HARVESTING THE BLABKBERRY CROP, 209 
Mr. Haggard: What do you do with the inferior berries? Do 
you leave them on the vines? 
Mr. Widger: Yes, we leave them on the vines. 
Mr. Beardsley: How many cases did you get? 
Mr. Widger: We picked something over eight thousand boxes. 
Mr. Beardsley: How long have you been growing black- 
berries? 
Mr. Widger: I have been raising blackberries for eight or ten 
years. We also raise strawberries and raspberries. We had some- 
thing over eight thousand boxes. 
Mr. Beardsley: What variety of blackberries do you raise? 
Mr. Widger: Ancient Briton, Snyder and Stone’s Hardy. 
Mr. Latham: What is the character of your soil? 
Mr. Widger: It is timber land; it is new land, all of it. 
Mr. Yahnke: How old is your plantation? 
Mr. Widger: My oldest is about nine or ten years alae and 
there are parts of it not so old. 
Mr. Yahnke: Did you ever manure it? 
Mr. Widger: Yes, I manured part of it, but I never mulch 
my blackberries. I don’t think it is necessary to mulch. 
Mr. Smith, (Wis.): Do you consider eight thousand boxes a 
good crop? 
Mr. Widger: Yes, sir, | consider that a good crop. 
Mr. Smith: How far apart are your rows? 
Mr. Widger: Eight feet apart, and three feet in the row. 
Mr. Elliot: He spoke of the quantity of berries raised per acre. 
I want to call your attention to a little piece of ground, about a 
quarter of an acre, on which this year were picked seventy-one and 
a half crates, which marketed for $106.75. That is at the rate of 
about 4,576 quarts per acre. The method raising those blackberries 
is like this: In the fall of the year they are laid down and covered 
with soil (it is a clay soil). Then there is a mulch put on top of that, 
which acts as an extra protection for winter. In the spring this 
mulch is pulled out into the middle of the row, and when the vines 
are uncovered the soil is put on top of this mulch and as the weeds 
start the cultivator is run over the top, but the mulch is so rotten 
it does not interfere with cultivation. It is kept thoroughly culti- 
vated until berry picking begins. The fruit is turned over to an 
association that has made arrangements for shipping their berries 
to Dakota. 
Mr. Wright: You can take a small piece of ground in a very 
superior location and make it yield much better in proportion than 
several acres, as arule. From my experience on my own place, I 
