SMALL FRUITS. 333 



I should prefer doing it after they got well established, and 

 at any time in the forepart of the winter. 



Mr. L. H. Wilcox, Hastings : I wduld like to ask if there is 

 any one present who has had experience enough with the Erie 

 blackberry to be able to give an intelligent opinion as to 

 whether it is identical with the old Lawton or not. The New Jer- 

 sey State Horticulture Society two years ago came to an almost 

 unanimous conclusion that the Erie was only a re-named Law- 

 ton. If this is the case, while I am still satisfied that the Erie 

 blackberry is a plant of much value, still, it would be much 

 cheaper to buy it as the Lawton than as the Erie, if they are 

 identical. 



Mr. C. L. Smith : Mr. Plants' Erie is not identical with any- 

 thing in the shape of the Lawtonthatlhave ever seen. I want 

 to say that in examining something like fifty different planta- 

 tions of blackberries and raspberries during the last two years, 

 I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Plant is doing the 

 best work in the easiest way of all I have seen. I saw 

 his blackberry plantation in the spring, in the summer, and 

 also in the fall after he had covered them with the hay and 

 the dirt, and I can heartily commend his work. He seems to get 

 the greatest results with the least outlay of labor of all I have 

 found in the business. His raspberries and blackberries were 

 bearing the finest specimens of fruit, and the vines were in the 

 best condition of all I have seen, anywhere in the state. I, 

 therefore, hope you will carefully consider what he said about 

 his method of accomplishing this. 



Mr. A. H. Brackett : I can verify Mr. Plants' system by the 

 success of a neighbor of mine, who treats his berries in the 

 same way. I think he gets the highest price for his black- 

 berries of anybody on the lake. They are very large and sell 

 at 20 cents a quart. He raises the Snyder berry. 



Mr. J. O. Barrett, Browns Valley: In my late trip up in the 

 woods between the 46th and the 47th parallels of north lati- 

 tude, I found growing there in great abundance a large number 

 of wild blackberries. Of course, I took special pains to investi- 

 gate the cause of this, and discovered that in those localities 

 where the leaves of the trees had fallen quite profusely around 

 the vines, thus properly protecting them, and where they were 

 properly protected by the trees, that they appeared to be very 

 prolific and very healthy. On inquiry I learned that they were 



