GROWING SMALL FRUITS ON THE FARM. 415 



GROWING SMALL FRUITS ON THE FARM. 



PROF. THOMAS SHAW, ST. ANTHONY PARK, 



, It would be interesting to know the proportion of the farmers in 

 this northwest who grow enough of the various small fruits on their 

 farms to supply their own families and, also, the proportion of those 

 who fail to do so. It is my conviction that in Minnesota and the 

 two Dakotas for every farmer who grows a sufficiency of these there 

 are ten farmers who do not even make the attempt to grow them. 

 This view is based on observation — and it may be mentioned at this 

 point that the passing upon the farms entered for the J. J. Hill prizes 

 gave the writer an excellent opportunity for such observation. 



Small Fruits Can Be Gro-uii. — If small fruits could not be grown 

 on farms in the states mentioned, such a condition would afford room 

 for neither surprise nor concern ; if great difficulty was found in 

 growing them, or if they could only be grown with partial success, 

 the condition expressed would not afford matter for much surprise. 

 The truth is that there is not a farm in all the northwest on which 

 small fruits could not be grown abundantly to supply the needs of 

 the family. In view of this fact, therefore, and the condition pre- 

 viously stated, the question naturally arises, why is it so? 



Why Not Grown. — The answer to this question like that to many 

 others is not so easy by far as the question. It may not be possible 

 to give all the reasons for such an anomalous condition, but it would 

 seem fair to say that some of them may be given. Among these 

 reasons the following would seem to be prominent: 



First. The grain growing and grain selling farmer has got into 

 the habit of growing grain only, of sending it to the market, of put- 

 ting the net revenue in the bank or investing it in more land, as long 

 as there is net revenue, and of looking with a sort of contempt on 

 any other line of production. The same line of reasoning which 

 leads him to buy his butter will also lead him to buy his fruit rather 

 than grow it. If he has followed soil plundering for many years, 

 his habit becomes so confirmed that he will never change. His boy 

 may be persuaded to grow small fruits, but not the father. Re- 

 luctantly, therefore, one is constrained to say in regard to this old 

 sinner of soil plundering, "let him alone, he is joined to his idols.'' 



Second. The average farmer has an erroneous conception re- 

 garding the labor involved in growing small fruit sufficient to supply 

 the wants of his family. The thought is deeply rooted in his mind 

 that this cannot be done without much labor, and that such labor 

 is called for at a time when other farm work is pressing. Convince 

 the average farmer that he can supply his home with a sufficiency 



