STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 81 



thick. He was very partial to the Turners. 1 have been grow- 

 ing them on my grounds, but mine have not been mulched. My 

 berries were a little under size last year. We had a good many 

 berries. I have made up my mind that I am going to plant out 

 my berries and plow them out and reduce the quantity of stalks; 

 but I don't think I shall mulch any, because I haven't anything 

 to mulch with. We want an early bearer; it is the early variety 

 that brings the money, and I think that is the Turner. I think 

 by cleaning out the rows I can get fair sized berries. We want 

 to get them two weeks earlier, and if you don't, the Philadel- 

 phias come in. People want berries in the season right along, 

 and the earlier the better. That is the reason I am opposed to 

 mulching; it brings the finest kind of berries, but it brings them 

 in market a little too late, when the high price is over. I would 

 rather have a little smaller berry and have them very early, 

 when you can get twenty-five or thirty cents a quart; but if you 

 want big berries you will get them by mulching. 



Mr. Jenkins. I don't know very much about raspberries, but 

 I would like to inquire if there is any advantage in pinching back ? 



Mr. Smith. Yes, they ought to be cut back in order to get a 

 vigorous growth. 



President Smith. My experience is that you don't need to 

 cut them back, but I recommend pinching them back when the 

 canes are not over two feet high. As they grow out I would 

 pinch them back. 



Mr. Whipple. I think the president has hit it; and the time 

 to do that is just when you are expecting your berries to ripen. 

 When you are out in the patch looking at the bushes, pinch the 

 ends back, and by the time you get through looking for berries 

 your briars will all be pinched back. That is the time to do it. 



Mr. W. Muzzy, of Fergus Falls. I live in Otter Tail County 

 and am not a member of your society, and don't know as I have 

 a right to take part in this discussion; but I would like to ask 

 about whether it would not be necessary for us in our locality, to 

 remove this mulching so that the sun would cause this moisture 

 to dry off so that the canes will ripen. I am trying that to see if 

 they will not kill back. I also think that to be sure of success 

 we need to have our patch of raspberries somewhere in a pro- 

 tected place where the southern sun can get in and warm them 

 up. I notice that some of my neighbors have lost their canes l)y 

 the sun warming them up too soon. Then the frost would kill 

 them. I would like to hear a word for our enlightenment up there. 

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