SMALL FRUITS. 13 



SUGGESTIONS ON SMALL FRUIT CULTURE. 



M. W. COOK, ROCHESTER. 



There ha.s been so much said and written on small fruit culture 

 that there is little left that is new by waj' of instruction to add. No 

 one who is inclined to grow fruits, either for himself or for market, 

 need hesitate on account of lack of knowledge of what, how, or 

 when to plant, or how to prepare the soil, etc. Good instructions are 

 to be found in all good horticultural papers, at the farmers' insti- 

 tutes and especially in the annual reports of this societ5\ Why it is 

 that so many tillers of the soil neglect to avail themselves of such 

 knowledge, the putting- into practice of which would add so much 

 pleasure, health and profit, is a mysterj^ to me. 



All like small fruits, all need them, all can very easily have them 

 fresh from the vines two or three months and canned the rest of the 

 year. You can grow them for two cents per quart, strawberries, red 

 and black raspberries and blackberries. Do you owners of land 

 want such a feast for your families and sick neighbors, the year 

 round? Then arrange to plant the coming spring. Don't wait, but 

 plant any land you have which will grow corn or potatoes. Don't 

 plant strawberries where the chickens will scratch up the vines or 

 eat the fruit. Farmers' chickens all like strawberries, and so do the 

 children. Don't get j^our plants from j^our neighbor's bed. Don't 

 set all pistillates (females); you would have plenty of vines and 

 bloom, but no fruit. Get your plants from a reliable source, not 

 more than two-thirds pistillates and one-third stamenates (males.) 



Plant in spring as early as the ground will do to work. Plant in 

 long rows, so as to cultivate with horse. Plant a few rows each year 

 on land planted to corn or potatoes the year before and kept clean. 

 Set plants taken from new beds. If from your own, be sure you set 

 perfect flowering kinds alone or near pistillate varieties, if you plant 

 pistillates. Be sure you are right and then go ahead. Give clean 

 and oft repeated cultivation the first year; here is where the secret 

 lies. Don't buy high priced nov^elties. Let plants form matted 

 rows fifteen to eighteen inches wide. Keep the plants hoed and 

 thinned to about four inches apart, if you want lots of fine fruit. 



Mulch the ground in early fall, as soon as it freezes, with 

 coarse litter from the stable, clean straw or marsh hay. All must be 

 free from grass or foul seed. Early in the spring put the mulch off 

 from the rows, leaving a little on them to keep the fruit clean, 

 and leaving the rest between the rows for a mulch, to keep weeds 

 down and ground moist and to make a clean path for the pickers. 



After fruiting one year, remove the mulch, narrow down the rows 

 with a small plow to ten inches, hoe out all weeds, cultivate well 

 between the rows and scatter on the rows a coat of fine, well-rotted 

 manure, free from grass and weed seed. In September mulch between 

 the rows with any coarse litter from j-our barn-yard or with straw^ 

 to keep the weeds down and the ground mellow, and when the 

 ground freezes cover all with clean straw, just enough to cover the 

 plants; and my word for it, you will have plenty of strawberries 

 for your own family and to give to your sick neighbors, that have 



