STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 85 



ture of mone}' and some intelligent labor to unfold them. All are 

 there and to be had for the asking. Will you accept them? If so, 

 you will see that there are health and happiness as well as money in 

 small fruits. 



There is nobody in the world that can live so well as the farmer ; 

 no one that has so splendid an opportunity for good living as the 

 New England farmer. But, after all, as a matter of fact, we do 

 have less variety than our city cousins ; our friends in the city have 

 more vegetables than the average farmer and a greater variety of 

 fruits. It is a shame that we who can live so well do not live any 

 better than we do. You sometimes hear a man say that he will not 

 raise small fruits because he can bu}" all he w^auts cheaper than he 

 can raise it. Did any of you ever know a farmer to buy all the 

 small fruits his famih' wanted? There is a man that nods his head. 

 I am vei'v glad to know that there is one farmer in Maine who bu3's 

 for his family all the small fruits they want. I don't believe there 

 is another one in the United States. Occasionally you will find a 

 man who thinks he does, but when you come to inquire into it you 

 will find that he bnys, perhaps two or three quarts a day, while a 

 good-sized family will eat six, eight or even ten quarts a day. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Luce. I would like to ask how much any one can afford to 

 pay for wood ashes to use in strawberry raising. 



Mr. Hale. That depends upon where he is situated, and what 

 other fertilizers he can get, what his fruits are worth, etc. As I 

 am situated, I should be glad to pay thirty cents a bushel for all the 

 unleached wood ashes I could find. We do not buy them, because 

 we find it difficult to get them unleached ; and therefore we buy 

 muriate of potash ; that is the cheapest form of potash we are able 

 to find at the present time. It answers the purpose not quite so 

 well as the sulphate, but it is so much cheaper that we use it instead. 

 I think perhaps the sulphate of potash gives a higher color and per- 

 haps a little sweeter taste. 



Mr. Starrett. After the raspberry crop is gathered do you cut 

 ofF the canes? 



Mr. Hale. That is a good question. Writers on fruit culture 

 say that we must cut away the old canes after the crop is taken ; 

 that is the theory advanced by all writers on the subject, and I sup- 



