212 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Here is another thing- that may interest some of your profession- 

 al nurserymen. I found when I went to the old country such trees 

 or shrubs as the rhododendron making such a magnificent showing 

 that I wished the North Star State could grow rhododendrons and 

 scatter them throughout our western groves. I found they used 

 lilacs, syringas and other shrubs. I found it was easy to propagate 

 them very cheaply for the outside of the shelter groves and it would 

 make a better windbreak and everybody would admire the home, and 

 if they admired the home they would admire me. We get the benefit 

 of both beauty and utility. I am speaking now not only to the nurs- 

 erymen, but to those who like myself are amateur prairie settlers. 

 Don't be afraid of the cost of these things. The cost is not high if 

 you will only order them of your nurserymen by the hundred and 

 place them as I have said, and you will find they will serve you thor- 

 oughly. 



Mr. W. L. Taylor : If one row of red cedar is placed near the 

 windbreak it makes a thorough protection. They will grow in al- 

 most any soil, and with us we find it one of the finest windbreak 

 trees we have. 



OPERATIONS IN WORKING THE SOIL IN GROWING 

 RASPBERRIES AND BLACKBERRIES. 



W. S. WIDMOYER, DRESBACH. 



As others will tell us how to properly prepare the soil for plant- 

 ing these fruits I will commence with the cultivation. 



We plant blackberries in rows eight feet apart, the hills being 

 four feet apart in the row ; raspberries in rows seven feet apart, 

 three and one-half feet apart in the rows, letting them grow together 

 in the rows after the first year. 



We plant early potatoes and tomatoes between the rows the first 

 season, always planting early potatoes between the black raspberries 

 in order to get the land clear in time to layer the tops to raise our 

 plants. In planting this way we can cultivate both ways a good 

 share of the first season. 



As soon as the berries and potatoes are planted, we go over the 

 field with a small fourteen-tooth cultivator, and as soon as the po- 

 tatoes are up go through again with a large one, and hoe around the 

 hills with hand hoes, keeping the cultivation up, at intervals of ten 

 days or two weeks, until the potato vines cover the ground, when 

 cultivation should be discontinued until the potatoes are ripe and 

 dug. Then we give the black raspberries one more good cultiva- 

 tion and, if necessary, hand hoeing, to properly fit the land for lay- 

 ering the tips and put it in shape for winter. 



