THE RED RASPBERRY IN MINNESOTA. 297 
THE RED RASPBERRY IN MINNESOTA. 
A DISCUSSION, 
(Concluded from the July number.) 
The President: I would like to ask Mr. Lyons about the time of 
covering. Why isit necessary to wait until late? If you havea 
good many to cover, why do yeu have to wait until the leaves are all 
killed by frost? 
Mr. Lyons: There are some varieties that shed their leaves quite 
early, and those which hold their leaves the longest I cover the 
latest. The Loudon and Columbia shed their leaves the latest. 
The- President: That is just the point I want to bring out. Do 
you know that it will do any harm? 
Mr. Lyons: I donot know. I always delay it until the leaves fall 
if I can. 
The President. What time do you commence to cover? 
Mr. Lyons: I calculate to have them covered by the first of No- 
vember, so I commence the first of October. 
The President: In covering our raspberries we were sometimes 
afraid there would be some damage done by covering them too 
early, but so far we have done no harm. I hardly think that in 
covering them with dirt there is any danger of moulding. 
Dr. Frisselle: I have had a large experience with raspberries, and 
I have come to the conclusion that it is an advantage to cover them 
early. If you wait until it is cold and frosty, then, in bending down 
the canes, they are liable to break. The best time is when the canes | 
are warm and wet, when they are not liable to injury. Blackberries 
are very liable to break if the weather is cold and frosty; more so 
than raspberries. 
The President: Did you ever try covering the raspberries and 
leaving the old brush there? I think you could save something in 
that way. That is, cut out the old rubbish and allow it to lie on the 
ground until after the canes are covered, and then burn it. 
Mr. Lyons: You might let it stay until spring; it would hold the 
snow better; but I draw it off. 
The Pecnident: Why not leave it there until spring and then burn 
it? 
Mr. Lyons: It would be in the way of covering them. 
The President: I do not think so; we have not found itso. We 
just gather it up in little windrows and let it lie there, and it saves 
considerable labor. 
Mr. Lyons: I think it is better to have the ground clean. 
Mr. T. T. Smith: In covering your raspberries, do you use the 
plow or the shovel? 
Mr. Lyons: We use the shovel in covering our red raspberries. 
Mr. T. T. Smith: I would like to ask whether it is absolutely nec- 
essary to cover red raspberries. One of my neighbors has a small 
patch in his garden, and I was athis place last summer when he 
was picking raspberries,and the bushes were perfectly full, and he 
never covers them. 
