128 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
HOTBEDS. 
Farmers hotbeds should be planted at once or as soon as the heat 
is right, and they must be given water when needed and plenty of 
air on all pleasant days. There is seldom any gain in planting any 
seeds of tender vegetables in the open garden during this month» 
but onions, peas and radishes, also lettuce, should be got out as 
early as weather and soil will permit. 
THE FRUIT GARDEN. 
Every farmer may and ought to grow enough small fruit to fur- 
nish his family an abundant supply. 
About thistime we rake the mulching on the strawberry patch 
from over the rows into the spaces between the rows. If the bed was 
carefully cared for last year, it will need no cultivating before the 
fruit is all harvested; if not, it may pay to go through between the 
rows with a fine tooth harrow cultivator,in which case the mulching 
is pitched into every second or third row and back again as the rows 
are cleaned. Weeds among the plants should be cut or pulled out. 
Clean up the raspberry and blackberry plantations. Lift the canes 
carefully that were laid down last fall for winter protection and do 
the necessary cutting back and pruning before the buds start. Give 
bushes support by fastening to stakes on wires, if possible, and as 
soon as the soil is dry enough, cultivate between the rows. Set new 
plantations of the reds and of blackberries,as early as the season will 
allow. The making of new strawberry beds should also be attended 
too by the last of the month in order to get established before hot, 
dry weather sets in. 
Currants and gooseberries should be cleaned out and pruned 
where necessary by cutting out old and surplus canes,and a thorough 
cultivation given before the buds get started. Good barnyard man- 
ure worked in among all kinds of fruit shrubbery at this season will 
increase the crop of fruit and improve the quality. 
New plantations are better for being made early, but in no case 
should the ground be plowed or plants set when the soil is too wet. 
Grape vines are better to be uncovered early, but should not be 
fastened to the trellises until the buds begin to swell; until then 
they had better be horizontal or only the end buds will start. Man- 
uring is always in order during this month. A close watch should 
be kept for insects,and if they appear,spray with a solution of Paris 
green, one pound to 300 gallons of water. 
