96 



vated and hand-hoed three times during the season, or until 

 the strawberry plants covered the ground. 



Now comes the important part in raising a crop of rasp- 

 berries, in my estimation, which consists in pruning and 

 nipping back, at just the right time in order to get a short, 

 compact bush, with a great many strong laterals. 



To get this form I go through and nip back the young 

 shoots to eighteen inches. This must be done about four times 

 during the growing season ; this is all the pruning I do the 

 first season. The next spring, before the frost is out of the 

 ground, I cut back the side branches to one foot in length. 

 I never do any fall pruning, as I think the more brush left on 

 the ground through the winter the better, as it helps keep the 

 snow from blowing off, which is our best winter protection. 

 On plants which fruited the year before I cut out the old wood, 

 and cut back the new to one foot, early in the Spring. 



After the first year the cultivation consists in keeping the 

 land free from weeds until just before picking, when I mulch 

 with meadow hay. Every second year I apply a shovel full of 

 stable manure to the hill. 



Of course the cost of cultivating an acre of raspberries would 

 vary so, according to the age of the plants, that any estimate 

 I could make, (the plants being of two, four and six years 

 growth), would be of no practical benefit to otlier cultivators. 

 The cost of cultivating the first year would be very little as 

 we cultivate and hoe the same as for corn. But as the plants 

 increase in age, the cost of keeping the ground clean, picking, 

 and pruning increase. 



Until at the age of five or six years I think it pays better to 

 plough out the old plants and set out new. I should not think 

 of putting out an acre of raspberries without taking off some 

 other crop between the rows the first year or two, and which 

 makes it the more difficult to get at the exact cost. The crop 

 your Committee examined was not manured this season. 



I credit the crop this year as follows : 



