SMALL FRUIT GROWING ON A LARGE SCALE 



ONE of, if not the largest small fruit 

 growers in the province is Mr. A. 

 Railton, of Fonthill, whose place was visited 

 recently by an editorial representative of 

 The Horticulturist. On Mr. Railton"s 

 farm there are 30 acres of raspberries alone, 

 and he grows most of the other varieties of 

 berries on about an equal scale. The soil 

 which has given him the best results is of a 

 sandy, gravelly nature. The value of 

 thorough fertilization is fully realized by 

 Mr. Railton, who uses from 15 to 20 tons 

 of barnyard manure every third year on his 

 berry patches. 



" I would," said Mr. Railton, " apply 

 fertilizer more frequently were I able to ob- 

 tain it. As it is, I keep about 80 head of 

 beef cattle through the winter simply that I 

 may obtain their manure. Seldom do I 

 make any profit from these cattle. Some 

 years I am able to realize a little money in 

 the spring from the cattle, but often I am 

 not. On the whole I only come out about even 

 through handling this stock, and would 

 run behinu were it not for the manure I get 

 from them. 



"Altogether I have 125 acres of • fruits. 

 This year I lost 27 to 28 acres of strawber- 

 ries owing to the severe winter just passed, 

 or I would have had a total of 70 acres in 

 terries alone. Had the strawberry crop 



proved all right I would have had to employ 

 about 200 pickers this season, but as it is 1 

 have only about 80 engaged. 



" My pickers are mostly women, boys and 

 girls, a number of whom live 20 miles away 

 from my place. For their convenience I 

 have a house 100 feet long in which some 

 20 to 40 pickers live from the middle of 

 June to the middle of August. They start 

 with the strawberries and end with the pick- 

 ing of blackberries. 



" Pickers are allowed one cent for each 

 box of strawberries and blackberries, and 

 one and a half cents for raspberries. Most 

 of them make 50 cents to $2 a day, although 

 some girls make as high as $3 a day picking 

 blackberries. It is nothing uncommon to 

 have pickers make $2 a day for picking 

 strawberries and raspberries. 



" My raspberry bushes are set three feet 

 apart, with eight feet between the rows. 

 The rows of blackberries are nine feet apart, 

 with three feet between the bushes. I pre- 

 fer these distances, for they are convenient 

 when we are cultivating the land. It is 

 possible to use a disc harrow between the 

 rows. I prune three times during the year. 

 The old wood is taken ofif in the fall after 

 the f '■uiting is over ; the young canes are 

 clipp back in the sum.m.er and are short- 

 ened in the spring." 



Picking Raspberries on a Fruit Farm in the Niagara District. 



Raspberry pickers at work on the fruit farm of Mr. A. Railton, of Fonthill, are here shown. As stated in the article on this page, 

 Mr. Railton, who sells the bulk of his berries to the canning factory, finds it necessary to keep a large gang of pickers at work the 

 greater part of the summer. They are paid according to the amount of berries they pick. 



