256 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



not show much injury at present will develop canker and frozen 

 sap blight, and should next winter prove a severe one will yield up 

 the ghost after one attempt at fruitfulness. 



One lesson from the winter may be that it is unwise to allow trees 

 to overbear. On my place, at La Crescent, old trees of Duchess, Fa- 

 meuse and some others that fruited very heavily show that they 

 were overtaxed and are going into decline, while trees of most of 

 the same varieties, from five to ten years old, that did not bear very 

 much look vigorous and healthy and are making a strong growth. 

 Another lesson of the winter is that orchards located on elevated 

 lands with northern aspect and clay and limestone soil, will with- 

 stand the rigors of a winter like the last much better than where 

 located on lower or level valley lands or southern slopes. 



The winter was not unusually severe on injurious insects. The 

 plum curculio, apple gouger and codling moth are more numerous 

 than I have ever before seen them, while for some reason insectiv- 

 orous birds do not appear to be as plentiful. 



TREATMENT OF THE BLACK RASPBERRY FIELD 

 DURING HARVEST. 



R. A. WRIGHT, EUREKA. 



Now if I were to tell you how I treat the black raspberry field dur- 

 ing harvest in a season when there is plenty of-rain, a very few words 

 would express it all. I simply cultivate once in ten days, to keep 

 the weeds down. During a dry season, however, much more time 

 and labor are required to get the best results from the berry field. 

 As I am a firm believer in the dust blanket to retain moisture, I plan 

 by cultivating to keep a good blanket of that sort in my berry field- 

 To keep the surface of the soil well stirred, I run my twelve tooth 

 cultivator through the field about every other day, or right after 

 each picking, as the pickers always pack the soil more or less, and 

 by cultivating about two inches deep, the field is in pretty good 

 shape to withstand the drouth. The quality and quantity of fruit 

 harvested fully repay for the extra labor. Although it is not custo- 

 mary in our locality to cultivate the berry field during harvest, I 

 have proved to my satisfaction that the dust blanket pays. 



Mr. C. L. Smith: I want to ask Mr. Wright if he can keep up 

 the size until the close of the season by following his plan of 

 cultivating? 



Mr. Wright: Much better than without cultivation. 



Mr. Taylor: What varieties of blackcaps do you raise? 



Mr. Wright: The Doolittle — I have discarded the Doolittle 



the Hilburn, Souhegan and Nemaha, but I have about 



given up blackcaps. 



Mr. C. L. Smith: Why? 



Mr. Wright: On account of disease. Disease has taken hold 

 of all of them. I found the Souhegan and Nemaha the most 

 profitable, especially the Nemaha, 



