37 



differ on yaiieties, others on soil, others on location and still 

 others on methods of pruning and so on. ^Methods suitable 

 m one locality may be unsuitable in another five miles away. 

 For instance ; on our place the Cuthbert seems perfectly 

 hardy while less than five miles away, on the banks of the 

 Connecticut River, it kills to the ground every winter. In 

 this case the difference is due to location. We are told that 

 in certain sections of the middle West the red raspberry 

 winter kills, so they raise only blackcaps. With us, if any 

 winter injury is found, it is on the blackcaps. One instance 

 of how methods used to advantage one year may not work 

 another year is this. In 1913 and 1914 I topped some plants 

 of ^Marlboro in the Spring and the size of the berries and 

 yield was greatly increased. In 1915 I topped some more 

 ]\Tarlboro and believe that we actually got a smaller yield 

 than from plants not topped, while a row of Idaho less than 

 100 feet distant was greatly benefited bj' topping. So you 

 see that the details of raspberry growing must, for the most 

 part, be Avorked out by the individual grower on his own 

 farm. 



As a rule, speakers at a meeting like this, tell you how 

 you can grow^ your crops successfully by their methods. 

 This is very well, provided your conditions are like theirs. 

 But as I have just said the cultural methods of raspberries 

 are so variable in different localities that I do not consider 

 this a safe rule to folloAv. Instead, I shall try to tell you 

 how to fail, for the rules for failure are as easy to follow in 

 one section as in another. And in telling you how to fail, I 

 shall try to tell you, how, to a certain extent, you can over- 

 come conditions that cause failure. 



In order to insure a complete failure it is necessary to 

 begin right and in choosing the location one takes the first 

 f;tep toward success or failure. If you are unalterably op- 

 ]»osed to success, choose a low piece of land where water will 

 stand part of the year at least. A good stand of witch-grass 

 on this kind of land will usually insure a complete failure 

 the first year. 



