Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 Part 11

Next came the Marlboro, plants of which sold at as much as a dollar apiece in the east. I then set out a bed of Marlboro, which proved to be even better than the Cuthbert, previously mentioned. They could be picked while still quite light in color, thus reaching the market while still firm and not over-ripe. There was only one possible drawback, and that was the fact that I had planted them on a southern exposure, while they were more adapted to a colder or northern exposure. This variety on a new field, as it was, practically bore itself to death.

About this time, there originated in Wisconsin a berry known as the Loudon. A committee of nurserymen having gone to see this variety returned with the report that the half had not been told concerning this great berry. Wanting to keep up with the times, I decided to plant some of this variety in the spring. The yield from these plants was immense, and the berries large, but unlike the Marlboro already mentioned they could not be picked until very dark and real ripe. This variety was more subject to anthracnose than any I had seen, and served to give me a thorough understanding of the various raspberry diseases, which I had heretofore blamed to the drouth. The leaves would dry up and the berries become small and crumbly when affected by anthracnose. It might be said of this variety as regards public favor, that it went up like a rocket and came down equally fast.

I next tried the Thompson Early as an experiment, but this variety proved a failure, or at least a disappointment. These berries ripened very slowly, just a few at a time, and did not compare favorably with either the Marlboro or the Loudon.

A party close by had at this time planted out a large field of a variety of raspberry which I had not seen before. These plants produced a large berry, more like a blackberry in appearance. Having by this time had experience with so many kinds of raspberries, I examined this new variety carefully, and all in all decided that this was the coming berry. Here, too, I also noticed the first signs of disease. The plants had only begun to bear fruit, however, and judging from the strong, tall canes, they looked good for at least fifteen years. This disease, however, practically destroyed the entire field within two years. Before too badly diseased, I had obtained and planted out a couple of acres of these plants and immediately began spraying them. The following spring I sprayed them again, and although the plants became perfectly healthy, I sprayed them once or twice during the summer, and it is needless to say the result was a berry which, considering all its good points, was certainly deserving of the name it bore, which was "King." In fact, I do not hope to see anything better in the raspberry line during the next thirty years, that is, any seedling having all its merits: a strong growth, hardiness of cane, an immense bearer and a good shipper. It's only fault is that the berries will drop from the plants when real ripe, but if you are on the job this can easily be averted.

As far as anthracnose is concerned, I have found that there is not a variety of raspberry standing out in an open field, unsprayed or partly shaded, that will stand up under a heavy crop without being affected by this disease.

After increasing my plantation, as I had by this time, I found I required more help. Ability in managing my helpers was a necessity. My experience with them in the field was that when I set them to hoeing a newly set raspberry field if not watched they would destroy half the roots, loosening the little hold the struggling plants had, by cutting close and hoeing the soil away from the roots. I have seen supposedly intelligent men plowing alongside of the plants, thinking they were doing their work so much more thoroughly, but if they would dig up one plant before plowing and another after, they would readily see the results of their plowing.

A born farmer a.s.sumes that everybody knows how to handle a hoe or a plow, but why should they, not having had practical experience? When put to work such as hoeing, they would make the most outlandish motions with the hoe, often destroying valuable plants, not being able to distinguish them from the weeds. Though they may labor just as hard, they cannot possibly accomplish as much as the expert who can skillfully whirl a hoe around a plant in such a manner as to remove every weed and yet not injure the plant in the least. In other words, the best efforts of the novice cannot possibly bring the results so easily accomplished by the more skillful laborer. Except in a few cases, I have found inexperienced help a discouragement.

In hiring pickers who had to come quite far each morning, I found that if the morning had been wet and rainy, but had later turned out to be a nice day, they would not come at all. The sun coming out after these showers would cause the berries to become over-ripe and to drop from the bushes, or if still on the bush would be too ripe for shipping. These same pickers, when berries were scarce, would rush through the rows, merely picking the biggest and those most easily acquired.

Having tried pickers as mentioned, I decided that to get pickers from the city and board them would be the better plan. While they seemed to work more for the pleasure connected with life on the farm than with the idea of making money, yet after a little training and a few rules, most of them would make splendid pickers, and my berries being carefully picked and in first cla.s.s condition, would readily sell to the best trade.

Leaving the subject of berries and berry picking, I will dwell briefly on my experience with the winter covering of the plants. At first I would cover the canes in an arch-like manner, which would require more than 18 inches of soil to cover them, and it was necessary to shovel much by hand. In the spring I found it quite a task to remove all this soil and get it back in place between the rows. After I learned to cover them properly, that is flat on the ground, I found it required but a small amount of soil to cover them, and in the spring it was only necessary to use a fork to remove the covering, and with a little lift they were ready to start growth again.

