A LITTLE OP EVERYTHING IN SMALL FRUITS. 383 



A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING IN SMALL FRUITS. 



FRED E. CUTTING, MINNESOTA SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE. 



This subject summarizes what I am growiog on one and a half 

 acres of ground at my home, in the southeastern part of Minnesota. 



I began raising small fruits three years ago, securing at that time 

 about half an acre of currants, gooseberries, red and black rasp- 

 berries and blackberries. 



Currants and gooseberries bring a low price in my home market, 

 gooseberries selling for five cents a quart and currants for five to 

 seven cents, but they have been my surest and most profitable crop, 

 considering the small amount of labor required to grow them. I 

 secure good crops of currants and gooseberries by pruning the 

 bushes early in the spring, then heavily mulching the ground be- 

 tween the bushes so as to keep the ground moist and prevent weeds 

 from growing. I give them no other care, except to spray them 

 with white hellebore to destroy the currant worm. The past season 

 (1898) currants yielded at the rate of over one hundred bushels per 

 acre, and the last two seasons gooseberries yielded at an average 

 rate of one hundred and seventy bushels per acre. 



The market is limited at present, but there is a noticeable increase 

 in the demand each year. I market currants in quart boxes and 

 gooseberries in bulk. 



Red raspberries are in greatest demand in the market which I 

 supply, therefore I grow them more extensively than the other 

 fruits. The varieties which I have grown are the Turner and Lou- 

 don, having secured two plants of the Loudon the first year it was 

 offered for sale, and increased the planting each year since. It is 

 the best red raspberry I have seen, being large and firm, and the 

 bushes hardy and productive. 



I have the Nemaha and Palmer black raspberries. The Nemaha 

 is large, firm and productive, making a good raspberry for home or 

 distant market. The Palmer is doing well for early market. 



The Golden Queen yellow raspberry is very desirable for table 

 use, and does well for a canning berry, only that it loses its beauti- 

 ful pinkish color somewhat when cooked. 



The Snyder and Ancient Briton blackberries yielded a good crop 

 in 1897, the Ancient Briton bearing the heavier. During the winter 

 of 1897 8 both varieties were injured, the Ancient Briton not bearing 

 any fruit the past season (1898), but the Snyder, seeming to be hardier, 

 set some fruit, which did not mature because of the dry weather. 



I had an unknown variety of blackberries which yielded good 

 crops of large berries, but of such poor quality that a person would 

 not care to eat them a second time; so I dug them out and planted 

 Loudon red raspberries in their place. I set out a thouaand straw- 

 berry plants in the spring of 1897, and they made a good growth 

 that season but were injured during the next winter because of not 

 being covered, and the crop was nearly a failure. I have about one- 

 third of an acre of strawberries set out now, for fruiting and grow 

 ing plants, consisting of Bederwood, Warfield, Enhance, Crescent 

 and Haverland. 



