RASPBERRY CULTURE 

 Fred A. Smith, Director Essex County Agricultural School 



Mr. Chairman, Members of the Massachusetts Fruit 

 Growers' Association, Ladies and Gentlemen: I remember 

 distinctly, a few years ago, hearing a large peach grower 

 say at one of these meetings that the consumer paid alto- 

 gether more for his basket of peaches than they were worth, and 

 since I am not a grower of peaches but an enjoyer of good 

 peaches, I have been many times inclined to agree with him. 

 Now, I am coming before you to make this statement in the 

 small fruit field, namely, that I believe the ultimate con- 

 sumer — about whom we hear so much— if he is able to obtain 

 good raspberries, often pays more than they are worth. 

 When I go to our Eastern ]Massachusetts markets and find 

 raspberries which approach my ideal of a good box of ber- 

 ries, I am fully convinced of that. We often pay from 

 twelve to sixteen cents per pint, and even more, for good 

 berries, and I always think when we have spent a consider- 

 able time, in trying to determine what should be the stand- 

 ard package, the standard box, when I see the offerings of 

 many of our markets, where you have to get right over the 

 crate in order to discover the berries, — I think there ought 

 to be some standard quantity of fruit in this standard pack- 

 age. (Laughter) 



I think the subject that has been given me — "Raspberry 

 Culture" — will strike you as being quite broad or general, 

 but I am going to spend most of my time with the red rasp- 

 berry, because in Massachusetts the Black Cap is not found 

 grown in commercial quantities, and I believe it is hardly 



