120 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



deal of Harm may be done. The cultivator should be run between 

 the rows as soon as the planting is finished and should be kept 

 going very often till fall. We use two models, the five tooth 

 and the harrow. The latter can be run very close to small plants 

 without covering them, but great care must be used not to let the 

 teeth go too deep. Nine men out of ten who have not had expe- 

 rience with such work will run the cultivator twice as deep as it 

 should go when close to the plants. Be sure and go through 

 with the cultivator soon after every rain. There is always a time 

 when the soil is just right but if the weather is hot the proper 

 conditions may last only a few hours and this condition often 

 comes sooner after a heavy shower than one would think. 



Summer training of the strawberry and pruning of the rasp- 

 berry and blackberry is important. In growing the strawberry 

 in matted rows it is best that the young plants should not be 

 pulled up after they have commenced to root. The only way 

 this can be avoided is to keep the cultivator constantly on the 

 move for if we leave the field for a couple of weeks the runners 

 will reach out into the center of the cultivated space and when it 

 rains the little plants will send out roots in an incredibly short 

 time and these will be overturned by the cultivator and as a result 

 their rooting will be greatly delayed. If you should be very 

 busy and neglect the bed, turn the plants by hand and press 

 them into the soil again, or if you haven't time go right along 

 with the cultivator and let them shift for themselves. Do not 

 stop the cultivator: If you do you will regret it. 



Blackberries and raspberries should be pinched back when 

 from twelve to eighteen inches high the first season and at 

 about two feet when older. You will have to keep an eye on 

 the new growth or some day you will find it has grown to be 

 five feet high when you thought the growth had only com- 

 menced. The second season use the plow on all small fruit. 

 With bush fruits throw the furrows against the plants early in 

 the spring and after the weeds have been smothered, cultivate 

 and hoe it away. 



As soon as your strawberry plants have ceased bearing mow 

 the bed over and burn or rake off the rubbish ; then turn your 

 furrows on to the rows of plants leaving a narrow strip not cov- 

 ered. When this earth has remained long enough to kill the 

 weeds and plants underneath, cultivate and hoe it back into 

 the furrow again and then work the bed the same as the first 

 season. 



