50 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



berries are ripe, the berries get so full of dirt they are not 

 fit for the market. We tried mulching and that is very satis- 

 factory, and we tried staking and we like that plan better. 



Pres. Underwood: Your answer would be, Mr. Hopkins, that 

 it would not pay to stake any variety. 



Mr. Hopkins: No, sir; I would not stake them. 



Pres. Underwood: Has any one else an answer to that 

 question? 



Mr. Harris: There is another point brought out there in his 

 cultivation. If the plants were properly taken care of, I do 

 not believe in going through but once until the plants leave out. 

 "We have wire on each side of the rows, and used that for three 

 years, but that is only on two varieties, but we shall use it after 

 this on the Nemaha and Schaffer. We are going to use wire or 

 something else. We cut back a little more on blackcaps than 

 on red raspberries. 



Pres. Underwood: Is it not better to use wire than stakes? 



Mr. Harris: It is cheaper. 



Mr. Brackett: That was really my question. I meant stakes 

 with wire on. 



Pres. Underwood: In my experience we have always put 

 up our raspberries with wire, using two wires to the vow, using 

 low stakes and setting posts at the ends of the rows, simply 

 using a light stake to hold up the wire, so it does not sag too 

 much, interlacing the wire and bringing the raspberries up be- 

 tween the wires and, crossing the wire each time. There may be 

 some better way. That is what we want to find out here, and 

 the very thing we are all interested in is to know whether it pays 

 to use wire. I have ten acres of raspberries coming into 

 bearing next year that we are going to stake up with wire 

 as an experiment any way, and, so far as our experience has 

 gone, I should think the wire was the best thing to use if 

 you were going to use anything at all. I cannot see that 

 it would make any difference with us as to the variety. 



Mr. Brackett: I should think you would want to stake the 

 Marlboro. I suppose there are some varieties you would 

 not find it necessary to stake? 



Mr. West: What would be objection to trimming them after 

 fruiting? 



Mr. Hopkins: I would not think it would do any harm, al- 

 though Mr. Lyon claims he killed a lot of his Philadelphia 

 when he trimmed them in August at one time. I presume they 

 stopped growing, and it killed them. 



