FRUIT REGION OF THE BIG BEND OF THE COLUMBIA, 461 
Great Northern crosses the river, which is probably just as good fruit land 
as any in the state-of Washington, but it has a very forbidding appearance 
now, from the fact that there is not a spring or brook or even a well on the 
entire tract. It lies but two hundred or three hundred feet above the level 
of the river and is easily within reach of irrigation. Givem plenty of water, 
the price would rise from less than a dollar an acre to a hundred dollars an 
acre. The only question first to be solved is whether there be any reason 
that does not appear on the surface why this land will not produce as good 
and as much fruit to the acre as poorer soil above Wenatchee does. A two 
years’ test of a few rods watered by teams would determine this point. 
(To be followed by an article on Methods of Cultivation by the same 
author in an early number.) 
DRAWBACKS TO BLACKBERRY SUE URE: 
THOS. REDPATH, LONG LAKE. 
There are some drawbacks to success in blackberry culture in Minnesota. 
The canes grow very strong and are full of briars, which makes them hard 
to handle, and it is difficult to lay them down and protect them for the win- 
ter. This keeps a great many people from planting them. We cannot ex- 
pect to make a success of growing blackberries unless we give them winter 
protection. I have tried covering them with hay and straw, but it is not sat- 
isfactory, as the mice will damage a great many canes during the winter. 
The only successful way is to cover them entirely with dirt, and it is the 
cheapest, because it is right where we want it. 
Also they must have thorough cultivation from the time we uncover 
them in the spring until we commence picking the fruit. IJ think the black- 
berry needs more thorough cultivation than any of the other small fruits, as 
they are the last to ripen their fruit, and, as a general thing, it is pretty dry 
weather. , 
With me'the blackberry is the most profitable of all the small fruits. 
The yield is more to the acre, and when marketed the returns are more sat- 
isfactory, the market never being overstocked. Of course they require 
some extra labor, such as wiring and tying them up every year,.but if given 
proper winter protection and thorough cultivation until the fruit commences 
to ripen success will be ours, and we shall be well repaid for all extra*work 
given them. 
Mr. Latham: How many acres of blackberries have you? 
Mr. Redpath: I had three-fourths of an acre, and I grubbed 
out half an acre; I found I could make as much from a quarter as 
from three-quarters of an acre. (Laughter and applause.) 
Mr, Latham: How would it do to cut that down to an eighth 
of an acre? 
Mr. Redpath: I don’t know how that would do. I cover them 
all over in the winter with strawy manure; I did not have enough 
to cover three-fourths of an acre, but I can get enough to cover a 
quarter of an acre. 
Mr. Wright: Does not straw bother you in cultivation? 
Mr. Redpath: I first harrow it, and after that it does not in- 
terfere. 