After getting more and more fruit, I found I could not dispose of it in the home market, and tending to the picking and packing of the fruit did not leave enough time to warrant my peddling it. I had been advised to ship my berries to two or three different commission houses in order to see where I could obtain the best results. I frequently divided my shipments into three parts: consequently some of my fruit would meet in compet.i.tion with another lot of my fruit, and not only would one concern ask a higher or lower price than the other, but they would not know when to expect my shipments, which they would receive on alternate days. I finally came to the conclusion that I would send all my fruit to one party, and I found that it was not only more of an object to them, but people would come every day to buy some, knowing they were getting the same quality each time.

Although it has been my experience that the raspberry is never a failure, still I have found that it is a good policy not to depend entirely on the raspberry, but to extend the plantation in such a way as to have a continuous supply of fruits and vegetables in season, from the asparagus and pie plant of the early spring to the very latest variety of the grape and apple ripening just before the heavy frost of fall, when it is again time to tuck them all away for the winter.

Mr. Ludlow: Do I understand that you have to lay down and cover up those red raspberries?

Mr. Johnson: Yes, sir; otherwise you only get a few berries right at the top of the cane, and if you cover them the berries will be all along down the cane.

The President: Do you break off many canes by covering them?

Mr. Johnson: No, it is the way you bend them. When you bend them down, make a kind of a twist and hold your hand right near them. You can bend them down as quick as a couple of men can shovel them down.

Mr. Anderson: Do you bend them north or south or any way?

Mr. Johnson: I generally bend one row one way and the other the other way. Where you want to cultivate, it is easier for cultivation; you don't have to go against the bend of those plants. That bend will never be straight again, and when you come to cultivate you are liable to rub them.

Mr. Anderson: How far have you got yours planted apart?

Mr. Johnson: About five feet.

Mr. Sauter: What is your best raspberry?

Mr. Johnson: I haven't seen anything better than the King.

Mr. Sauter: Do you cover the King?

Mr. Johnson: Yes.

Mr. Sauter: We don't do it on the experimental station. I never covered mine, and I think I had the best all around berry last summer.

Mr. Johnson: That might be all right when they are young, but I find it pays me.

A Member: Don't they form new branches on the sides when you pinch off the ends?

Mr. Johnson: Yes, sir; then you pinch them off.

A Member: Don't they break right off from the main stalk in laying down?

Mr. Johnson: No, no.

A Member: We have a great deal of trouble with that. How do you get these bushy bushes to lie down?

Mr. Johnson: I take three or four canes, and kind of twist them, give them a little twist, and lay them flat on the ground.

Mr. Anderson: Don't you take out any dirt on the sides?

Mr. Johnson: No, sir; sometimes I might put a shovel of ground against them to bend the canes over.

Mr. Rogers: Do you plant in the hedge row or in the hill system?

Mr. Johnson: In the hedge row. I think it is better because they protect one another.

Mr. Ludlow: How far do you put them apart in the hedge row?

Mr. Johnson: Four feet. That is the trouble with the King, if you don't keep them down, your rows will get too wide.

A Member: I heard you say a while ago you covered these. Do you plow them after you get them down or do you cover them with a shovel?

Mr. Johnson: I cover mostly with a shovel. Sometimes I take a small plow through.

A Member: Don't you think in covering them with a plow you might disturb the roots?

Mr. Johnson: That is the danger.

A Member: I saw a fellow covering up twelve acres of black caps and he plowed them shut. After I heard what you said I thought maybe that he was injuring his roots.

Mr. Johnson: You know the black cap has a different root system from the reds. The roots of the reds will run out all over the road.

Mr. Willard: How thick do you leave those canes set apart in the row, how many in a foot?

Mr. Johnson: I generally try to leave them in hills four feet apart, not let them come in any between. About three or four in a hill. I generally try to cut out the weak ones.

Mr. Willard: You pinch the end of the tops, I think?

Mr. Johnson: Yes, sir.

A Member: When do you cut those sucker canes?

Mr. Johnson: I generally hoe them just before picking time and loosen the ground in the row. That is very important, to give them a hoeing, not hoe down deep, but just loosen that hard crust there and cut all the plants that you don't want, and then generally, after the berries commence to ripen, your suckers don't come so fast, and you keep on cultivating once in a while.