Raspberries.
F. C. ERKEL, FRUIT GROWER, ROCKFORD.
Raspberries are so easily grown it is surprising we do not find more farmers and back lot gardeners in the city giving them attention. I believe more people would raise raspberries if they could be made to realize what great returns they would receive for a little work and care. As a commercial proposition raspberries are the poor man's friend, yielding large returns with very small investment and requiring but little land.
I will attempt to give a few essentials in raspberry culture without going into detail, with the hopes that at least a few more patches of raspberries may be planted as a result of my effort. With the main points of raspberry culture given, there is no reason why any one with ordinary intelligence can not solve the details and meet with success.
Raspberries have a little advantage over strawberries with the man who is not greatly enthused over small fruit culture. When once established the plantings do not have to be renewed annually but with ordinary care will last several years, in fact they will stand more Junegrass sod and weeds and general neglect and still produce results than anything else I know of unless it is apple trees.
Another point in favor of raspberries over strawberries is that it is not quite so hard on the back to pick them, and when large quantities are grown it is easier to get pickers.
Red raspberries will succeed on most any kind of soil so long as it is kept reasonably well fertilized and supplied with humus. They prefer a moist loam, and a northern slope is preferable to a southern slope because not so quickly affected by drought. Good drainage is necessary, and if planted on low ground where water is liable to stand at any time the ground should be tiled or otherwise drained.
Raspberries may be planted either in the fall or spring, or the plants may be dug in the fall, heeled in outside, covered with mulch, or they may be stored in the cellar and planted in spring.
Plants bought from a nursery in the spring should be unpacked immediately on arrival, the roots dipped in thin mud, then heeled in until permanently planted, even if the delay is but a day or two.
The tops of the plants should be cut, leaving but a few inches, and if any blossoms appear the first season it would be better to remove them to prevent fruiting. It would be expecting too much of a newly transplanted plant to make much of any growth and produce fruit the same season. If allowed to fruit the first season but little fruit could be expected at best, and it would leave the plant dwarfed if indeed it were not killed outright.
The suckers that come up the first season will produce the next season's crop, after which they die down and should be removed, other suckers taking their places annually. Not over two or three suckers should be allowed to each plant the first year; after the first year leave five to eight in each hill, depending on the kind of soil, fertility, etc.
When plants are cheap and plentiful it is customary to use two in each hill to insure a good stand the first year, but it is reasonable to expect, however, where there are two root systems in each hill instead of one that in after years there would be more troublesome suckers to remove than if there was but one root in each hill, and this is no small matter with some varieties.
To obtain planting stock large clusters of roots may be divided to propagate from, but these usually have but few fibrous roots and are not as good as first year's growth suckers, springing from roots near the parent plant. Red raspberries may also be propagated from root cuttings or even from seeds, the latter not coming true to variety, however.
Plantings should preferably be made on ground plowed the fall previous, but spring plowed ground will answer if thoroughly disced, harrowed and planked and then repeated, to make the ground firm.
If the ground is poor add a liberal dressing of well decayed barnyard dressing before plowing, or if not well decayed wait until after planting to apply the manure. Future cultivations will mix the dressing with the surface soil where the roots will be able to reach it, since raspberry plants are close surface feeders, and for this reason all cultivations should be shallow after the root system has formed.
When the matted row system of planting is adopted, the late Prof. Green advised using a heavy mulch for two feet on each side of the rows to preserve moisture and discourage weed growth close to the plants, cultivating only a strip through the middle.
Raspberries may be planted in rows five or six feet apart to allow cultivation both ways, or in rows seven feet apart with plants two or three feet apart in the rows with the idea of allowing a matted row and cultivating but one way after the first season.
The matted row is hardly to be recommended unless one is willing to use a hoe rather freely to keep the plants free from weeds where the cultivator can not reach them, or unless he can provide a good, deep mulch to discourage weed growth.
