THE SMALL FRUIT GARDEN IN MARCH AND APRIL. 89 



Mr. Wright : It has proven a total failure with me the past two 

 years. I found it to fail with growers who were at first delighted 

 with it. 



Prof. Green : Is the quality of the fruit poor or does it not ship 

 well ? 



Mr. Wright : The great trouble is, it is inclined to be soft and 

 of too dark a color. 



Prof. Green : It is too ripe before you pull it off ? 



Mr. Wright : That is the trouble. 



Mr. Frank Yahnke : We had three questions asked here and 

 that is the reason I get up. I believe just the opposite to what they 

 believe. I believe they are correct, but I believe I am correct, too. 

 I do not believe the people at Excelsior know how to pick Loudon 

 raspberries. (Laughter.) If they did they would know how to 

 grow them — or else they never had them. There is another thing ; 

 the gentleman spoke against the North Star currant. If I had been 

 asked the question three years ago I should have said the same thing, 

 but since then I have changed my mind or the berries have changed. 

 (Laughter.) There is no better currant growing than the North 

 Star if you use it right. They are exactly like a plum tree or any 

 other tree, they must be used right. You have got to give them good 

 culture and plenty of manure. If you give them plenty of good 

 fertilizer you will get so big a crop that you cannot beat it with any- 

 thing else, because you couldn't get more fruit on the bush. (Laugh- 

 ter.) They are just as good as any currant you can get. I don't 

 want a sweet currant; the currant is used for jelly, and it shouldn't 

 be sweet for that purpose. As I said before, you have got to give 

 them high cultivation and rich fertilization, and they will stand by 

 you every time. (Applause.) 



Mr. Probstfield : So far as the North Star currant is concerned, 

 my experience is the same as that of Mr. Yahnke's. With me it has 

 given exceedingly good results, and if it is not what it ought to be 

 it is certainly all I can expect with the cultivation it gets. Small 

 fruit on the farm does not receive the same kind of attention that 

 a market gardener or fruit grower would give it. I am indebted to 

 Prof. Green for having sent that currant to me, and I want to thank 

 him for it. 



Mr. S. D. Richardson : When I was a farmer living in Martin 

 county and farmed like other farmers I let my currants grow wild. 

 A year before I left the farm they were covered with grass and 

 weeds in profusion. I cut them out and then went to where I had 

 been chopping wood and got the chips, with which I covered the 

 ground six inches deep, and then I covered that with well-rotted 

 manure. That year I left the farm, but the next year there were 

 bushes there as tall as my cane, and they had grown so they could 

 not stand alone. The currants bore so heavily that they would lie 

 down on the ground, and that all came of giving them plenty of 

 manure. 



Mr. Frank Yahnke: I understood Mr. Wright to say that he 

 recommends planting blackberries seven feet apart. That is all right, 

 but I tell you I would rather double it. (Laughter.) I would not 



