GROWING SMALL FRUITS ON THE FARM. 4I7 



will follow the advice. He knows that he must meet competition in 

 his line that will produce the highest quality of berries and that he 

 must adopt the methods that will conduce to that end, in a sense 

 regardless of the amount of labor involved. Tell a farmer that by 

 planting a dozen apple trees in the spaces around his dwelling and 

 by keeping them sufficiently mulched he will soon have a supply of 

 apples for his family, and he will plant them. But tell him that he 

 must plant these apple trees in a straight row and keep them care- 

 fully cultivated from year to year, and he will think five or six times 

 at least before he plants them. 



Who Arc Most Concerned. — The farmer may not be greatlv con- 

 cerned as to whether his family shall be supplied with small fruits 

 or not, but such is not the case with his wife. The man may be 

 mean enough to ask his wife to make bricks for him without straw 

 when preparing the meal. She knows perfectly well that she can 

 make bricks for him much easier with a supply of straw in the form 

 of small fruits. She will cast her ballot for growing small fruits 

 every time, should a vote be taken on the question in the farm home. 

 In many instances she will be willing to grow them herself if an 

 easy way is pointed out to her of doing this. The same is true of 

 the children of the farm home ; they will get to work to grow small 

 fruits if they are only shown how. 



This brings us face to face with the question, how can the owners 

 of farms be reached where small fruits are not grown, so that in 

 the future attention will be given to the growing of these ? 



Hozv to Reach Farmers. — With reference thereto I would sug- 

 gest the following : Let the Minnesota State Horticultural Society 

 look up some man who knows well the needs of farm homes and 

 the habits of farm life. Let them ask that man to draw up a state- 

 ment as to the simplest manner possible whereby the farmer can 

 supply his home with small fruits, such as may be grown in this 

 country. This statement should include the growth of strawberries, 

 red raspberries, blackcaps, currants and gooseberries. It should 

 give the method of growing them that will give the farmer the nec- 

 essary fruit at a minimum expenditure of labor. It should name 

 such varieties only as are known to be hardy and productive, and 

 in no instance should many varieties be named. 



This statement should be published in every agricultural paper 

 in the country, and it should also be given for publication to every 

 daily and local paper in the northwestern states. This statement 

 should be addressed to the farmers, their wives and their families, 

 and they should be urgently requested to preserve it for future 

 reference. In this way some families would be persuaded to grow 

 small fruit who do not attempt to grow it now. 