Rows should preferably run north and south, so the fruit will be shaded during the middle of the day, but this is not absolutely necessary.
In setting the plants place them just a little deeper than they grew originally, carry them to the field in pails of water or thin mud, avoiding exposure of the roots to the air unprotected, but do not use water in the holes unless the ground is extremely dry. Firm the ground well close to the plant, and cultivate between rows all summer to preserve moisture, whether weeds are troublesome or not, up to September 1st and be sure to cultivate shallow after the roots begin to occupy the ground.
Hills that grow exceedingly tall and rank may be cut back to about two and a half feet in height in the spring, or if one is willing to take the trouble to pinch off the end of the plants at this height during the growing season they will get bushy plants better able to hold up a load of fruit—besides cutting back has a tendency to produce larger fruit.
We only grow two varieties of red raspberries, both of which are perfectly hardy without winter covering, so we have no suggestions to make or experiences to relate regarding winter protection. I am afraid I would be tempted to quit the business if I had to cover our raspberry bushes for winter protection. I think it would be as big a task as all the rest of the work combined except picking, and I let some one else do that part.
For a home garden it is even more desirable to select a variety that is hardy without winter covering than when grown in a commercial way, for this is one of the tasks that is liable to be neglected unless one makes a business of it.
In choosing a variety the other qualities to look for besides hardiness without winter covering are size, color, flavor, prolificacy and good shipping qualities.
We are located only twenty-five miles northwest of Minneapolis, and one would naturally suppose we would market our berries there, but we get better prices in towns along the Soo railroad in western Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Although our berries are a variety that crumble unless left on the bushes until ripe they do not spoil readily, which is probably due to the fact they are quite acid, and we ship to points in North Dakota nearly as far west as Chicago is east of us with very little loss. Wherever our berries have been introduced they have made friends, and there is hardly ever a time that we do not have standing orders for two or three times as many berries as we can furnish.
We usually ship in flat cases, two boxes deep, twenty-four pints to a crate, which brought us $2.00, $2.25 and $2.50 per crate net, f.o.b. shipping point.
There is but one other berry grower near us, so we do not have much difficulty in getting pickers. The first year we built a couple of small cottages to accommodate people from the city who might care to combine berry picking with a few days' outing, and it was surprising what a good class this proposition appealed to, but we now have enough local pickers to care for our crop.
The profits in raspberry culture vary all the way from little or nothing above cost of production up to several hundred dollars per acre, depending on the season and how well cared for.
Whether raspberry culture is a money making proposition or not in a commercial way, there certainly is no good reason why every farm or city garden should not have at least a few hills of raspberries for home use. Even leaving the matter of cost out of the question, there is a difference between fruit just off the bushes and that which has stood around in hot, dusty places several hours or longer waiting for a purchaser. Try it and be convinced!
To Inoculate Seed.—Coating the seed of legumes with inoculated soil before planting is a simple method of insuring soil inoculation at slight cost. County agents in Illinois have found ordinary furniture glue effective in holding particles of inoculated soil to the seeds. This method gives each individual seed some of the particles of inoculated soil, which it carries with it when it is planted. The scheme requires but a small amount of inoculated soil and costs but a few cents an acre. The method is described in Farmers' Bulletin 704 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.
Dissolve two handfuls of furniture glue for every gallon of boiling water and allow the solution to cool. Put the seed in a washtub and then sprinkle enough of the solution on the seed to moisten but not to wet it (one quart per bushel is sufficient) and stir the mixture thoroughly until all the seed are moistened.
Secure the inoculated soil from a place where the same kind of plants as the seed are growing, making sure that the roots have a vigorous development of nodules. Dry the soil in the shade, preferably in the barn or basement, and pulverize it thoroughly into a dust. Scatter this dust over the moistened seed, using from one half to one gallon of dirt for each bushel of seed, mixing thoroughly until the seed no longer stick together. The seed are then ready to sow.