ORIGINATING NEW VARIETIES OF SMALL FRUITS. 351 

 ORIGINATING NEW VARIETIES OFSMALL FRUITS. 



J. C. KRAMER, IvA CRESCENT. 



I will endeavor to write my past experience in regard to how 

 to obtain new varieties of small fruit. 



I St. Save the seed from hardy trees, bushes, shrubs or plants 

 of healthy growth. 



2nd. Select the very best and prime berries of the kind you 

 wish to plant. 



3rd. Keep the seed of each tree or vine separate, and when 

 you plant the seeds plant each kind from each plant separate, or 

 you will make a mistake. Place labels on each row so you will 

 know just where you are at and where you will be later on. 



4th. Xext as to the place where to raise or germinate the seeds. 

 Take a box about two feet long, one foot wide and five or six inches 

 deep. Fill this box with rich earth, pulverizing it fine, and press 

 it solid. Mark it off in slight drills two or three inches apart. Now 

 put in your seed, covering lightly with earth. Next take dry moss, 

 rubbing it fine and making a light covering over the whole box. 

 Do this in October or November. Then place the box in the cel- 

 lar and keep moist (not wet) until March. Then bring it to light 

 and warmth and water regularly, when they soon come up. The 

 raspberry is slow to come up. 



5th. Now is the time to keep careful watch that you have each 

 kind separate. Now experiment and select the weak ones from the 

 strong ones. It is no wonder that so many apple trees die young 

 in the orchards. I generally examine my young trees or plants 

 the first summer every day to see how they are acting. The shape 

 of the tree, the bark and the leaf all show whether it is a good one 

 or not. Pull up the poor trees and throw them away or, better still, 

 burn them. They are useless and cause two or three months of 

 trouble for nothing. 



Examine your work closely, and you will find your way through 

 to success. Never think it an easy matter, as I caU it good luck if 

 I get one out of fifty that is a good plant. I keep right on and plant 

 seeds every year in hopes of getting good results. 



In spring when danger of frosts has passed, then set the young 

 seedlings in a good locality in well manured ground, about one foot 

 apart and see what they will do. Some of them will bring fruit in 

 eighteen months from the seed, others will go for two years and, 

 again, to three years. 



