THE BLACKBERRY PATCH. IO5 



Mr. J. W. Murray : Did you say that the Ancient Briton would 

 stand your latitude without protection? 



Mr. Anderson : Yes, sir. 



Mr. Murray : Do you get a crop every year ? 



Mr. Anderson : I get three crops out of five years. 



Mr. Murray : This is as well as anybody does. In putting 

 mine down I always lost as many as I saved. 



Pi of. Robertson: Are they in the shade of trees? 



Mr. Anderson : Some of them are, and they do as well as those 

 that are not. 



Mr. R. A. Wright : If he were living around Lake Minnetonka 

 and trying to raise Ancient Briton, instead of getting three crops in 

 five years I don't think he would get one. I never got a crop of 

 Ancient Briton blackberries by leaving them up all winter. How- 

 ever his place is a good deal further south than we are. If any one 

 started further north than this I would advise him to leave them 

 alone. 



Mr. Brackett : I never succeeded in this latitude without win- 

 ter protection. 



The President : We lost nearly all of ours last winter, and they 

 were well covered. (Laughter.) 



Mr. S. D. Richardson : We had the biggest crop we ever had, 

 and they were never covered, (l^enewed laughter.) 



The President : I trust the farm students are getting a great 

 deal of valuable information out of this. (Great laughter.) 



Mr. A. D. Barnes (Wis.) : In central Wisconsin the native 

 home of the Ancient Briton blackberry, we have been wonderfully 

 successful in growing them, and, as a rule, we cover them. If we 

 could be guaranteed three feet of snow I do not think we would 

 cover our blackberry vines at all. We always bend them at the root 

 and cover with earth. 



The Secretary : I have been at Mr. Anderson's place, and I 

 think that his soil and location has a great deal to do with it. He is 

 very successful in growing blackberries on his farm, and also some 

 plums which it would be of ver}^ little use to plant in the average 

 location. He is right on top of the bluff at Lake City. I think his 

 location is about three hundred feet above the lake. He has an ideal 

 site for fruit growing. His soil is a black loam, not too rich, with 

 a good clay under it and plenty of lime in it. It is high in the air 

 and at the edge of the bluff, so that the air drainage is perfect. 

 Under those circumstances and conditions he can raise fruit that 

 would be tender in another location. 



Mr. Gardner : What was the cause of the loss of two crops in 

 five years? 



Mr. Anderson : Freezing. 



Mr. Gardner : Winter-killing ? 



Mr. Anderson : Yes, sir. 



Mr. Murray : My observation is that what blackberries we do 

 not cover in this region are not worth growing. 



Mr. Richardson : Sometimes blackberry plants will live if grow- 

 ing up with trees. I have had them come up in the nursery rows, 

 and they came through perfectly. They were volunteer plants. 



