44 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The committee on fruit awards reported awarding- nearly $500 in 

 premiums on fruits and flowers, mostly on apples. Several amend- 

 ments to the constitution were adopted, and hereafter only those 

 who have been members two consecutive years previous to election 

 will be entitled to vote, except life members, who can vote without 

 being- affected b}^ the time limit. 



Geo. H. Van Houten gave an interesting talk on "Foreig-n Horti- 

 culture." Space fails us to mention all the good things that were 

 crowded into the three daj^s of the meeting-, but any one can obtain 

 the whole thing and much more with it by sending $1,00 to Geo. H. 

 Van Houten, the secretary elect, at Des Moines, Iowa. 



In conclusion, your delegate wishes to return thanks for the kind 

 and courteous treatment that he received while attending the meet- 

 ing-. 



THE BLACK RASPBERRY. 



\V. J. HOPKINS, BLOOMIXGTOX. 



Looking? at small fruit growing from a purely commercial stand- 

 point, laying sentiment and professional love for accomplishment 

 in this line aside, taking- the business in a business way, there is 

 ample ground for encouragement and a wide margin for success to 

 the patient, careful planter and active, industrious cultivator of 

 small fruits. I have not the time nor ability to do more than record 

 a few observations and crude remarks, for which I ask your patient 

 hearing and lenient criticism. 

 I have selected the black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) as perhaps 

 the best known and least regarded by our planters in the list of 

 small fruits at home and entirely successful in this climate. I be- 

 lieve there are no specialists and few large planters of the "blacks" 

 tributary to this market; while the fact is that of the whole list of 

 plants cultivated for market, either vegetable or fruit, the black 

 raspberry comes very near the first place in possible profit, in ready 

 sale and in easy transportation. What variety shall I plant? Well, 

 in case j'ou go to the experimental farm or to the catalogues, you 

 are apt to be bewildered with the strong recommendations of many 

 varieties. If you go to the central market or to the commission 

 houses, the case is different. There are only two varieties offered for 

 sale in any amount, viz: the early, jet black, shiny Souhegan and the 

 laro-e, late, meaty Gregg, when grown under favoraI)le circumstan- 

 ces so covered with bloom as to change the color from black to a 

 blue graJ^ Of all our Northern grown berries there are none that 

 delight the heart of the weary, sun-bathed berry picker as a well 

 cared for field of Greggs. Three hundred pint boxes are occasion- 

 ally harvested by a nimble fingered picker in one day. 



Which are the most profitable? At Brierfield the Souhegan is a 

 favorite as a money maker. $3.00 per case of twenty- four pints is the 

 rule for early berries, and we get all our Souhegans off before the 

 Greggs come on. Walter Finch, of Eden Prairie, brought some fine 

 Chios to market last year. Their season is intermediate. Perhaps 

 the best late berries shown last year were from Long Lake— 



