380 TBANSACTIONS OF THE HORTICULTUEAL 



To have your plants in a vigorous and healthy condition, ready 

 to bear a good crop of delicious fruit, cultivate them thoroughly dur- 

 ing the entire season, and you will seldom fail to be well repaid for 

 your trouble. 



BERRY CULTURE. 



BY S. T. WAKEMAN. 



The raspberry, the Cjueen of small fruits, should have a place 

 in every garden and on every farm and village lot, no matter how 

 small. The fruit can be used in so many ways, dried, canned or 

 fresh from the bushes, and the small expense of growing it ought 

 to make it more extensively planted. The raspberry is at home in 

 our latitude, and is a sure crop most every year, with proper care 

 and management. 



Preparation of the soil is the key to success, and especially so 

 in planting the black cap, the roots of which are poor foragers. They 

 reach out but a short distance in search of food. A black cap 

 would grow poor where a red raspberry or a blackberry would grow 

 fat. If planted on poor soil, it will reward the planter a few years, 

 and then like the horse tied in his stall with plenty of food almost 

 in reach, will grow poor and weak. 



Any soil that will grow a good crop of corn will be good enough 

 for raspberry or blackberry plants, providing no water stands on it 

 during the winter. I prefer a rich clay soil for the black cap, one 

 that will not dry out too quick, while the blackberry and red sorts 

 like the sandy soil. The main thing to do is to secure a fine, well- 

 pulverized soil, in which the roots can grow below the effects of the 

 dry weather. It is a fact that the more fine or working roots, the 

 the larger the growth and the better will be the crop. Now if we 

 would secure an abundance of these fine roots, a rich, finely pulver- 

 ized, loose soil is the first thing to secure. 



It is a fact that a deep rich soil will produce larger canes, more 

 and better berries than a shallow one. Plants set in such a soil stand 

 more drouth and are less subject to disease. I prefer opening a dead 

 furrow by plowing two furrows each way; the last one should be as 

 deep as the plow can run. Scatter plenty of manure along in the 

 furrow, then take a horse and two-shovel cultivator and mix thor- 

 oughly. You can not stir too much; the more you mix the better 

 will be the result; if properly done, the furrows will be nearly full 

 when finished. I set the plants with a spade; one man and a small 

 boy will plant out three to four acres in a day. The plants must be 

 kept moist while planting. Ten minutes of drying wind or sunshine 

 will spoil black raspben*y tips. The earlier the planting is done the 

 better and larger will be the growth. Plenty of lime and ashes 

 mixed in the manure is a wonderful help. 



