and Brinkle's Orange are both delicious yellow berries, but we have found neither profitable for market. Shaffer's Colossal is a large, purple berry, of ordinary flavor, but immensely productive. Like strawberries, there are dozens of kinds of raspberries, the introducer of each claiming every merit for his child; but we feel safe in recommending the above-save the yellow sorts-for general planting, either for home use or market purposes.

Ripening at the same time with the late black raspberries, is the dewberry, a running blackberry of excellent flavor. Plant a few Lucretia dewberries in your garden and you will not regret it. Where it is possible to irrigate, the blackberry in the Willamette Valley is immensely productive of very large, luscious fruit. I have known of 500 bushels of this fruit to be produced on a single acre. Blackberries should be planted and cultivated much the same as raspberries. Blackberries and black raspberries should be severely summer pruned, i. e., when the canes get up two feet high, pinch them back. This will cause the canes to throw out many laterals, which should also be cut or pinched back, making a dense hedge, which will need no rack or frame.

The Early Harvest and Brunton are the earliest blackberries, but the staple ones for market are the Lawton and Kittatumy.

Without a doubt, Oregon can lay claim to having produced the finest, hardy, large gooseberry ever grown in the United States. I allude to the Oregon Champion, introduced and originated by Mr. H. W. Prettyman, of Mount Tabor.

The Champion is very large, nearly as large again as the Downing or Houghton; immensely productive, of a fine texture berry, and bush entirely free from mildew.

We plant gooseberries and currants in rows five feet apart, and plant three feet apart in the row, and give clean culture, using a one-horse cultivator.

The Fay's Prolific is the best red, and the White Malheur the best white or golden currant that we have ever seen. The Fay, as its name implies, is immensely productive of very large bunches and berries nearly as large as the old Cherry currant, but not nearly so acid as the Cherry.

The old Red Dutch and Cherry and the White Grape and White Dutch currants are still planted to some extent. Lee's Prolific and the Black Naples are as good as any black currants that we have ever seen; but the black currants are of little use and very slow sale. It is not generally known that there is a species of the mulberry that makes a delicious sauce, when eaten as other berries, with sugar and cream. I allude to the "Downing Everbearing," a tree with beautiful habit of growth, very large, almost round, glossy

leaves, and, were it not for the fruit, it should be planted as an ornamental tree. The berries are sometimes one and a half inches long, are a rich sub-acid, and we have yet to see a single person who does not relish this fruit, which continues ripening for a number of weeks.

This whole paper could be filled with a description and history of the many-hued, many-flavored and many varieties of Oregon's wild berries, some of which possess a flavor that has never been equalled in the domesticated sorts. I allude particularly to the running blackberry, found everywhere in this valley, in the river bottoms and on mountain sides. It has a peculiar aromatic flavor that everybody likes, and this fruit readily commands double the price of the tame sorts. In glancing back over my paper, I notice that I have failed to speak of the Evergreen blackberry, which a great many people suppose to be indigenous to Oregon. While such is not the case, inquiry develops the fact that in no section of the Union does the berry flourish except in Oregon and Washington. The Evergreen blackberry is unlike any of its family, inasmuch as the canes do not die annually, but continue to grow from year to year, and it merits its name by retaining its foilage throughout the entire year. Right here it is immensely productive of very large berries, which continue ripening until late in the autumn, and it is not an unheard of instance to pick this fruit ripe from the vines on Christmas day. While we do not like it as well as the Lawton, it is a pretty good fruit for jelly or preserves, and nearly every garden has one or more of these vines.

The wild strawberry is a very good fruit, and most seasons very prolific, but the berries are small and grow so close to the ground that we do not bother with them when our first tame ones are ripe. The currant, the gooseberry, the raspberry, the salmonberry, the thimbleberry, the solalberry, the huckleberry, and many other sorts of berries grow wild all over Western Oregon, and much time is spent by old and young in pursuit of them.

In bringing this paper to a close, we will remark that we lay no pretensions to being a scientific horticulturist, neither do we pretend to be a writer. Berry culture and fruit culture in general has always been very fascinating to us, but so far we have only been able to pick up a few crumbs of the practical part; but we are young, and hope in time to be able, if called upon, to produce a more readable paper than we fear this will prove.

GRAPE GROWING IN THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY.

By HON. A. R. SHIPLEY, member Board of Regents, State Agricultural College, Corvallis, Oregon

Grape-growing, particularly as a commercial industry, has not assumed large proportions in the valley of the Willamette. The climate is not very well adapted to the growth of grapes; the seasons are of good length, but the nights are cool, so that only the earlier varieties are sure to ripen. In most of the low-lying and level parts of the valley, spring frosts are liable to destroy the crop, and in all parts it is subject to great damage by mildew. Cold rains in the blooming season are also a source of great damage to the grape-grower. These are the natural and unavoidable conditions surrounding the business of grape-growing in the Willamette Valley. To them may be added the fact that our grapes are mostly thin-skinned and tender, and consequently do not bear shipping long distances, as do the tougher skinned grapes grown in hotter and drier climates. While all this is true, as proven by the experience and observation of twenty-five years, it is also true that there are many localities in this valley where, with proper knowledge and labor, the business of grape-growing may be carried on with fair measure of success. While it is true that our home market is limited, and distant ones cannot be reached, the excellence of our product will gradually cause a better appreciation and a largely increased consumption among our own people, for it is also true that our Oregon grapes when well grown and ripened are unsurpassed in quality. They are not mere bags of sweet juice, but highly flavored and full of character.

