76 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



BLACKBERRIES AT LAKE MINNETONKA. 



THOMAS REDPATH, LONG LAKE. 



I wish some one better qualified had been chosen to write this 

 paper, but I will try and tell you how we grow "Blackberries at 

 Minnetonka." We plow the ground deep in the fall. I think sub- 

 soiling would pay. After the ground is plowed, we mark out the 

 rows eight feet apart; then we plow out two furrows where the rows 

 are to be planted; in the furrows we put from four to six inches of 

 well rotted manure and turn the two furrows back. When the 

 ground is in good condition in the spring, we set out the plants 

 three feet apart. The first year a row of vegetables is grown between 

 each row. We cultivate every week from the time they are planted 

 until Aug. 15, when all cultivation must cease in order to let the wood 

 ripen before cold weather. About Oct. 20, we lay them down and 

 cover them with earth, as all blackberries must have winter pro- 

 tection in Minnesota. We uncover in the spring as soon as freezing 

 weather is over and cultivate the same as the first j^ear. They need 

 no cutting back in the spring; let them bear all they will. 



As soon as picking is over, cut out the old wood close to the 

 ground. The second fall the canes will have made a growth of 

 seven or eight feet. Then we laj^ them down the same as the first 

 fall, but instead of covering them all with earth, weonlj'^ put enough 

 on the ends to hold them down; then we cover them with marsh hay, 

 straw or coarse manure, and when they are uncovered in the spring 

 we put this mulching around the plants; it holds moisture, and 

 blackberries like something decaj'ing about them. This spring 

 they must be wired. This is done by driving posts on each side of 

 the row twenty feet apart; one wire on each side, three feet high, is 

 enough. This year we inay expect nearly a full crop — what we call 

 a full crop is from $300 to i^OO per acre. The varieties that do best 

 here are Snyder, Stone's Hardy and Ancient Briton. The first two 

 are the most reliable. 



GETTING APPLES TO MARKET. 



SIDNEY CORP, HANMOXD, MIXN. 



•'I could have sent a few apples to the winter meeting, but knowing 

 that most of the apples for exhibiting there had been in cold 

 storage, and as mine had no advantage of this kind, or any extra 

 care, I concluded not to send any. Besides, I am not in favor of 

 showing apples at the winter meeting that have been in cold storage 

 and think none should be exhibited but such as would keep under 

 ordinary conditions, as it may induce people to plant trees of vari- 

 eties that would prove very unsatisfactory. 



"My apples kept poorer this fall than ever before; I had them all 

 gathered before I went to the f^ir, and when I got home I found 

 them getting so ripe and soft, that I thought it would 'give me 

 trouble to handle them. Iliad a standing offer for them at ninety 

 cents per bushel cash if I would deliver them in good condition, 

 but to do this and haul them fourteen iniles in a wagon was diffi- 

 cult, seeing they were mostly white apples that would show the 

 smallest bruise. But I did it and delivered nine loads with perfect 

 satisfaction in the following manner: I took sugar barrels and 



