190 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



SUCCESS VS. FAILURE IN GROWING HEAVY CROPS 



OF FRUIT. 



CHAS. F. GARDNER, OSAGE, IOWA, 



The first thing is the selection of such land as can be reasonably- 

 expected to grow a heavy crop of corn or potatoes, and if such crops 

 have been grown on it for two or more years and the ground kept 

 clean and plowed each season in the fall, less trouble will be had 

 with cut worms, white grubs and other pests. 



Land for a berry plantation should be prepared in the fall. If corn 

 has been grown, it should be dug, all stalks and roots gathered to- 

 gether and burned with the other rubbish, the surface well har- 

 rowed over and plowed as early as possible, about four inches deep, 

 and pulverized at once. Late in the season, plow again to the depth 

 of twelve to sixteen inches. This can be done in our soil with a 

 common sulky plow, drawn by froin four to six heavy horses. 

 "Working the ground in the autumn, as I have described, is the best 

 way to destroy the May beetle in its larvae state; many of them are 

 eaten by birds, and all the larvae are loosened and destroyed by the 

 action of the frost during the winter. 



In the spring when the ground is dry enough to be in good con- 

 dition and not before, go over it with the pulverizer and smooth 

 down with a harrow or planker and mark off in rows. Blackberries 

 and raspberries should be in rows not less than four by eight feet. 

 The best and most successful planters that I know of have the rows 

 ten or twelve feet apart, which enables them to do the most of the 

 cultivation between the rows w^ith a pulverizer and two horses. If 

 the latter distance is selected, twelve feet, two rows of strawberries 

 can be planted in the immediate spaces and a heavy crop grown 

 without detriment to the rows of canes. If the rows are eight feet 

 apart, a row of beans or potatoes can be planted. 



The cultivator must follow close to the heels of the setting gang 

 to keep the soil in good condition and to prevent its baking. Con- 

 stant, though shallow, cultivation must be kept up during the bal- 

 ance of the season once a week until the first of July, after that once 

 in two weeks. After the plants have been set out, we put a small 

 shovelful of unleached wood ashes to each hill. We find it necessary 

 to go over the plantation about three times with the hoe each season 

 to keep it absolutely clean. No pruning is done thefirst season, and 

 pinching back is entirely out of place in this latitude, where v^^e are 

 compelled to cover the bushes with earth in the fall to protect them 

 over winter. 



In the autumn after heavy frost, the canes are laid down and cov- 

 ered lightly with earth, and over this a slight covering of horse 

 manure is placed. The most of the bending is done in the root by 

 removing a spadeful of earth; when the cane is down, this earth is 

 replaced. 



We seldom cover one year old blackcaps, as the canes always lie 

 quite close to the earth, but we mulch them with a covering of fine 

 horse manure, not covering the canes. After the first year, they are 

 covered in the fall at the same time and in the same manner as 

 the others. 



