24 State Horticidtural Society. 



The next thin": to do is to attend to ordering your plants, provided you 

 have not grown them yourself. Don't wait until spring, when you are 

 ready to plant them, but select such varieties as you know succeed in 

 your immediate locality. Send your order to some reliable plant-grower 

 and instruct him to have your plants on hand as early as you think the 

 ground will do to work. Better have them two weeks before that time 

 and heel them in than to be a few days behind. Now I don't think 

 fancy berries mean the very largest berries than can be grown, but 

 berries of uniform size and typical of the variety that they represent. Of 

 course, if large berries are to be the end sought, then select such 

 varieties as Bubach, Ridgeway, Nick Ohmer, Rough Rider, etc., but I 

 contend a box of well-grown Cresents or Warfields are just as fancy 

 as any of the others, although not as large. As soon in the spring as 

 the ground is ready to work (never work it while too wet), plow under 

 the crop of rye and drag and harrow until well pulverized and in good 

 shape to receive the plants. Having the plants on hand, begin setting 

 immediately, setting plants 3I/2 ft. by 18 to 24 inches, owing to variety. If 

 the variety is a great plant-maker, like Warfield or Crescent, 24 inches ; 

 if like Bubach, then 18 inches is far enough. Plants should be set deep 

 enough to cover the roots well, but not deep enough to cover the crown. 

 Begin cultivation as soon as plants are set and give thorough cultivation 

 all sumimer, never allowing the ground to crust after a hard rain. As 

 soon as your plants begin to make runners, place them in line with the 

 mother plants and cover tips with a little moist earth, thus helping to 

 get a row full of plants as early as possible. Plants should be grown in 

 thin, matted rows for best results, allowing them to set not closer than 

 4 or 5 inches apart. No use to try to grow fancy berries where you let 

 the plants have their own sweet will, as they will pile up so thick that it 

 will be all the plants can do to exist, without producing any fruit of 

 consequence. The idea is to have your rows about a foot wide and 

 plants 4 to 5 inches apart in the row, thus giving each plant room to do 

 its best. As soon as ground freezes in the fall, cover your plants with 

 slough grass or good clean straw to protect the plants from alternate 

 freezing and thawing during the winter and following spring months. 

 As soon as settled weather comes in the spring, remove the mulch from 

 the plants, leaving it between the rows to hold moisture and keep your 

 berries clean. "Pshaw!" you say; "''all that is too much trouble." Is 

 it ? Wait and watch those plants develop in the spring ; see them with 

 their great crowns full of vigor; see the healthy foliage; notice the 

 great big berries as they form and at last see how the boxes fill with 

 great big red berries fit for a king to eat. Watch the expression of 



