GENERAL FRUITS. 239 
The apple crop was, in many orchards in our county, a good one. As 
to my own orchard, the yield was not over a half crop. Most cf my 
Duchess trees took a rest and made a good growth, and are full of fruit 
buds for next year’s crop. Duchess, Wealthy, Longfield and Malinda are 
the kinds mostly cultivated; and of crab apples we have an abundance. 
Transcendent, Hyslop, Orange, Virginia, Florence, and others of 
the Gideon family are the best. Each year we ship from our town hun- 
dreds and hundreds of barrels of crab apples, mostly to Dakota and Min- 
neapolis. When handled and shipped in good condition they bring a good 
price, from 75 cents to $1.00 per bushel. 
The rules for growing small fruit are as simple as those for growing a 
crop of corn or potatoes. For strawberries a southern slope of sandy soil 
well manured is to be preferred, but any kind of soil will produce a crop. 
In planting I use a line as a guide to get the rows straight. For the last 
couple of years I have used a spade for planting. Insert the spade close 
to the line 4 or 5 inches deep, work it back and forth once or twice, having 
a boy with the plants ready; as soon as hole is made the boy will hold the 
plant crown even with the surface till the man again puts the spade in 
the ground, pressing it gently toward the plant, putting his foot between 
the spade and the plant. This is the quickest way of any I have tried, 
and can be done as well as when planted by hand. Strawberries should 
be planted 34«feet between rows and from 12 to 18 inches in the row. 
Plant 3 rows of pistillate, then one row with perfect flowers; cultivate at 
least once a week, using a fine tooth cultivator, and keep the rows clean 
by hoeing or weeding; pick off all the blossoms the first year. In the fall 
when the ground is frozen enough to hold up a team, cover them with 
clean straw, rye straw if possible, and the work is done for the first year. 
In the spring when all danger of frost is over, rake off most of the straw 
leaving it between the rows. If the bed has been well attended the first 
year. no more work is required till after picking season is over. Black 
raspberries and blackberries should be planted 3 feet apart in the row, 
and 7 feet between rows. Dig the plants when they are a few inches 
above the ground and plant them. the same way as strawberries. The 
first year a’ row of strawberries or potatoes can be planted between each 
row. When the young vines are about 18 to 24 inches above the ground 
pinch theendsof them off, to make them grow stocky and produce more 
laterals; these laterals on black raspberries should again be cut back in 
the spring to a length of 12 or 18 inches. 
The blackberries should not be trimmed in the spring at all. The black- 
berries sprout freely and will become troublesome if not cut down and 
treated as weeds. They should be covered during the winter with earth; 
it should not be done till the ground is about to freeze up. To do this 
loosen the dirt on the north side of the plant with a potato fork, bend the 
tops over towards the ground, and cover with earth. It is not necessary 
to put on a great deal of earth, just enough to hold them down. After 
danger of hard frost in the spring is over, the bushes should be taken up. 
This is easily done by putting a fork under the plants and lifting them 
gently up. From my own experience, I find that blackberries can be 
grown with profit on poor land. I have a blackberry patch on a stony 
side hill that would not raise a crop of corn or potatoes, and I get more 
berries from that patch than from those planted on a deep loam. 
