PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 37 



Occasionally a baiidfiil of leaves or a lump of earth or a piece of wood 

 to help fill up the box, is found. The offender, if caught, is at once sent 

 home; and seldom more than one has to leave. 



For the fruit sold to retailers and that which is shipped away, we 

 place a card in the bottom of the box, printed side down. When the 

 contents of the box are emptied, the card is brought to view, printed side,- 

 up. It tells the lady of the house the name of the variety, invites her to 

 try the fruit and, if suited, call again. We have found this a very effect- 

 ual way of advertising our fruit. 



The (Question now comes, does it pay? If properly carried on, I say 

 raspberry-growing does pay. B^t I should not depend upon the fruit 

 alone. Those little tips, trailing along on the ground, might be covered 

 and form plants. A dollar- received for plants is worth as much as a 

 dollar received for fruit. You say you can not sell them. Not unless 

 you make the effort; but it also requires an effort to sell the fruit. Both 

 combined assure success. 



Let me quote a few figures from a trifle over three acres of Conrath. 

 It was what we called the oat hill. In 1891 we grew a crop of oats on the 

 field and threshed 67 bushels, valued at 30 cents, and five loads of straw 

 brought about |35. The next year we raised 300 bushels of potatoes 

 from the same place. They sold for GO cents per bushel, or $180. Pretty 

 good! Last year we dug 42,000 plants from the oat hill. We received, 

 wholesale price, |15 per thousand, or |630. We picked 275 bushels of 

 berries, which netted |2.40, after the pickers were paid — $660, or $430 per 

 acre. I do not wish to give these figures as a basis to work on. We 

 received an advanced price for our plants, being a novelty; but |6 is a 

 low price for plants. The berries at |2 per bushel would leave |275 per 

 acre. 



To sum all, I would say: Limit the size of your patch; select the best 

 varieties; give thorough cultivation; make an object of the propagation 

 of the plants, and place the fruit on the market in good condition, and 

 you will find the culture of raspberries pleasant and very profitable. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Farnham: At what time should the cultivation begin, and when 

 should it end? 



Mr. Conrath: We begin early in spring, as early as the ground can 

 be worked. Last year our success depended on thorough cultivation. 

 On twenty-one acres I had one man spend all his time with a horse and 

 cultivator. When he was through with one end he started in again. W"e 

 had but one little shower in April, and there was no time but we could 

 remove the loose soil and underneath it was moist. Others, in the next 

 field from us, lost their berries by drouth. They literally dried on the 

 bushes, and in one case a plantation got afire, and unless there had been 

 help the whole plantation would have burned. So we keep on cultiva- 

 ting, from the time we get into the patch until the fruit is ripe. 



Prof. Slaj'ton: Was that deep or shallow planting? A. Ours have 

 been mostly black-caps, and we plant deeply. 



