FAEMERS' INSTITUTES. 269 



For the culture of blackberries and red raspberries over-rich soil is not as 

 good as soil that has been run a few years, — in fact, were we to take our choice 

 of a poor piece of sandy land, or rich, heavy clay or loam for such, we -would 

 choose the former. The plants, of course, will be more dwarfed in growth, 

 but if the sprouts are kept down and the ground well cultivated, the ones left 

 in the hills or rows will make a sufficient growth. 



If grown on rich soil the wood is liable to be springy and tender and easily 

 killed by the cold in winter, and if not killed are not so sure to produce a joay- 

 ing crop as those on poorer soil and of less growth. If the soil is very light and 

 poor, and the plants make too small a growth, the application of a small amovint 

 of leaf mould or well rotted compost about the roots will produce the growth 

 desirable. By this method, and a proper amount of pruning, you may receive 

 a paying amount for the investment, in a crop of berries on soil that would be 

 called too poor to produce white beans. 



In this connection it may not be amiss to state that red raspberries will prove 

 an abs'^lute failure if allowed to grow broadcast over the ground, but if well 

 cultivated can be made one of the most productive of small fruits, and this may 

 be done with less labor and expense than will be required with many of the 

 other varieties. As to the merits of this berry we need only to say that it is 

 just coming to be considered one of tlie most desirable and delicious dishes for 

 the table. 



In testimony of the productiveness of some varieties of red raspberries we 

 would refer you to the following : In the spring of 1871, I set 450 plants of the 

 Philadelphia, and in the season of 1873 picked what I supposed to be a good 

 crop, but in 1874 the yield told in round numbers was 72 bushels, which sold on 

 an average of twelve-and-a-half cents per quart. 



The soil for the different varieties of the black-cap raspberries, we think, 

 should be of a better quality thau is necessary for the blackberry, and if poor 

 would require certainly double the fertilizing qualities to secure a success of 

 their cultivation. We have picked in one season as the i)roduction of one acre 

 of these berries 3,000 quarts. 



The grape we should class as the most healthful luxury in the whole catalogue 

 of fruits, and it would be an effectual offering to tempt the appetite of an 

 epicure even, yet how few, comparatively, of the rural homes, enjoy it. Why 

 the apparent neglect of farmers to provide for an abundant supply for family 

 use of this most wholesome luxury is a query of the age. 



No land owner, whatever, should be without small fruit, growing in a quan- 

 tity sufficient for his own use. 



In summer there is no more agreeable dish than a plate of strawberries, rasp- 

 berries, blackberries, or grapes, and with a little thought and care in planting 

 the different varieties of these fruits the arrangement may be so complete as to 

 provide a daily supply of these luxuries (which should come to be esteemed as 

 necessities) from early in June until the frosts of fall should cut them off. 

 Then in winter, perhaps, there cannot be any greater table relish supplied 

 than is furnished by the preserving of these small fruits. 



But in thus urging the necessity of the cultivation of small fruits we would 

 not be understood to recommend the farmer to engage in it as an enterprise, 

 with a view to commercial profit. Although we do hold, as we have said be- 

 fore, that the compensation from the cultivation of small fruits is so abundant 

 that not a single farmer can afford to delay longer the necessary provisions for 

 a full supply for his own use. 



