312 • ANNUAL KEPOKT. 



keep the sprouts down, while you will find that you have broken the 

 roots from the main vines and checked them. I undertook to cultivate 

 them in that way, but I soon found it was really costing me more, and 

 I took to laying them down with a spade, wholly. 



Mr. Underwood. You take the dirt out on the north side so as to 

 lay them down toward the north ? 



Mr. Hamilton. Yes, sir; my rows run north and south, and I take 

 out the dirt on the north side so as to lay them down toward the north. 



Mr. Underwood. I think that is a very important item; if it isn't 

 going to do to plow with a horse and cover them in that way, we ought 

 to know it. 



A Member. How high will they grow? 



Mr. Hamilton. They will grow from eight to twelve feet high; but 

 we endeavor to keep them back to three and a half or four feet; we keep 

 them in hills and keep down all sprouts. 



A Member. What price do you get, wholesale, for the berries? 



Mr. Hamilton. My berries this year were sold at $1.60 a case. 



Mr. Smith. Ten cents a box; about two thousand cases for the five 

 acres. 



A Member. I understand you cultivate with the hoe? 



Mr. Hamilton. Between the rows we do all the cultivating with a 

 horse; we do not cultivate very deep, using a common corn cultivator. 



A Member. Do you give them any support, after planting? 



Mr. Hamilton. Not the first season; but the second year we support 

 the canes with wires on each side. If there is nothing to protect them 

 from the wind, it will soon break them over, and they will be sprawl- 

 ing all over the ground. 



A Member. How high is that wire? 



Mr. Hamilton. About two feet and a half. We put one wire on 

 each side, and the stakes are about twenty feet apart. 



Mr. Smith. In regard to mulching, did you state the material that 

 you used? 



Mr. Hamilton. I have mulched with almost every variety of straw 

 and hay — anything that I could get. 



A Member. How much mulch do you use? 



Mr. Hamilton. You can't use very much if you cultivate. There 

 is no need of cultivating from six to eight inches on each side of the 

 row. Hardly any plants or weeds will grow under there, on account 

 of the shade. 



A Member, Do you fasten your vines by those wires in any way? 



