STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 101 



even in the mildest climates, without this protection; but all varieties 

 of grape vines, amply repay for this protection. 



Mr. Harris. I would like to inquire if raspberries are treated in the 

 same way as blackberries? 



Prof. Porter. In the same way; I loosen the soil around the root so 

 that it will bend without breaking. I will say that in preparing the 

 plant for going into winter quarters by checking the growth, I do that 

 by simply pinching; I don't want any knife, but by the thumb and 

 finger pinch back the vine, throwing all the strength into the cane. 

 In growing blackberries, I allow my canes to grow until about three 

 feet in height. If Jet alone, a blackberry bush will make a rank 

 growth, and has been known to grow seventeen feet of cane in one 

 season. Of course, in that case you would have to cut about twelve 

 feet off. By this process of pinching back you throw the strength of 

 the vines into the fruiting buds, with this protection you can grow 

 them without difficulty. 



A Member, How do you cultivate your raspberries in the summer? 



Prof. Porter. Well, sir, in the first place I want them planted in 

 rows, for the purpose of economy of cultivation. I prefer growing in 

 rows so that they can be cultivated, leaving plenty of room between 

 the rows for thorough cultivation. I commence by plowing from the 

 rows. I approach the hills until the plow strikes the rootlets of the 

 plants, and am not afraid of injuring them. I find it stimulates the 

 growth of the fruit more than enough to compensate for any damage 

 done. After throwing the furrows from the vine, leaving a center un- 

 broken, I then put the cultivators in and keep the ground thoroughly 

 tilled and cultivated for a week or ten days, working it back towards 

 the vines. After that there is nothing but the merest surface cultiva- 

 tion. I was led to this method of cultivation about twenty-four years 

 ago. It was just after the commencement of the war, in 1862. I was 

 in the grounds of a large grower of small fruits in southern New Jer- 

 sey. He had a lot of raspberries and blackberries. He was a Northern 

 man and a Quaker, and had an immense stock there, which he couldn't 

 sell, and of course it was a great loss. He had a great success in the 

 cultivation of the blackberry. In July, when I went through with 

 him, in many places the fire weeds, jimson weeds, and grass was all 

 over his patch of seventy-five acres, and you would have to hunt to 

 find his blackberries. I laughed at him and asked him if he called that 

 a model garden. The old gentleman stands about six feet, six, is well 

 proportioned, very moderate and very slow in his speech, but direct 



