STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 89 



Mr. Putnam : I do usually, about one-quarter to one-third 

 of the roots ; they will throw off fine fibres better. 



Question: Do you object to setting with a spade? 



Mr. Putnam : I prefer a trowel to anything I have ever used. 

 A spade is all right. 



Question: You work just one man? 



Mr. Putnam : Yes, one man drops the plants ahead for two 

 or three to set. One man, if he is smart, drops plants for three 

 to set. The mason's trowel gives you about the same hole 

 you could get with the spade, and I like to get down on my 

 knees. I like to get my knuckles upon a plant when I set it. 



Question : You would rather do that than put your heel on ? 



Mr. Putnam : Yes, sir. 



Question : Do they set with the spade much in your section ? 



Mr. Putnam : Not so very much. They do some. If your 

 ground is perfectly fitted you can set with your hand and set 

 them good, too. You don't need much of anything to dig the 

 hole with if your ground is nice and mellow and right. You 

 want to have the roots thoroughly spread out. Don't set them 

 in a bunch. And they should be set so that every leaf may be 

 pulled off without starting the strawberry plant. 



The raspberry comes next in value, I think, as a commercial 

 plant. It will not take quite as heavy or quite as light a soil as 

 the strawberry. It prefers a good corn soil. It will stand wet 

 feet quite as much as some strawberries, and it ripens in the 

 dry time of the year, from July up to the first of August, at a 

 time when you are likely to have a drought, and if you have 

 it on a very light soil your berries are likely to dry up. Your 

 soil should be well fertilized and properly prepared and you 

 should have healthy plants from a healthy field — put that down 

 and stick to it. The first year I like to plough furrows three 

 feet apart right across the field and then plant in every other 

 furrow about two or three feet apart, planting a row of potatoes 

 between, and cultivating as you would for potatoes the first of 

 it, and you get a good crop of potatoes. I don't summer prune 

 my plants. I have been in the habit of laying them down, and 

 if you get a stocky plant you cannot lay it down ; you want a long 

 shoot. I have never pinched them back in the summer. The 

 last two years I have not laid them down and have had good 

 success without protection. Remember this point : Cut out 



