FRUIT FOR THE HOME. 81 



varieties, selected at random, he will surely have one or more 

 that is really choice and does well. Another has planted twenty 

 and has got possibly four or five that are valuable, and so on. 

 I venture I could, in a day's time, find plenty of varieties of ap- 

 ples that are of choice quality and that will thrive and bear here 

 to last me the year round. You can grow cherries here until 

 they can hardly steal them. The plum, the peach and the apri- 

 cot will also all thrive and give good returns. The strawberry is 

 quite at home here, and other fruits too numerous to mention 

 can easily be grown at a profit. After some observation and 

 careful consideration I cannot but believe that the way is very 

 easy. Now then, if I had expected to sermonize on this I would 

 have called on Brother Harrison. 



Returning to the subject proper, I might first take up the 

 strawberries. We should iDrepare the ground and plant the 

 plants very carefully, the same as we would prepare the ground 

 for the lettuce or onion bed. Then plant the plants with care 

 like we would the tomato or cabbage plant. Plant just the right 

 depth, not too shallow or too deep. Either is destructive. 

 Give thorough cultivation, mulch in the fall very little. Do not 

 put on four or five inches of covering, not more than one or two 

 inches. Scrape it off the plants in the spring and allow it to re- 

 main between the rows. Now about varieties, there are at least 

 twenty-five varieties that you can grow and be happy with every 

 one of them. However, some are much better than others and 

 if you want to know more about them, get some of the near-by 

 growers' catalogues or consult the horticultural reports. For 

 raspberries and blackberries, my idea is to prepare and handle 

 the soil so as to conserve moisture through the latter part of 

 the summer and fall, and the whole secret is then solved. If it 

 is a dry season, or like it was this last season, dry in autumn, 

 mulch them and you will carry them through. If you have an 

 extreme dry summer and autumn, you can only grow canes and 

 wait another year for the bearing. If you have planted a young 

 orchard, plant your berries in your orchard. Some object to 

 that but I can see no objection. You can grow them all together. 

 We grow blackberries and raspberries when we have a young 

 orchard to grow them in. There is no drying out of the trees 

 or of the soil under the plants. They are not great plants to 



