175 



and w»? lool^ed for a remedy. I thought, "If 1 !hay« got lo 

 winter cover raspberries with earth, I -Mill stop raising them," 

 I have probably covered them 20 times since, so that shows 

 any fool is liable to change his mind, and it isn't a serious op- 

 eration nor verj" expensive. You caia i-over an acre of rasp- 

 herries Igt $25 in good shape, WHaen you have them cov- 

 <ered, you -cannot charge -all that expense up to covering, be- 

 cause when uncovered in the spring, with a little work they 

 are in prime condition to start the season. 



Our method of covering is about like this: We plow a 

 furrow — or perhaps, two as close in as we can. The bad 

 wood is all broken out, of couree, before we begin covering 

 operations. One bears the canes down, gathering them with 

 Ills arms and hand and pressing them down to the ground. 

 Then one on each side throws some dirt on the canes. While 

 they are covering them, the one who is holding them down 

 takes a new lot and lays the tips side of the other bunch be- 

 hind him, and the dirt is thrown on to them, so when he gets 

 through with that operation he has the tips down, and ac- 

 <'ording to the size of the cane, the bend will be up anywhere 

 from a foot to 15 inches from the ground. "We use a one- 

 horse plow and plow two furrows of earth as close to the 

 vine as we can, and have the furrow turn over nicely. Then 

 plow another furrow, and two men go along with a shovel 

 and throw the second furrow on to the first. That will leave 

 us with probably half of our cane covered with an arch at 

 the bud that will not be covered. I have never been able to 

 cover that completely, nor found it necessary. I never had 

 winter killing to any extent covered that way. It would be 

 impossible to coA^er the whole length of the cane in a thrifty 

 plantation. 



Of course, the first Avork in the spring would be to uncover 

 them, which is comparatively easy. We plow one furrow on 

 each side with a light plow. Then a man goes along, using 

 a light potato digger, hoeing away some of the earth about 

 the bigger end of the vine, and then lifts them out and pulls 

 away the soft dirt. We do not attempt, at this time, to level 



