114 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



more. That was about a fair average with the Glen Marv; 

 most of our men grow that variety almost exclusively. 



Question. IIow do blackberries compare with strawber- 

 ries for profits ? 



Mr. WiiEELEK. The strawberry is much ahead on ac- 

 count of the greater productiveness. 



Question. Did you ever try the narrow or half row? 



Mr. Wheeler. Yes. I think that for some varieties it is 

 the very best method. In the wide, matted row there are a 

 great many small, poor berries on the inside of the row 

 unless you do a lot of thinning, and in the half row, where 

 you only allow the finest plants to develop, practically every 

 berry is a good one ; and the reason holds good for planting 

 in hills. 



Professor Rane. What is your opinion regarding the 

 Fay currant? 



Mr. WiiEELEij. It is the darkest red currant that we have 

 that is really good. 



Professor Rane. Where do you class the Cherry cur- 

 rant ? 



Mr. WiiEELEU. I think it has been propagated so long that 

 it is losing its vigor. There are a lot of other fruits that are 

 going by in the same way. The Fay is better in the size of 

 the fruit and the size of the crop. It doesn't pay to grow 

 the Cherry. The Wilder is the coming currant. It is a 

 larger bush and the fruit very dark red, such as the market 

 demands. One objection to the Perfection is that it is not 

 a dark red fruit. 



Professor Rank. The Wilder strikes me as. away ahead 

 of any I have seen. My experience with the Fay is that it 

 hasn't been commercially successful. While excellent for 

 show purposes, as a commercial proposition they would not 

 yield but about one-eighth as large a crop as the Cherry or 

 Wilder. Do you raise the Fay commercially in Concord ? , 



Mr. Wheeler. ISTot personally. I have planted and 

 compared them, of course, in a small way with other varie- 

 ties. Mr. Frazer, of ISTew York, who has about 20 acres of 

 currants, and 19 of them Fay, says he is getting an average 

 this year of 12 quarts to the bush. That is on a clay soil 



