244 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ripened small fruits, and consider the blackberry the healthiest of all. In 

 behalf of your bright eyed children, and noble, self-sacrificing wives, I 

 once more appeal to the sturdy yeomanry of this great western prairie to 

 provide a generous supply of home grown small fruit for your families. 



DISCUSSION. 



M. Cutler : There is one point we might make in regard to 

 covering the bushes after they are two or three years old, that 

 is in laying them down at right angles with the row, then in 

 taking them up they will lean one way, and the berries will 

 nearly all be on one side of the row, which makes it a great deal 

 easier to gather the fruit. 



Wm. Somerville: Before you lay them down you cut all the 

 tops back? 



M. Cutler: Yes, sir. 



J. S. Harris: The Lawton is a variety that ripens very late. 

 It is also rather more tender than any other variety I have 

 tested, and it is much harder to get out of the ground after it 

 is once in than any I ever got hold of, and I do not think it will 

 bear more than one year out of four. 



Wm. Somerville: I would like Mr. Cutler to tell us how he 

 plants and cultivates blackberries for the first two years, as I 

 belong to the institute corps and would like to gather all of 

 the knowledge I can at this place on the present occasion. 



M. Cutler: In answer to friend Somerville 1 would say, as I 

 said in my paper, I would set them rather deep, for this reason : 

 some seasons we are apt to have a dry spell in the fore part of 

 the season, and the blackberries should be set four or five 

 inches deep. 



In the second place, I would not make the land too rich; just 

 ordinary soil. If the land is too rich the soil will dry out, or 

 they will make too rank a growth of bushes, and where a bush 

 grows too rank it does not produce much fruit. 



They are not likely to grow over two feet the first year. Af- 

 ter the first year I would lop them off at about three feet high. 

 Cultivate the same as you would corn, but, as I said in my 

 paper, do not cultivate too late, because this vine gets too 

 much growth later in the season and is more tender. 



M. Pearce: There is one point I would like to speak of 

 The blackberry starts very early in the spring; it is very likely 

 to get too early a start. I think the red raspberry and black- 

 berry should always be planted in the fall; it will do in the 



