458 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



Prof. Taft: On tenacious land of such level, I should think drainage 

 needful. Dig a two-foot hole in June, and if you find no water in it drain- 

 age is needless. 



SMALL FRUITS. 



BY MRS. R. n. PALMER. 



Readfat the Brooklyn Institute, Feb. 14, 1889. 



Having cared for small fruit more or less for the last twenty years, I 

 thought I might throw out some hints that would be of profit to others. 



As soon think of buying all the milk and butter for family use, as to 

 depend on others, for all the small fruit you need. It is a puzzle to me why 

 so few farmers raise their own small fruit. Rather than go without, I 

 would even dare to hint that the farmers wife or daughter might do some- 

 thing towards the care of this much desired luxury. It is no harder work 

 than the care of flowers, which she esteems a privilege. Do I hear the cry 

 from many of these farmers' wives, saying, for shame ; do not put any more 

 burdens on us poor overworked women. That is just what I was about to 

 speak of. If you did not stay in the house from early dawn until late at 

 night, and bake, dust, scrub, make and mend, you would not feel so care- 

 worn. And stop that worry. It is that which is killing our women, or 

 making them grow prematurely old. Get out of that everlasting round of 

 a treadmill and breathe a little fresh air and sunshine ; just try it for one 

 year, and get out an hour or more every day all through the busy season, 

 and see if you do not come out more healthy and cheerful in the end. It 

 will more than pay you for your labor, when you can have all the small fruit 

 you need for your table and for canning. If people would use more fresh 

 fruit through warm weather, and less meat, they would be healthier. One 

 of the best medicines that I can recommend, is plenty of fruit and a reason- 

 able amount of exercise. We would be much the gainer, if we would look 

 more to our fruit for our medicines and less to our drug store. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



Our first ripe fruit here is the strawberry, which comes on about the tenth 

 of June. If there is no strawberry patch on your farm, your first business 

 should be to make one, never mind the kind, it depends more on the care 

 for quality. If we wish to enjoy this delicious fruit at its best, we must 

 raise it ourselves, and pick it when fully matured ready for the table, and 

 not for market, for that has to be picked when not fully ripe, to bear trans- 

 portation. I like summer or early fall planting. In July or August, the 

 earlier the better. While more strawberries are planted in the spring than 

 at any other time, certain advantages are secured by summer or fall plant- 

 ing. All plants that get a nice start by the first of September will bear 

 large, nice fruit the next season, thus getting fruit in about ten months, 

 while those set out in the spring must go about fourteen, for under no con- 

 sideration should they bear fruit the first season. If blossoms should appear, 

 pick them off. 



The most favorable soil for strawberries is a sandy loam, a soil that 

 will retain moisture — water is one of their chief needs — but not where. 



