Small Fruits. 381 



time, thus affording shade and protection to the soil during the summer. 



I prefer to plant in spring as soon as the soil is dry enough to work 

 well, especially if the plants have been taken up the previous fall and 

 heeled in over winter. Select hardy, vigorous bushes and take great care 

 in setting. It is of the greatest care and importance to get a full stand, 

 for plants that are put in later are at a great disadvantage and seldom do 

 well. Properly prune both roots and tops before planting, lay the roots 

 out straight in the furrow and cover with a fine, rich soil. With me 

 cultivation is the easiest part. With a planet Jr or with a section of my 

 steel harrow I can do the work to perfection at small cost. After the 

 fruit is harvested and the vine crop, if any, is out of the way, I plow the 

 longest way of the field with a diamond plow, throwing the soil to the 

 bushes. In early spring I cultivate the other way and harrow, which 

 levels the ground and prepares it for the small crops. The sooner this 

 plowing is done after the fruit is off, the better. 



As to varieties, I have found the Downing by far the best and most 

 profitable for home use and commercial purposes. The plant is perfectly 

 hardy and withstands our dryest summers, is a sure cropper, producing 

 fruit of fine appearance and good quality. It is also less troubled by 

 insect pests than any other kind. — Orange Judd Farmer. 



F. S. White, 



Iowa. 



FALL PLANTING OF SMALL FEUITS. 



Editor "Rural World:" Answering a question by a "Rural World" 

 reader as to the relative merits of fall or spring planting, it depends en- 

 tirely on various conditions such as the relative amount of time a planter 

 has for the work during the fall or spring, the probable weather condi- 

 tions during these seasons and the intervening winter, together with the 

 character of the plants themselves. As a rule there is more time to do 

 the work in the fall besides the spring season is usually so short that 

 plants often start into active gro^vth before the ground is in workable 

 condition. In latitudes where the mnters are long and the ground 

 freezes early and deeply autumn planting is not as successfully practiced 



