May, ipip 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 7 



Growing the Red Raspberry in the Puyallup Valley 



THE Puyallup Valley of Western 

 Washington is an extensive pro- 

 ducer of small fruits, and is par- 

 ticularly noted for the high quality of 

 its red raspherrics. There are several 

 varieties of raspberries grown: the 

 Cuthbert, Antwerp, Marlboro, King, 

 St. Regis and one or two others. The 

 Cuthbert raspberry is the most ex- 

 tensively grown, and the other varie- 

 ties in the order listed. The Cuthbert 



By Harold D. Foster, Sumner, Washington 



per pound in the Puyallup Valley, while 

 buyers bought raspberires at diflerent 

 Oregon points for 5 to 8 cents per 

 pound. 



The raspberry prefers a well drained 

 rather light soil, although good crops 

 are produced on the heavier types of 

 soil if the drainage is good. The matter 

 of good drainage is very important, as 

 the raspberry will not stand a poorly 

 drained soil. 



Showing Red Raspberry field at Riverbend Farm 

 feet high and picking time about two weeks off. 

 berry fields in the Puyallup Valley. This field pr 



Red Raspberry is much preferred by 

 the cannery, as it holds its texture well 

 in the canning process, and because of 

 its iweet flavor is known as the "sweet 

 berry." The Antwerp and Marlboro 

 have a more acid flavor and are called 

 the "sour berries" by the canners. Also 

 the Cuthbert raspberry is an excellent 

 shipping berry and the last pickings are 

 as firm and sound from a shipping 

 standpoint as are the first pickings. 

 This is not true of the Antwerp, Marl- 

 boro, etc., which are unfit to ship to- 

 ward the end of the picking season and 

 have to be turned into the cannery for 

 juice or jam making. 



The growers of the Puyallup Valley 

 through their marketing agency, The 

 Puyallup and Sumner Fruit Growers' 

 Association, are extensive shippers of 

 fresh raspberries, blackberries, etc., to 

 the territory throughout the upper Mis- 

 sissippi Valley, including the States of 

 Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, 

 Nebraska and Kansas. Cars of fresh 

 raspberries arrive in good condition as 

 far east as Detroit and north to Winni- 

 jieg, Canada. Working in close co- 

 operation with the fruit growers' asso- 

 ciation is the Puyallui) and Sumner 

 Fruit Growers' Canning Co., a .$600,000 

 corporation, whose policies are con- 

 trolled by the growers themselves. So 

 successful have the fruit growers' asso- 

 ciation and canning company been in 

 realizing good prices for the producers 

 that outside buyers of fruit are forced 

 to pay double for the fruit of the Puyal- 

 lup Valley, in comparison with what is 

 paid elsewhere. For instance, last sea- 

 son (1918) raspberries brought 12 cents 



about June first, with new canes three to four 

 This is an excellent example of one of the fine 

 oduccd 7.50 crates per acre during season 1918. 



In planting we set the raspberries in 

 rows to 8 feet wide with the plants 

 from 2 to 3 feet apart in the row. The 

 rows may run north and south or east 

 and west, although with the rows run- 

 ning north and south most of the fruit 

 seems to set on the east side of the row 

 and the new canes grow up on the west 

 side of the row, making it easier for the 

 pickers to harvest the berries. Heavy 

 posts are set at either end of the row, 

 with lighter posts at intervals of about 

 20 feet, and on these posts are stretched 

 three wires. The fruiting canes are 

 woven or tied on the center wire and 

 the two outside wires support the new 



canes as they grow, keeping them up- 

 right and out of the way of the pick- 

 ers. As the growers of raspberries 

 know, new canes grow up from the hill 

 every year and bear fruit the following 

 year. 



In our valley the new canes grow 

 from (i to 9 feet in height, and from 

 5 to 8 canes are left in the hill to bear 

 fruit the following year. During the 

 winter or early spring the dead canes 

 which bore fruit the previous year are 

 cut away and the new canes are woven 

 or tied along the center wire at a height 

 of from 4 to 5 feet. This brings the 

 raspberries at a convenient height to 

 pick so that little stooping is required. 



The raspberry is a heavy feeder on 

 the plant food in the soil, and to pro- 

 duce good crops, a heavy application of 

 fertilizer is required at least every 

 other year. Ten to fifteen tons of stable 

 manure to the acre produces good re- 

 sults. Different kinds of commercial 

 fertilizer are also being tried. As to 

 results, from 400 to 750 crates of berries 

 to the acre are common yields, and this 

 will net the grower from $500 to .$1,000 

 per acre. 



The Puyallup Valley is situated be- 

 tween Seattle and Tacoma and the 

 growers are able to get plenty of pick- 

 ers each summer from these cities to 

 harvest the crop. The raspberry pick- 

 ing starts from June 15 to July 5, and 

 continues about six weeks. Parties of 

 women and girls and families consist- 

 ing of the mother and children of 10 to 

 18 years make the best pickers. Pick- 

 ing berries is not a man's job, and men 

 and older boys do not make good pick- 

 ers. The pickers are paid by the crate, 

 consisting of 24 pint cups, and are able 

 to earn from $1 to $3 per day, although 

 about .$1.50 is the average day's pay. 

 Families of mother and children are 

 often able to return to the city with 

 from $150 to $200 above their expenses 

 for the month's work. The growers 

 furnish the pickers with comfortable 

 houses or tents furnished with a stove, 



(■,uthl)(i I Red Rasplii 



field lakeii Mii> 1.'), al liivciliend l-'arni, in I'uyalUip Valli-.\, \\ :isliingluii. 



