SMALL-FRUIT CULTURE FOR MARKET. 



CHOICE OF LOCATION. 



No small fruit plantation is likely to 

 be profitable if located far from a mar- 

 ket or convenient shipping point. In 

 selecting a location special attention 

 should be paid to the character of the 

 roads, il the fruit must be hauled by 

 waggon for any considerable distance. 

 If railroad or steamboat transportation 

 is to be depended on, the efificiency and 

 enterprise of existing lines should be 

 investigated, as the character of their 

 service will be of great importance when 

 fruit shipments begin. 



In any given locality the most im- 

 portant consideration should be the 

 selection of a site reasonably safe from 

 killing frosts in spring. Away from the 

 influence of bodies of water such sites 

 are usually found on small plateaus or 

 gentle slopes terminating in abrupt 

 ravines or valleys where prompt and 

 thorough cold-air drainage exists. Flat 

 land, remote from open water and un- 

 broken by ravines or hills, should al- 

 ways be regarded with suspicion, par- 

 ticularly if underlaid by a cold and 

 badly drained subsoil. Bottom lands, 

 in which admirable soil for small fruits 

 is often found, are usually too uncer- 

 tain in their fruit production, owing to 

 frequent frost injury. 



The soil requirements of the different 

 species vary considerably, but all thrive 

 in a moderately deep loamy soil that 

 holds moisture well at all times without 

 becoming soggy during protracted rain- 

 fall. 



The exposure to be sought varies 

 with the latitude, the climate, and the 

 aim of the grower. If earliness is requi- 

 site to secure profitable prices, and the 

 locality one in which late frosts are in- 

 frequent, a southern slope is preferable ; 

 if, on the other hand, a uniform and 

 regular demand exists, regardless of a 

 few days' difference in time of ripening, 



a gentle northern or north-eastern ex- 

 posure should be selected. In most 

 localities, however, the matter of slope 

 is of much less importance than that 

 of comparative elevation of the site. It 

 should be higher than the adjacent 

 land without being bleak, and should 

 furnish a soil of at least fair fertility. 



PREP.\RATION OF SOIL. 



The selection of the proper prepara- 

 tory crop is a matter of much import- 

 ance. In general some hoed crop 

 should precede the planting of any of 

 the small fruits. With the strawberry 

 at least two years of cultivation should 

 intervene between well-established sod 

 and the planting of berries, in sections 

 where the white grub abounds. Corn 

 or potatoes, well manured and kept free 

 from weeds throughout the season by 

 thorough cultivation, are good prepara- 

 tory crops. In trucking regions almost 

 any of the annual vegetables will do to 

 precede small fruits. The objects to 

 be attained are (i) to free the ground 

 from seeds of annual weeds, (2) to 

 eradicate established perennials of every 

 sort, including grasses ; (3) to get rid 

 of noxious insect larvK, and {4) to leave 

 the soil in that lively and mellow con- 

 dition which the grower characterizes 

 as " good tilth." If any portion of the 

 field remains wet long after rains dur- 

 ing any portion of the year, it should 

 be drained before planting. In most 

 soils and locations tile underdrains are 

 preferable, though boards, poles, or 

 stones are sometimes used to good 

 advantage. If all of these are imprac- 

 ticable, land nat-urally wet can some- 

 times be made to yield fairly good crops 

 by planting on ridges thrown up with 

 the plow and depending upon open 

 ditches to remove surface water. 



Stumps, loose roots, and stones large 

 enough to interfere with the cultivator 



