50 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Lord: I had four acres of them. 



Mr. Underwood: Did they bear the year before? 



Mr. Lord: The black raspberries bore a heavy crop. 



Mr. Burtzlaff: My experience was that the year before they 

 bore a heavy crop, and I do not believe they had time to mature 

 and go into winter quarters properly. I believe that was the rea- 

 son they root-killed. 



Mr. Vollenweider : How old were your bushes? 



Mr. Lord: They were set at different times ; the youngest were 

 three years old. 



Mr. Yahnke: Did your raspberries start to bloom the fall 

 previous? 



Mr. Lord: No. 



Mr. Yahnke: I had some red ones that did. 



Mr. Lord: I never prune my raspberries till the spring, and 

 the way the bushes looked I supposed I was going to have a big 

 crop. 



Mr. Underwood: Was there much thawing and freezing of the 

 ground? 



Mr. Lord: Yes, considerable; more than usual. 



Mr. Underwood: I believe the evidence bears out what the 

 gentleman said, that the heavy fruiting of the vines weakened the 

 vitality of the vines; then, on account of the excessive rains we had 

 late in the fall, they began growing again. As you will remember, 

 we had an abundance of rain, and it kept everything growing — 

 and they went into winter quarters in a weakened condition. I 

 think perhaps that explains it; also, the alternate thawing and 

 freezing may have had something to do with it. I will say that we 

 never had so much root-killing as we had that winter. The pre- 

 vious winter the thermometer went down to 50 degrees below, and 

 we did not lose a tree, but that winter the trees were ripened; but 

 this past winter, the time this loss occurred, there was an excessive 

 rain and a consequent late growth with alternate freezing and 

 thawing during the winter, and I think we may trace the cause of 

 the root-killing to those conditions. 



Mr. Elliot: The conditions with the raspberries were similar to 

 those found in the orchard. The trees in the orchard did not shed 

 their leaves, but they held right on until after it froze up. I want 

 to ask Mr. Lord whether he pruned out the old wood after the 

 fruiting season? 



Mr. Lord: Not in the raspberries. I never do that; I prefer 

 to let the old wood and everything remain to help hold the snow. 

 What puzzled me most was that all the failures I had ever had were 

 with the tops only; but I found the canes in good condition in the 

 spring, and I thought I was going to have a big crop, but when I 

 came to examine them they were dead. I must say as Mr. Lender- 

 wood says, "perhaps" this did it. 



