1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
©03 
AN IDAHO RASPBERRY FARM. 
Ideal Place for Dried Fruit. 
'At the last meeting of the Idaho Horticultural As¬ 
sociation at Caldwell, Mr. M. B. Sherman read a re¬ 
markable paper on raspberry growing. He says that 
Idaho is the only State where an 80-acre raspberry 
farm is possible. This means dried berries, which are 
dried on the vines and thrashed off with flails and 
machinery. Mr. Sherman says that while various 
new methods of growing raspberries have been per¬ 
fected, the old methods of picking and drying prevail, 
and these are so slow and costly that such a thing as 
a raspberry farm is only possible with irrigation and 
a dry climate. He says there are certain. character¬ 
istics of the Idaho climate which enable a farmer in 
that State to grow raspberries on a large scale and 
at the lowest cost. But let him tell the story: 
“Of these characteristics the most noteworthy is the 
property the fruit has of drying on the bushes. The 
raspberry here does not soften when ripe and shake 
off in the wind, or sour and mildew because of ex¬ 
cessive moisture as in humid localities, but remains 
attached to the stem and dries firmly attached to the 
bush. It is also a singular fact that when previous 
irrigation and culture have been proper, the quality 
of the fruit thus dried is not only equal but very 
superior in quality to the hand-picked, evaporated 
product. This is due to the fact that each berry re¬ 
mains on the bush till it has received the last possi¬ 
ble particle of saccharine and other juices from the 
vine, that is, becomes dead ripe, and then in this rain¬ 
less and almost dewless ripening period of July and 
August, in about two days these dead ripe berries 
are dry. The conditions are ideal, and the product 
is much sweeter and richer than the hand-picked 
goods, especially of eastern production. It has been 
discovered and thoroughly demonstrated that it is 
practical under the conditions above stated to harvest 
the dry berries by removing the branches bearing 
the fruit and thrashing the berries off somewhat as 
you do beans. 
“In the Spring, at any time after the frost is out 
and you have the ground cultivated, the bushes are 
laid down. This is accomplished by two men with a 
long stout pole. The pole is pressed against the 
bushes bea r ing them over and downward to a reclin¬ 
ing position, in which position they are secured per¬ 
manently by means of a light wire stretched over the 
reclining bushes and secured at proper intervals by 
stakes driven into the ground. Two men should 
lay down two or three acres per day, the object being 
to prevent the new shoots, which spring from the 
ground annually, from intermingling with the old 
canes bearing berries, for reasons which will be ap¬ 
parent directly. No further special treatment is re¬ 
quired till the berries are ripe and dry. Then the 
canes bearing berries are cut away close to the root 
crown. This is accomplished by means of a sled-like 
device with a blade attached to one runner. This is 
drawn by one horse and so guided that the blade 
passes over the reclining branches, completely sever¬ 
ing them from the plant close to the root crown. 
Men follow the cutter, rolling the severed branches 
up into bundles and standing them up against the 
new growth to dry. 
“Four men and one horse cut and set up five acres 
SUGGESTION FOR THANKSGIVING. Fig. 524. 
per day. Next comes the thrashing. As soon as the 
leaves and sterns become perfectly dry (four to seven 
days after cutting) a team is driven into the field 
with a wagon bearing a flat-bottomed rack with high 
sides. One man throws these dry bundles into the 
rack with a fork while two men on the rack thrash 
the berries out, using ordinary forks for flails. Three 
men should thrash and fan out three acres per day. 
Each berry now appears with a stem attached. These 
stems are removed by passing the berries through a 
machine designed for the purpose, at a merely nom¬ 
inal cost. The total cost of labor as above described 
does not exceed the ordinary cost of pruning out 
the old growth, which is necessary annually when 
the hand picking method is employed. It will there¬ 
fore be seen that the practical effect of this method 
on the cost of production is to eliminate the cost of 
harvesting. About eight to ten cents per pound is 
saved in cost of production. By this method two 
cents per pound should cover the cost of production. 
“The life or usefulness of the black raspberry is 
about 10 years. But if you wish to re-plant earlier 
it matters little, as you will root the tips from the 
old bushes between the rows one year in advance 
MAINE BOXED APPLES. Fig. 525. 
of grubbing the old plants out, so only losing a half 
crop for one season. It requires two men working 
six months to care for a 40-acre raspberry orchard, 
with two extra men during August. As to the finan¬ 
cial feature of the raspberry farm, the cost of plants 
will vary from $20 to $40 per acre when you have to 
buy your plants. If you have a small orchard and 
propagate your own plants quite a saving can be 
made. The crop grown between the rows the first 
season and the light crop of fruit the second will pay 
the cost of all labor for the first two years, and 
probably the cost of plants. You should realize 1,000 
pounds of dried fruit per acre annually. Prices vary 
from 15 to 30 cents wholesale, with an average of 
20 cents. The cost of producing and harvesting a 
crop need not exceed $20 per acre. These figures 
make a showing of $180 per acre, net annual re¬ 
turns.” _ 
THE PROBLEM OF THE CHEAP LANDS. 
The Use of Stable Manures. 
[The last article of this series was printed on page 807. 
We have held this discussion of stable manures until now 
that the Winter season is opening.] 
Part vii. 
