10 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



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 a good crop, after the first year. The demand for currants seems never 

 to be satisfied, yet the price is seldom above two dollars a bushei. 



Picking Berries. — I use a home-made picking crate, holding two 

 boxes, made exactly like a 16-quart crate except in size, with a wire 

 handle. Each picker is supplied with one picking crate, one eight 

 quart crate and ten boxes. As soon as a picker has eight boxes 

 full the attendant takes them to a hand cart and returns eight empty 

 boxes. The picker, having two extra boxes in the picking crate, loses 

 no time in changing. 



The best endorsement of these picking- crates is the opinion of the 

 pickers. I have yet to find the first one who, after using, would pick 

 without a crate. I hire my pickers every morning, and pay cash 

 every evening. 



At this date the prospect for small fruits the coining season looks 

 encouraging. 



DISCUSSION. • 



Mr. J. S. Harris : There was one point brought out there, and 

 that is the experiment we made in planting blackcap rasp- 

 berries twice as thick as we expected them finally to stand. 

 It gives us a full crop the next year after setting. We let 

 them grow the first year and cut them back to two and one- 

 half feet the next spring, and give them a good mulch. We 

 get a full crop the next year. 



Mr. O.F. Brand: I wish Mr. Harris would state the variety of 

 currants he has that are most profitable. 



Mr. Harris: Red Dutch, 



Mr. C. Wedge: I would like to ask Dr. Prisselle what he real- 

 izes from currants, and if they are generally profitable. 



Dr.M.M. Prisselle: They areinmostseasons,butthe past year 

 was most unprofitable; we had about one third of a crop, 

 They are quite as profitable as grapes. 



Mr. Wedge: What do you realize from them? 



Dr. Prisselle: It figures from $2 to *4 a bushel. I sold most 

 of them for $4. 



Mr. Wedge: What varieties do you find the most valuable? 



Dr. Prisselle: The Stewart and Long Bunch Holland I 

 find the Red Dutch are a very unprofitable variety. The Ste- 

 wart brings in the market a dollar per bushel more than the 

 Red Dutch. 



Mr. Wedge: Has any one had any experience with blight on 

 currant bushes'? 



Mr. Harris: Do not know what it is. 



Mr. Wedge: I have a letter here from a gentleman in regard 

 to that blight. I have never heard of it before. He inquired 

 what causes blight. He says he has three kinds of currants, 



