GROWING SMALL FRUITS ON THE FARM. 423 



Oldenburg, Wealthy, Patten's Greening and, probably, two or three 

 more standard varieties, will be ample. It is also a good plan to set 

 out two or three trees each year to take the place of old ones that 

 for various reasons become unprofitable. 



Avoid Trucking in Fruit. — As a rule, the farmer should avoid 

 trucking in fruit. That is a business in itself. To enter that field 

 would mean that the farming would suffer. The farmer should 

 aim only to grow a plentiful supply for himself and family. If he 

 grows too much some seasons, let him enjoy the luxury of asking 

 some neighbors to come and pick the surplus. If fruit is grown 

 on the lines indicated, those who grow it will be surprised at the 

 smallness of the area required. They will also realize that the labor 

 called for will not interfere with the regular work of the farm to 

 any appreciable extent. 



Mr. Henry Husser : I think it is wrong to advise to plant trees 

 in sod and keep them in sod to protect them from blight. I think 

 it is rather better to cultivate a tree and feed them with certain sub- 

 stances to prevent blight. I think it is the exhaustion of the soil that 

 causes blight in trees, because trees in a newly planted orchard are 

 not so subject to blight as trees in an old orchard, whether in sod 

 or cultivated, and I believe it is better to give them cultivation. 



Prof. Thos. Shaw : You have heard the question the gentleman 

 has put. I am not surprised that it has come, and although I recog- 

 nize the fact that nine out of ten persons in this house are on the 

 other side, yet that does not shake my conviction, and I cannot put 

 it away from me, and this conviction is based upon my observation 

 in traveling through the state of Minnesota, that the best fruit is 

 grown and the trees live the longest when planted and kept in sod. 

 But, mark you, the trees must be carefully mulched every year and 

 their growth carefully regulated by that mulch. 



Mr. A. Brackett : I agree fully with Prof. Shaw in regard to 

 growing trees in sod. I would much rather have a tree of small 

 growth and have a healthy tree than have a large tree and have half 

 of the top killed by blight. I can agree with that argument, but I 

 cannot agree with what he says regarding the Turner raspberry, 

 that is, for general planting. Out of thousands of acres I do not 

 know of a single plantation of Turner raspberries that is paying, 

 while the King is perfectly hardy and grows a fine berry, and I do 

 not think the farmer would want a better berry than the King. 



Mr. J. M. Underwood: I cannot let this subject go without a 

 defense of cultivation. My observation and my experience are both 

 based on the care of thousands of trees in the orchard, and if there 

 is any more blight in the cultivated orchard than there is in the 

 orchard that is in sod I do not know it, but I do know that if any- 

 thing there is a little more blight in a sod than in a cultivated 

 orchard. 



Prof. Shaw: Mr. President, I have this to suggest: We have 

 a state experiment farm. W^e have one of the best professors of 



