384 STATE BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 



gent labor Avill sui)ply a family with an abundance of these, first, and among 

 the best and most healthy fruits of the season. Yet how few farms do we see 

 on which any of tliese fruits are produced in any degree of perfection I 



Tlie history of small fruits on a farm is often something like tiie following: 

 The nursery agent comes along and exhibits his beautiful plates of new and 

 rare varieties. The family is delighted at the possibility of liaving a plentiful 

 supply of fine fruit. Several dozen or hundred of plants arc purchased and 

 set out. Want of knowledge how to treat the plants, or neglect, or poor 

 varieties — either, or all of these causes combined — disappoint the family in 

 their expectations. Tiie strawberry bed becomes a bed of matted vines and 

 grass, and the raspberry bushes are imbedded in a juncgrass sod, the young 

 canes are interwoven with the old ones, the whole forming a jungle of briars 

 in which the pickers force their way with pain and difficulty. 



Now let us look at a brighter side. The most important small fruits arc the 

 strawberry, the raspberry and the grape. I shall say nothing about the grape, 

 as that will be treated by another essayist. The blackberry is so uncertain in 

 this latitude, excepting near the lake, on account of winter killing, that I 

 %vould not recommend farmers to spend much time with it. Yet some years 

 we can raise a tine crop of this excellent fruit. It should be planted in soil 

 tiot too rich, from four to six feet apart, and the young canes should be pinched 

 ■olf when four or five feet high. In other respects it should be treated like the 

 raspberry. The Kittatinny is the most successful variety for this climate. 



The currant has been too common in the farmer's garden for years, to re- 

 ceive much notice here. Clean culture, frequent manuring and mulching, 

 and cutting out the old wood and superiluous canes, and cutting the longest 

 ones back every year or two, Avill generally insure a bountiful crop of this fine 

 fruit. 



The most important of the small fruits is the strawberry; not only because 

 it is one of the best fruits, but, principally, becouse it is tiie first fruit of the 

 season and wholly without a rival. Green Prolific, Charles Downing, Michi- 

 gan, arc good varieties, but for all circumstances, Wilson's Albany is still 

 unrivalled. Any soil that will produce good corn or potatoes will produce good 

 strawberries ; it may, however, be so rich as to produce foliage at the expense 

 of fruit. The best time for planting is in September, or as soon as the young 

 plants arc well rooted. Always set your plants after a rain or during a rain ; 

 never allow the roots to wilt. If planted in the fall they should be lightly 

 covered with straw or coarse manure, as soon as the ground freezes, to prevent 

 winter-killing. Especially should this be done where the soil is heavy and 

 liable to heave. If planted in the spring the buds should be pinched off to 

 ansure a vigorous plant. The plants should be set from twelve to eighteen 

 inches apart in the row, and if it is designed to use the cultivator the rows 

 fihould be three and a half or four feet ai)art: but if not, they may be from 

 two and a half to three feet apart. The young plants should be cultivated 

 several times in the spring before the runners begin to shoot, using the hoe 

 around the i)lant, and not allowing a weed or any grass to get any footiiold. If 

 this is thoroughly done all subsequent culture will be easy. As soon as the 

 runners begin to shoot you must decide what method of training you will adopt. 

 If you decide to keep the plants in hills, you must cut or pull off the runners 

 as fast as they appear, and keep up the culture until towards fall. From neg- 

 lect the runners are sometimes allowed to remain until they have formed plants 

 which are then hoed out. This is ruinous, for the parent plant has spent its 



