TWENTY FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 149 



Of the new varieties, Eldorado, which I fruited the first time last sea- 

 son, is the most promising. I could not find a cane showing the slight- 

 est injury from cold the past winter, and its fruit is very fine. Wilson 

 Jr. and Early Harvest rank high, but must have winter protection in all 

 cases, if fruit is expected. With improved methods of culture and a bet- 

 ter knowledge of the requirements of the blackberry, we shall, in the no 

 distant future, see it a leader in the berrv market. 



HOW A WOMAN GREW RED RASPBERRIES. 



BY MRS. M. S. TRINE OF ADRIAN. 



The red raspberry, and a few things I have learned in its cultivation, 

 is the subject given me. It would have been a queer thing for a woman 

 (an American woman at least) to do a few years ago, to go to fruit rais- 

 ing and gardening, but now industries are opening wide their doors for 

 women, in many new fields ; and as fruit culture has its attraction to one 

 who wishes to combine health for herself and little ones and pleasure in 

 raising the best of fruit in generous quantities for family use, this 

 decided my employment. 



Having only an acre for garden and orchard, what should I set? 

 Apples, peaches, plums, and cherries in great variety (for the space) were 

 set first. Shade trees and ornamental shrubs must have their place in 

 this home building, but while these little whip-stalks of trees were grow- 

 ing, what must be done with the land to be enriched, cultivated, and the 

 weeds subdued? We set out a row or two of strawberries, but found 

 the soil too cold and thin, over a clay subsoil, for their successful growth. 

 We had hundreds of loads of fertilizer spread over the whole lot, and 

 began to grow — weeds. Hopeful sign ! for if weeds won't grow nothing 

 will. We put in all kinds of "garden sauce" and yet there was room for 

 more. Then quince trees and currants and gooseberries went to fill the 

 space, then a few blackberries and blackcaps were tried, but found too 

 rough for a woman to cultivate, and finally 300 red raspberries, purport- 

 ing to be Cuthberts, were set in a square patch. And how they grew 

 and how quickly we got delicious berries, and how we enjoyed them! 

 We found they sprouted badly, and, to keep the sprouts and weeds down 

 while we were doing other necessary work, I had about eighty loads of 

 old sawdust drawn from a mill near by and spread nearly six inches deep. 

 It was just what that patch needed, and it bore well and was easier cul- 

 tivated. I soon saw I had set them in the wrong place, on account of the 

 shade of the trees, and the shape of the patch was bad, as it prevented 

 cultivating with the horse through the lot. So we set anew. I found 

 among the rest two bushes more vigorous in growth and bearing larger, 

 more fragrant berries. I let them sprout and from them set three long 

 rows through the garden. But as the trees grew around them they 

 became too shaded and lost vigor. So I again transplanted eleven long 

 rows, five feet apart and four feet in the row, where they could be kept 

 quite free from shade the most of the day. I had them cultivated thor- 



