1881.] TRANSACTIONS. 25 



Close on the heels of the Raspberry comes the Currant, claim- 

 ing its share of our time and praise; and like it, it requires 

 plenty of room in a good moist well drained soil, made very rich. 

 The l)est table currants are the Dutch, red and white, white 

 Gondouin and White Grape ; and the best market currants are the 

 Cherry and Victoria. I am glad to stand with E. P. Roe on this 

 currant question ; he says on page 223 of " Success with Small 

 Fruits:" "The horticultural doctors disagree so decidedly, that 

 the rest of us can, without presumption, think for ourselves," &c. 

 I have always contended there was no Yersaillaise, but all were 

 Cherry. 



As for protit, I have made as much from raspberries and 

 currants as from strawberries, but the crops are not so sure. 



Who would be without the Blackberry ? There were no fruits, 

 or thorns, struck me more forcibly than ihose of the Snyder 

 blackberry last year. They had the power to raise the blood to 

 the boiling point, and make it boil over, literally 1 never hav^e 

 raised anything but chickens, that drew such crowds, either rain 

 or shine, as did the Snyders. And I never ate anything but a 

 first-rate custard pie, when very hungry, that was any better 

 than a thoroughly ripened Wacliusett blackberry, taken from 

 the bushes in the cool of the early morning, and laid away in my 

 stomach in just ten seconds. Really I need only these two 

 blackberries to fill my bill ; they are hardy, productive and good. 

 Still I presume I shall try all the new varieties that are 

 advertised, and raise a few hundred seedlings, to keep my 

 spirits up. 



Blackberries need to be set four feet by eight, and if the 

 plantation is wide, every other space slionld be ten or twelve 

 feet, so one can drive throngh with a cart or wagon. 1 trim or 

 pinch but little on my soil, treat like weeds all plants that I do 

 not want, tie bearing canes to wires same as raspberries, and 

 mulch heavy enoagli to keep down weeds. I find them gross 

 feeders, like all the other small fruits we have glanced at. My 

 blackberries yielded at the rate of ninety bushels to the acre, 

 and brought 15 cents a quart, or $4.80 a bushel, or at the rate of 

 $432 per acre; about one-half profit. Part of tlie plantation 

 had been set but one year. One small lot yielded at the rate of 

 150 bushels to the acre ; they were about one-half Snyder and 

 one-half Wacliusett, and had been set three years. 



Every family that has much land ought to have a Cranberry- 

 bed. There are three American varieties — the Bell shaped ; the 

 Cherry, large and small ; and the Bugle, oval or egg shaped, 

 large and small. Altliough the Cranberry is a native of moist 

 or wet land, it can be grown profitably on dry soil, by making a 



