The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-05-18
Berry Culture in the Northwest.

berry culture In the Northwest
The conditions and possibilities for sue
cessful berry culture in Utah are so SINH
lar TO those which exist in the states
named below, including as good a mar
ket as exists there. induces US TO repro
duce the following interesting paper
from the Minnesota Horticulturalist,
with the hope that IL Will persuade some
of our Utah farmers TO cultivate more
small fruit The paper was read before
the meeting of the Minnesota Horticul-
tural society by C. E. Tobey Esd, SUI
perintendent of the Thayer fruit farms,
! Sparta, Wisconsin:
During the past few years Wisconsin
and Minnesota have awakened to the
fact that they can not only supply the
home demand for berries of all kinds,
but also the increasing demands of their
western. northern and northwestern
neighbors. The increasing knowledge Of
| right varieties to grow and thrive with
in our borders, the knowing how to plant,
cultivate, care for and, last but not
least, TO protect during our severe win
tiers, has placed this industry in our
states of Wisconsin and Minnesota, on as
sound a foundation as the dairy or any
other of our great agricultural indus
| tries.
At Sparta, now the great berry center
| of Wisconsin, the birth Of this new in
dustry occurred at the first farmers in
stitute held in our city. 1t was at this
farmers meeting that the possibilities of
the culture Of berries. both commercially
and in the home garden, was brought to
our attention Since then, notwithstand-
! ing the cry of you will overdo it, the
! demand has increased faster than the
acreage, and the acreage has increased
from year to year until now over 500
acres of berries are being cultivated. The
market is found in Northern. Wisconsin.
! Minnesota, the Dakotas and Manitoba
! To bring the true value of this indus
try to the attention of the farmers of our
own state I have made the following
statements at our farmers Institutes
and now make them to you: One acre
of well cultivated berries of varieties
known to do well in your locality Will
net you more profit than ten average
mich cows or 40 average acres Of grain
! Some farmers will at once ask me the
question, Can we market berries sue
cessfully our farms being six, seven or
eight miles from a railroad station?'
Most certainly you can. There is a limit,
however, to the acreage of the farmers
thus situated, depending upon the man,
the family, their surroundings and cir
Gums tances. Many farmers within four,
six or eight miles of Sparta are now
making a business Of berries and the
regular farm products are made second
airy to this new industry. Don't under
stand me as advising farmers to stop
growing corn, wheat, oats, milk or pork,
but give the berries a show.
This year we bought on our farms
with a bushel of our berries barrel OF
friend Phillips best apples Gin fact, Sec
Rotary Phillips sent US two barrels. but
we were only allowed to pay for one).
Later one bushel of berries bought for
US barrel of Jonathans from northern
Wisconsin and delivered them at our
door; and other single bushels of our
berries bought for us eight bushels OF
rye, seven bushels Of potatoes, seven
bushels of wheat, twelve and a half bush
els of oats, fifteen pounds of butter, one
and one-fourth cords of dry oak wood,
$50 pounds of best flour, 500 pounds good
timothy hay and other necessaries in
proportion With these figures staring US
in the face, is it reasonable for farmers
to turn their backs on this industry and
say. Il can't spare the time from other
farm work?'
Now. a few words to the young farm
ers or the bows on the farm who are
looking forward to getting away from
the rural home into the village or city
any place, If it be only off the farm.
should also like the ears of the fathers
and mothers who want the boys to stay
where they are.
I believe with the advent Of this berry
industry the boys on the farm have
chance to better their condition and
commence a business at home that will
nav them better dividends in money,
health and happiness than they would
procure In the village or city. Take the
lease of one-fourth, one-half or one acre
of the farm and pay price per acre
fully as much as II has brought in actual
profit on an average for the past three
years; take a written lease for five years
with privilege of five more at its expi-
ration. And right here | want TO call
the attention of the fathers to the fact
that the pig given the child should not be
sold as the fathers hog, but that the
Young farmer should have the whole hog
or none This one-half acre berry farmer
must attend to the actual business and
work of this farm himself, and must
have all the profit himself.
I believe this a practical way of in
teresting the boys in a business that can
be carried on at home. Many young
farmers are attending our Sparta schools
this winter with the profit of berries
that were grown, cultivated and mar
keted by them.
The demand for gooseberries is rapidly
growing especially the ripe gooseberry
for dessert, and both the green and ripe
for preserving. The profits are fully as
large as in any other small fruits and
the worm Is easily combatted by spray
ing, and even the English varieties that
| have nltnertO InuOSNeu are HOW LNulLSU
successfully with the aid of liver of sui
phur and the spray pump.
Last spring we set out four acres Of
the Downing gooseberry and about one
fourth acre of a new variety not yet in
troduced called the queen These were
mostly two-year-old plants and pruned
aud trimmed according to Mr.. Thayer's
directions as follows: All new buds that
had started below the ground were bro
ken or rubbed off and only the strongest
cane allowed to remain. all branches or
/ laterals being trimmed off between the
surface of the ground and a point six to
ten inches above, and the laterals above
this point were trimmed out and cut
back so that each bush was literally a
well trimmed three
These little trees made a wonderful
growth even during the drouth of 1894,
ana presented beautiful appearance in
| eansenuence of their tree shape and the