PLANTING SMALL FEUIT. 87 



of the ground and the soil will work well. Never plant any small fruit 

 plants in the mud, as your soil will bake and there is no chance for 

 the crowns to break through the crust and you are pretty sure to lose 

 your plants and your work also. 



Just here I want to speak of watering plants or trees when planting, 

 as I have often seen a pint or a bucketfull poured in with each plant. 

 For trees, shrubs or plants to grow it is necessary that the roots be press- 

 ing firmly against the soil, in fact they may be said to squeeze the mois- 

 ture necessary for growth from the soil by pressure. If a large amount 

 of water is poured in with the plant it prevents pressing the soil firm 

 and as the dryer soil surrounding quickly absorbs the water and the 

 soil is soon nearly as dry as the ground adjacent and in drying rapidly 

 the soil cracks away from the roots and leaves an air space between the 

 soil and a large part of the surface of your feeders and trouble will re- 

 scult. A better plan is to dip the roots of the plant in water just before 

 planting, this causes the soil to adhere to the plant but does not prevent 

 the proper packing of the soil around the roots. 



Good strong raspberry plants may be set very rapidly with a tiling 

 spade, sink the spade six or eight inches into the ground, throw the 

 handle forward and drop the plant in back of the spade so that the crown 

 is about an inch below the surface, remove the spade and firm the soil 

 with the foot, but to make sure of a perfect stand, although the work is 

 much slower make a small hole for each plant, place the soil around the 

 roots by hand, be sure to press the soil well over the roots but leave it 

 loose above the crown which should not be more than an inch below the 

 surface, remember, more raspberry plants are lost from deep planting 

 than any other cause. 



Plants can also be set very rapidly by first making a shallow furrow 

 where the row is to be with a small plow. The plants can then be placed 

 and covered very rapidly by hand. The black cap raspberries should be 

 planted in rows seven or eight feet apart and two to four feet in the row. 

 Cardinals, Haymaker and a few other of the heavy caned sorts should be 

 eight or ten feet apart and four or five feet in the row. 



In Blackberries, plants from root cuttings are the best to plant and 

 may be planted the same as raspberries in rows eight feet apart and be 

 sure you keep them in rows, if the plants are set several feet apart they 

 will soon fill in the entire row, but it is advisable to put them not more 

 than two feet as you will get a full crop of berries sooner with plants 

 set this way. You may reasonably expect a good crop the second year 

 and a full crop the third year. The cheapest plan to get a blackberry 

 patch is to plant the root cuttings where you want the berry patch. Root 

 cuttings three or four inches long are about as sure to grow as plants 

 are, and are much easier planted. They will make a crop the second year 

 and plants seldom do much better. To plant have your ground in good 

 condition, fall plowing preferred, make an old fashioned corn marker. 



