LAKE MINNETONKA FRUIT GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION. 285 
the active berry season draw from the treasurer one-half of the money col- 
lected and due him for fruit sold on his account. 
XIX. 
No certificate of shares shall be issued to any person until the full amount 
of said share has been paid, and no person shall become a stockholder except 
by consent of a majority of the board of managers. 
XX. 
Any member selling fruit outside of the association will be subject to a 
fine to the amount that the board of managers may deem just, and such 
fine may be retained from the amount owing said member, and be divided 
as other surplus is divided. 
XXI. 
If any member wishes to withdraw from the association he shall notify 
a member of the board of managers, and the board by a majority vote may 
release him. 
At a regular meeting of the stockholders of the Minnetonka Fruit Grow- 
ers’ Association the hereto attached constitution and by-laws were by vote 
adopted by said association on this 15th day of March, 1808. 
MILO STUBBS, President. 
Attest: 
ROLLA STUBBS, Secretary. 
PRUNING, FALL CULTIVATION AND WINTER PRO- 
TECTION OF THE BLACKBERRY. 
R. A. WRIGHT, EUREKA. 
Pruning.—Pruning the blackberry satisfactorily is one of the most diffi- 
cult problems I have met with in my endeavor to make blackberry culture 
profitable. My plan, for a time, was to pinch off the young canes at a 
height of three feet. This process makes the cane very stocky and throws 
out a great number of laterals which grow from two to four feet,long. This 
makes the work of winter protection very difficult. Other seasons I have 
not cut the canes back until October. This plan is not satisfactory to me, 
as it is almost impossible for the pickers to walk between the rows. Be- 
cause of their height many canes are broken off by the wind, making this 
kind of pruning expensive. The last two years I have attended to the 
pruning just before the berries ripened, cutting back all canes to four feet 
in length. I like this plan much the best of any I have tried, as the pickers 
can gather the berries very easily and the canes are handled very nicely 
when being covered for the winter. 
Fall Cultivation —I never cultivate the blackberry in the fall. During 
the berry harvest, if the weather is dry, I keep a dust mulch about two 
inches deep, by cultivating every other day with the fine tooth cultivator. 
This keeps the soil well stirred and helps to retain the moisture. 
Winter Protection.—This is the problem that is difficult for the amateur 
fruit grower to solve. I believe it is useless to grow the blackberry unless 
it is well protected from our Minnesota winters. 
It has been very amusing to me to see how some people protect their 
blackberries for the winter. They take hold of the top of the canes, and 