One of the largest factors in the reclamation of 
our cheap lands, must be the intelligent use of stable 
manures. Volumes have been written upon the sub¬ 
ject; yet as a thoughtful man rides about the country, 
he cannot but be impressed by the ignorance or care¬ 
lessness, or both, of the average farmer, in saving 
and applying this valuable fertilizer. It is estimated 
that the excrement of the domestic animals of the 
United States is worth, as plant food, annually 
$2,000,000,000. It is also, estimated that one-half of 
this vast amount is wasted by careless handling. 
What a comment on the thrift and intelligence of the 
American farmer! No other business in the country 
could stand such a loss. .Neither can farming. It is 
imperative that better methods be adopted for saving 
and applying the valuable by-product, which is neces¬ 
sarily present, to a greater or less extent, upon every 
farm. It may help to an appreciation of the value of 
stable manure, to compare the amount of plant food 
in the manure, with that in commercial fertilizers. 
The fertilizing values of different manures follow, 
giving number of pounds in one ton: 
Nitrogen Phos. Acid Fotash 
Horse manure tl.6 _ 5.6 .... 10.6.... 
Cow manure 8.8 .... 3.2 .... 8.0.... 
Sheep manure 16.6 _ 4.6 _ 13.4.... 
Swine manure 9.0 .... 3.8 .... 12.0.... 
One 200-pound sack of average commercial fertili¬ 
zer at $25 per ton contains four pounds nitrogen, 16 
phosphoric acid, and four potash. The fertilizer 
costs $2.50, and if it is worth the money (I am not 
saying that it is not) the ton of manure from the horse 
or cow stable is easily worth one-third more, or say 
$3 per ton, for the nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 
potash it contains, to say nothing of its value as hu¬ 
mus, or in producing a better mechanical condition 
in the soil. That $3 per ton is not an excessive val¬ 
uation of this product, when fresh and properly saved, 
is shown by the fact that for the past ten years the 
Ohio Experiment. Station has obtained more than $3 
per ton for manure, in actual increase of crop. Be¬ 
fore we consider methods of saving and applying 
this product, two or three underlying principles need 
to be thoroughly understood. 
VALUE OF LIQUID WASTE.—In the first place 
let it be understood distinctly that the liquid waste 
from our animals is more valuable than the solid. 
Of the total fertilizing materials voided by farm ani¬ 
mals two-thirds of the nitrogen and four-fifths of the 
potash are found in the urine, but practically none of 
the phosphoric acid. Upon thousands of farms little 
or no effort is made to save the liquid manure. In¬ 
deed the stables are often purposely constructed so 
as to facilitate the draining off and consequent loss 
of the urine. If all the urine is thus lost and the 
solid excrement alone saved, only the phosphoric 
acid together with one-third of the nitrogen and one- 
fifth of the potash is saved. It is not hard to ac¬ 
count for the unproductive farms of our country, 
when we consider the vast quantities of easily availa¬ 
ble plant food, that every year drip through the loose 
stable floors on those farms. Another thing fur 
our consideration is that manure, both liquid and 
solid, must decompose before its plant food is availa¬ 
ble. The urine decomposes much more quickly than 
the solid excrement, and its plant food, being already 
in solution, is much more valuable, pound for pound, 
than that contained in the solid waste. 
LOSSES FROM LEACHING.—Another thing to 
be thoroughly understood and constantly kept in mind 
is that a large part of the plant food in manure is 
in a soluble form. Of course that which is in liquid 
form is already in solution, and chemical changes are 
constantly rendering soluble that which is contained 
by the solid excrement. A very little thought ought 
to convince anyone that when manure is thrown 
where the rain can fall upon it, especially if it be un¬ 
der the eaves of the barn, there must be an enor¬ 
mous loss from leaching. Experiments might, be cited 
almost without number to show how great is this loss. 
These experiments show a loss of from 30 to 70 per 
cent of the total value of plant food from leaching, 
the amount of loss depending upon the time of ex¬ 
posure and conditions. In certain sections of our 
qountry, where large numbers of cattle are fed in 
open yards, and the manure is spread over a large 
surface and left exposed for months, the loss must 
be very heavy. From the fertility point of view, it 
would probably be better for those farms if the grain 
were all sold and the straw and fodder plowed under. 
LOSSES DUE TO FERMENTATION.—Manure 
piled loosely is apt to suffer great loss by rapid de¬ 
composition, with development of heat. In this rapid 
decay the materials composing the manure are broken 
down, and the elements of their composition returned 
to the source from which they originally came. The 
phosphoric acid, potash, lime, etc., came originally 
from the soil, and in this decomposition are returned 
to the soil. But the nitrogen came originally from 
the air, and in the breaking down of these goes back 
to the air and is lost. Whenever we see the manure 
heap steaming, or whenever we detect the odor of 
TWO KIDS AND A COLLIE. Fig. 526. 
ammonia, we may know that we are losing nitrogen, 
the costly element of fertilization. Experiments have 
shown the loss of from 30 to 80 per cent of the nitro¬ 
gen of manure due to this rapid decomposition. In 
one experiment no nitrogen at all was found in “fire- 
fanged” manure. Decomposition in manure begins 
almost as soon as voided, and it is impossible to store 
manure under any system without some loss, but it 
need not be great, compared with the loss sustained 
on many farms, where no care is taken to absorb the 
liquid waste of the animals, and the product of the 
stable thrown into an uncovered yard, and allowed 
to leach and heat for months. Such a product is 
often scarcely worth the handling, and it is no wonder 
that it is regarded of little value. f. l. allen. 