Our Concords and Delawares for size and quality are unequalled in America, and France herself cannot produce finer Muscadines and Hamburgs than grow on the sunny hills of Western Oregon. Having said this much by way of introduction, we will consider briefly the subjects of location, soil, planting, cultivation, pruning, varieties, etc.

LOCATION.

Of course, the best location for the grape is the south side of a not very steep hill having a suitable soil, and there are many such locations in this valley admirably adapted to the growth of the vine; but any fairly rich and well-drained soil will grow good grapes. It will be all the better if it contain a considerable proportion of sand.

It should be plowed deep and put into a fine state of cultivation before planting. We have discarded the practice of trenching as too expensive and unnecessary. Well-rooted one-year-old vines are preferable for planting, and they may be set in spring or fall. Each vine should have at least sixty square feet of ground. A good plan is to set the plants seven feet apart in the row, and place the rows nine feet apart, as this allows the use of a two-horse team in cultivation one way. If the location is on a side hill, the wide rows should run up and down the hill. Foreign varieties may be planted a little closer, but too close planting should be avoided.

How to plant: Before proceeding to set the plants, the ground should be laid off by driving a stout stake four feet long where each vine is to stand, and care should be taken to set the stakes perpendicularly and at least a foot deep. Having set the stakes, which should be of sound cedar, the next thing is to dig the holes for the plants. They should be eight to ten inches deep, the best and finest earth thrown on one side, the bottom smooth, and one side close to the stake, which should be left standing while digging the hole. The plants should be cut back to two buds, and the roots prepared by cutting out the immature and superfluous ones, and pruning the others to eight inches. Now, we place the vine in the hole with the stem as close to the stake as possible, and the roots spread out on the bottom in the shape of a fan. The lower bud should be on a level with the top of the ground. Next we fill in the fine rich earth to the depth of three or four inches and tread it down firmly, after which we fill up the hole with the remaining earth, which is left loose.

I have been thus particular in describing the mode of planting, because much of the success of the plant depends upon it. A good, well-rooted vine thus carefully planted will always make a good growth and be a success unless mismanaged in its after treatment.

PRUNING THE GRAPE.

There are many systems of pruning the grape, but the principle is the same in all. The object is to keep a supply of bearing wood. within reach of the vineyardist. The grape produces its fruit on shoots, which start from buds on canes of the last year's growth, and the natural tendency of the vine is to climb upward and bear its fruit each year farther from the ground, as shown by the wild vine of the forest. By pruning, which must be done every year, we counteract this climbing instinct and keep the bearing wood in proper quantity close to the ground.

In this paper we will confine ourselves to the consideration of one method, which we have found to be the cheapest, simplest, and on

the whole as good as any. This paper is not written so much for the vineyardist as for the farmer who does not expect to grow grapes for the market, but wishes to raise a few for the use of his family. The professional grape-grower will select his own style of pruning and give it the attention necessary to make it a success; but if the general farmer prunes and cultivates his vines in the spring, it is about all we can expect of him, and he should adopt a method which, under these circumstances, will give him a fair crop of grapes each year. The plan which I propose to describe, and which, after years of experience, I have adopted in my own vineyard, will do this, and is known as the Hungarian system or Buck pruning. It is used extensively in California, is the cheapest and simplest of all, and can be learned easily and quickly by all.

To illustrate the system, we will take a vine and carry it through the various stages of growth, pruning, and cultivation till it comes to full bearing. We will suppose the vine to be well planted, cut back to two buds, and a stout stake four feet long set firmly by its side. If both buds start, the weaker one must be rubbed off when ten or twelve inches long, and the other tied to the stake and left to grow at will during the season. The ground should be well cultivated, which may be done with plow, cultivator, or hoe. At the end of the season we have a cane three to six feet long, which, at the pruning season, must be cut back to two buds. The treatment

during the second summer is precisely the same as during the first, only one shoot, the stronger, being permitted to grow, and it must be kept firmly tied to the stake, as we wish it to grow perfectly upright this season. Thorough cultivation and the destruction of all weeds must not be neglected if we desire the best results. All suckers and any fruit that shows itself should be removed, our object being to grow one strong cane. This cane at the proper period must be cut so that the upper bud will be two or three feet from the ground, the cut being made at least two inches from the bud.

We are now at the beginning of the third year. The treatment of our vine consists simply in good cultivation and the removal of all suckers and shoots that push from buds within six or eight inches of the ground. Fruit showing itself this year may be permitted to ripen. No summer pruning is necessary. The shoots are permitted to grow at will, and need not be tied up, but the main stock must be kept firmly tied to the stake. We desire to maintain a uniform growth among the different shoots so as to secure a symmetrical, well-balanced head. This may be done by pinching the more vigorous ones.

This brings us to the end of the third season, and our vine should look a little like an umbrella with three to five ribs, and may carry