SMALL FRUITS. 339 



ful theories, which have not been sufficiently proved to safely accept as 

 facts. Time will only permit me to spealc of a few necessary things that 

 may help the novice to begin in the right way to secure successful results. 



The strawberry is a hardy native plant in all parts of the continent, 

 and seems equally at Lome from the Arctic Circle to Panama, although 

 like most plants it is at its best for vigor and productiveness near the 

 northern limit of its growth. 



Fitted to live and endure adverse conditions, it will only prove a pleasure 

 and a profit to the growers when given the best of culture and sur- 

 rounded by an abundance of the most available plant food on which to 

 fatten and develop its luscious receptacle. 



The first improvement recognized as essential by advanced horticultu- 

 rists is clean and thorough culture, consisting of a deep, rich, finely pulver- 

 ized soil, in which the plant roots can luxuriate, kept moist and clean by 

 shallow tillage after the plants are set. To attain this object we should 

 first plow deep and fine, and, if the soil is not rich make it so. If enriched 

 with coarse unfermented stable manure, always plow it under; if by con- 

 centrated fertilizers, apply on the surface and then harrow and cross har- 

 row and harrow again, until the surface is a smooth, soft and firm carpet 

 of pulverized earth. After the plants are set, continue to go over the 

 ground at least once a week until August; don't think you must wait un- 

 til the weeds get a good start before you kill them, for that is not the sole 

 purpose of cultivation, as some suppose. But keep a light porous blanket 

 of earth all over the surface, and, if properly done the weeds will never see 

 daylight. 



We use for this purpose in addition to our regular cultivators (which 

 run too deep and throw dirt over the plants), extra side-pieces containing 

 ten small harrow teeth, attached to the center-beam of the cultivator 

 in place of the regular side-pieces. These work admirably, except after 

 heavy rains, when the larger teeth are necessary to first loosen the sur- 

 face. Narrow the cultivated space as the runners encroach upon it, and 

 use the hoe and rake wherever there is room among the plants. Nothing 

 will so well secure the coolness and moisture necessary to develop the 

 healthy vigorous root growth essential to sustain and mature a large crop 

 as this mulch, or blanket of fine earth, over the surface of the soil, and 

 upon this root-development depends the productiveness of the plants. 



Mr. C. A. Green says: "But let me tell you that it-is work that brings 

 the berries; work, I say, and hard work too, tugging and sweating. Don't 

 take stock in those poetry fellows. Don't get the notion that a big crop 

 of berries, growing as rank as horseradish, with gaps along the rows, 

 came there by whistling for them. Just bet your life that the man who 

 owns that patch nearly broke his back planting and hoeing and weeding; 

 and, if he had'nt, he would not get any profit out of them." These are the 

 words of one of our most successful horticulturists. 



Nearly all of our best varieties set more fruit than they are able to pro- 

 perly mature, and the berries decrease rapidly in size after the first pick- 

 ing from root exhaustion; while others are always small from the in- 

 ability of their roots to gather and assimilate enough food for their per- 

 fect nutrition. 



Our own fields were cultivated and hoed eight times last summer, and 

 would have been better if we had gone over them once or twice more; and 

 no one should plant a larger area than what they are able to give at least 



