GROWING SMALL FRUITS. 23 



the left. The man sinks his spade in the ground about six inches 

 deep, right in the row, back of spade towards the boy. When spade 

 is thrust in the ground, he shoves the handle from him, then draws it 

 back to him. This makes an opening behind the spade. The boy 

 takes a plant out of bucket in his right hand, holding it by the crown 

 puts the roots down in the opening behind the spade, and holds it 

 there with the crown level with surface of ground until the man draws 

 his spade out, and with his left foot tramps the soil up against the 

 plant. This may be a little awkward at first, but in a half day any 

 smart boy and man can learn to do it well and speedily. I frequently 

 have had a boy and man plant from one-half to three-fourths of an 

 acre in a day, and do the work well. 



Within a week or ten days at farthest after planting start your 

 Planet Jr. cultivator, or eleven-toothed cultivator, and hoes. Culti- 

 vate shallow. Use small shovels, one and one-fourth inch, on culti- 

 vator. Keep the ground as level as possible. Keep cultivator and 

 hoe going through them once every week to ten days, until about the 

 middle of August. By that time your plants ought to cover about 

 half the ground, and that is all you want. 



Distance Between Plants. — A wet or a dry season makes a 

 great difference; also the different varieties makes still more difference. 

 B. Wood, Warfield, Crescent, Robinson, and C. Jack, two feet apart, 

 an ordinary season, with good soil and cultivation, will make all 

 you want and generally more than you want, especially if you have 

 plenty of rain in July and August. You will have to destroy many 

 runners or your plants will be so thick your fruit will be small and 

 poor quality. When your rows are twenty to twenty-four inches 

 wide, you had better destroy all runners that start out between rows. 

 Parker Earl, ordinary seasons, has to be planted from twelve to fifteen 

 inches between plants to make a fair fruiting row. The first B. Wood 

 and Warfield I ever grew I planted about four and one-half feet 

 between plants, and by September had perfect rows two feet and over 

 wide and plants as thick in row as they ought to be to bear the best 

 quality of fruit. I generally pinch off the first runners that start out, 

 and all blossoms, — this gives the plants a chance to grow strong and 

 send out two or three runners about the same time, and the runners 

 are not in your way so much in hoeing. When runners start out freely, 

 you can fasten the first ones in the row between plants. Get them 



