380 ANNUAL REPORT 



to consumers or to the retail dealers, thus avoiding all cost of 

 transportation and commissions that our brethern of the south 

 have to pay when shipping to our market. But a small portion 

 of our fruit is shipped west or north; it is too soft. No attention 

 is paid to the growing of firmer and better fruit that could be 

 shipped to a distant market. The bulk of our crop is sold and 

 consumed within ten miles of where it is picked, yet with these 

 advantages none of us are getting rich out of the business; some 

 are only making a living, while others are losing money and be- 

 coming discouraged with the low prices that have ruled the past 

 few years. In reading the papers I notice a great deal is said 

 about the man who grows from 5,000 to 10,000 quarts of straw- 

 berries and raspberries to the acre and sells them at fifteen and 

 twenty cents per quart while nothing is said about the man that 

 gets from 1,000 to 2,000 quarts per acre aud sells them at four 

 or five cents per quart. Less acres, more and better cultivation 

 might remedy some of the evils. 



RASPBERRIES. 



I do not intend to tell where the first raspberry came from by 

 what name called, nor their quality or value, but give in brief 

 form what I know about raspberry growing and marketing. 

 Raspberries are attracting more attention at the present time 

 than ever before; it is a fruit much admired by many. Though 

 never so popular as the strawberry, we have grown them for a 

 number of years for market, but not to the same extent as at 

 present, their cultivation is quite profitable. No fruit that comes 

 after the strawberry is more sought for than the raspberry and 

 until the last few years was very scarce in our market. The red 

 varieties are getting quite plentiful; the black is not grown in 

 sufficient quantities to supply the demand. 



Our land is of rather a sandy nature but by preparing it the 

 same as for strawberries we have good success with the hardy red 

 varieties, namely Philadelphia, Turner and Cuthbert. The prep- 

 aration of the land is of great importance for on this depends 

 the growth of canes the first year and the crop of fruit the second 

 as well as for years after. The land should be plowed deep, and 

 well pulverized, then marked off in rows three feet by six for the 

 red and three feet by eight for the black. At this distance apart 

 they are easily mulched, which is very essential in this dry 

 climate. Marking is done both ways using a marker similar to 



