven and one-half to eight feet apart — preferably eight feet, 

 as this gives plenty of room for cultivating. 



Our method of setting requires two persons, one to go just ahead 

 with the plants, placing a plant in the furrow and holding it, while the 

 second man draws dirt around it with a hoe, gives it a gentle pressure 

 with the foot, fills up the furrow then passing to the next plant. Set 

 plants about thirty inches apart in the row. Give thorough cultivation 

 during rest of season with five-tooth cultivator and liberal use of hoe. 



The following spring go through the patch and remove all old dead 

 canes and prune the lateral branches back to within five or six inches 

 of main branch. How low to cut back the main stem is a question to 

 be decided by the variety you grow, and the location you live in. Lo- 

 cations where the wind blows very strong during the spring and sum- 

 mer months require closer pruning, as the raspberry has only a short 

 root and is easily blown over. Take your small plow and throw the 

 dirt to center, away from the plants ; after a few days, go in with culti- 

 vator and level the ground again. Keep the cultivator going once every 

 week until about two weeks before picking time. After the young 

 shoots grow up go through and pinch them back to within two feet of 

 ground. Some advocate again pinching back the laterals that put ont 

 from these stems, but I do not think it advisable, as the laterals will 

 throw out a large number of small weak branches that do not amount 

 to much, and are easily winter-killed. 



We now come to that part which we have been working for, the 

 crop, the marketing of which to many is the hardest proposition of all. 

 As a rule, our berries are marketed here at Springfield, as we have found 

 a fairly good price at home more profitable than the trouble and risk of 

 shipping to some other city. One of the greatest troubles we have is in 

 securing help to pick the berries, as it seems to get harder each year to 

 get pickers that will stay with you through the whole season. 



After the crop is harvested we again take the small plow into the 

 patch, this time throwing the soil to the plants. Keep the weeds cut 

 down, but if the grass grows rather* heavy around the vines do not be 

 discouraged, as this acts as a protection during the winter and can be 

 easily cleaned out the following spring. 



Varieties. — The Cumberland is undoubtedly the finest black-cap 

 grown now. It has its defects, some of them serious ones. What berry 

 has not? One is the tendency to become top-heavy, thus blowing over 

 easily; another and more serious one is the scald or blisters that have 

 appeared on the fruit for the last three years, making much of the crop 



