Читать книгу Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 - Various - Страница 78

Table of Contents

Of the growing of fruit, it may well be said, "Experience is a good teacher, but a dear school."

When I began fruit growing, some thirty years ago, I did not begin it merely as an experiment. I was interested in every branch of the work and, being very much in earnest about it, I felt confident of success.

Thinking that the failures and drawbacks sometimes experienced could be easily overcome by a thorough understanding of the work at hand, I began by getting all the information possible. I found that great books such as by Downing, Thomas, etc., were more suitable for the advanced fruit grower, but I studied all the pamphlets and books obtainable during the winter months and put this knowledge into practice during the summer. Of course I could not put into practice all I had obtained from this reading, but I remembered distinctly the advice to all amateur fruit growers to start out slowly. This was particularly suited to my case, for the land was covered with timber, some of which I grubbed each summer, gradually adding acres as I cleared the land.

My first venture was in planting raspberries, planting potatoes between the rows the first year. One delusion I had was in planting as many different and untested varieties as I could afford to buy and not confining myself to those that had been tried and had proven satisfactory. Fortunately for me, the high cost of plants at this time did not warrant my buying as many different varieties as I desired, and I had to be contented with fewer plants. From the most promising of these, I saved all the plants possible.

I had an idea that I could do better by sending to some of the Eastern states for my plants, but here again I was mistaken, for the plants often did not arrive until late in May, and by the time they had reached their destination were practically all dried out. The warm weather then coming on, I lost the greater part of them, although I had carefully hoed and tended them in the hope that they would finally revive. Here I might also mention that the express charges added considerably to the cost of these already expensive plants.

As a beginner I put much unnecessary labor on these plants. While I do not wish to leave the impression that hoeing and caring for them is not all right, still there should be a happy medium which I later learned as I became more experienced along this line. I must admit, however, that this rich, new land thus cultivated certainly yielded some wonderful fruit.

As time went by, I kept adding to my plantation, and owing to the large yield and the good demand for the black caps I took a fancy to raising them. When the Palmer variety was first introduced, I planted quite a field of them. I shall never forget the way these berries ripened, and such a lot of them as there were. Practically every one by this time having planted black caps, their great yield soon overstocked the market, and berries finally dropped as low as 65c or 70c a crate.

Having decided to dig up these black caps, I began paying closer attention to the red raspberry. I noticed that the raspberries growing wild on my place grew mostly in places where big trees had been cut down and young trees had grown up, thus partly shading the plants. Having this fact in mind, I planted the raspberries as follows: I planted an orchard, having the trees in parallel rows, and between the trees in these same rows I planted the raspberries. By planting in this manner, the cultivation would benefit the trees as well as the smaller plants. Of course after the trees began bearing heavily, the plants nearest the trees had to be removed, and later the other plants likewise were removed.

As a beginner it was a puzzle to me which varieties I should plant. All varieties listed in the numerous catalogs were so highly recommended as being hardy, large yielders, good shippers, etc., that the selection of plants was not an easy matter.

The speed with which a new variety of raspberry is sent out over the country and discarded is surprising. The most popular sort at this time was the "Turner" variety. I did not, however, fancy this variety, for it suckered so immensely that it required continual hoeing to keep the new plants cut down. The berries were unusually soft and settled down in the boxes, which greatly detracted from their appearance in the crates. There were also at this time a few of the "Philadelphia" variety being planted. They are a dark, soft variety and somewhat similar to the Turner.

Just at this time there was being sent out a new variety, known as the Cuthbert, or Queen of the Market, and queen it was indeed. This was a large, firm berry, and after ripening it would remain on the plant a long time without falling off. These plants grew up in remarkably long canes, but not knowing how to head them back they would often topple over during a heavy storm. This added another valuable lesson to my increasing experience, which resulted in my pinching of the new canes as soon as they had attained a height of from three to four feet. This made the plants more stocky and more able to support their load of berries without the aid of wire or stakes.

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 assumes 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 class 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 competition 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.

Mr. Brackett: I have some King raspberries, and I never covered them up in ten years. I will change that. The first year I did cover a part of my patch, at least one-half of them, and that left the other half standing, and I couldn't see any difference. Around Excelsior there are very few people that cover up the King raspberry. But the King raspberry has run out; all of the old varieties have run out. We have at our experiment station the No. 4—you can get double the amount of fruit from the No. 4 than from the King. The best way to grow the King raspberry or any other raspberry is to set them four feet apart and cultivate them. If you grow a matted row you are bound to get weeds and grass in there, you are bound to get them ridged up, but by planting in hills and cultivating each way you can keep your ground perfectly level. As far as clipping them back my experience has been it is very hard to handle them—they will spread out. It is a big job to cover the plants and then to uncover them again. I know it is not necessary with the No. 4; that is hardy. That is what we want. Hardiness is what we want in a berry, and you have it in the No. 4.

Mr. Hall: I would like to ask you what you spray with and when you spray?

Mr. Johnson: The bordeaux mixture. I spray them early in the spring and just before they start to ripen.

Mr. Wick: With us the Loudon raspberry seems to be the coming raspberry.

Mr. Johnson: Is it doing well now?

Mr. Wick: Yes, it is doing well.

Mr. Ludlow: How many years is the planting of the King raspberry good for?

Mr. Johnson: I think it would be good for fifteen years or more if they are handled as I do it. Keep at the plant, hoeing and spraying them twice a year; trim out the old wood and keep them healthy.

The President: You take out all the old wood every year?

Mr. Johnson: Yes, sir.

Mr. Ludlow: When do you do that?

Mr. Johnson: In the fall. I figure this way, every extra cane that you grow on the plant is a waste. If I see a cane a little higher than the others I just stop it, and it throws the sap back.

Mr. Berry: Do you fertilize and how and when?

Mr. Johnson: I found I didn't need much fertilizer. I put on wood ashes and such things when I burn the trimming of the berries and such things.

A Member: When do you spray?

Mr. Johnson: I generally spray in the spring after they get started and just before they are starting to ripen. I spray them sometimes when they are starting to ripen, and the berries would pick up in one day.

A Member: You mean to say you could grow them for fifteen years without fertilizing?

Mr. Johnson: Yes, sir.

Knowledge of the temperature of the pantry and cellar is important, in order that one may make improvements in conditions. Putrefaction will start at 50°, so that a pantry or closet where food is kept should have a temperature at least as low as that. Cellars where canned goods are stored should have a temperature of 32° or over. Apples are frequently stored in outside cellars, where the temperature should be kept at 31° or 32°; but apples may be kept satisfactorily at 34° or 36°. When stored at the higher temperatures, the fruit should be placed there soon after being picked.