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THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



these old canes the weather condition changed. July is the 

 time that we complete the picking, but that year we had a 

 rainfall of five inches in twenty-four hours. We delay prun- 

 ing the raspberry as late as we can. other conditions being fa- 

 vorable. 



Now about the removal of the prunings. We think we 

 have reduced that to a minimum of trouble. We use a home- 

 made tool. We hitch a horse to a sort of rake, the principal 

 features of which are the teeth and a wooden head. It has 

 but two teeth. We hitch on the horse and run that through, 

 and in that way pick up most of the prunings, and bring them 

 out. Sometimes if the pruning has been very heavy we will 

 have to run through two or three times. There may be a 

 few of the canes left along the rows, and in that case we sim- 

 ply throw them over into the next row and they are picked up 

 on the next time around. This reduces the labor of clearing 

 up the ground to a minimum. 



Now in regard to the matter of pollenization. That is 

 something which is not so very important, because it usually 

 takes care of itself pretty well. I have a great admiration for 

 the bee. If I go through a raspberry plantation when it is at 

 the height of blooming and see plenty of bees at work I am 

 pleased. I have often seen before five o'clock a good hustling 

 crowd of workers, and along late in the afternoon after the 

 men have left the field and gone to supper, and clear up to 

 seven o'clock the same hustling crowd of bees. That, of 

 course, insures thorough pollenization, and it carries you a 

 long way toward complete success in getting a good crop of 

 fruit. 



A Member: Do vou use men or women for pickers? 



Mr. Smith : I was coming to that question of harvest- 

 ing. Ordinarily, I am called among those that know me an 

 optimist, but if any of you are intending to engage ha rasp- 

 berry growing, and are disposed to be pessimistic at all, that 

 is the time when you will meet with your greatest difficulty. 

 Women pickers are the most satisfactory. The raspberry is 

 a very successful fruit for pickers. Pickers assure me that 

 thev would much rather pick raspberries because they do not 



