SMALL-FRUIT CULTURE FOR MARKET. 



week is not too frequent for the shallow 

 cultivation of the small fruits during 

 the growing season, and during the 

 July and August drought that frequently 

 prevails the surface soil should rarely 

 remain unstirred longer than four or 

 five days. Toward the end of summer, 

 particularly on rich and moist soils, 

 cultivation of the bush fruits should be 

 less frequent, and it should entirely 

 cease before the first frosts occur. The 

 use of the hoe in small-fruit plantations 

 should be avoided as far as possible, 

 but when needed hoeing should be 

 promptly done. With land in good 

 tilth and clean at the start, with fertili- 

 zers free from grass and weed seeds, 

 the necessity for the expensive and 

 laborious use of the hoe as formerly 

 practised is greatly reduced. But in 

 order to accomplish this the land must 

 be free from clods, sticks, and stones, 

 the cultivator teeth sharp, the horse 

 steady and true, and the man active 

 and careful. 



PRUNING AND WINTER TREATMENT. 



Where winters are severe enough 

 once in four years to seriously injure 

 unprotected bush fruits, mulching or 

 laying down will often pay well. Much 

 depends upon the character and cost 

 of the material used, and its durability. 

 Straw, unless clean threshed and free 

 from grass seeds, is a most productive 

 source of future trouble to the grower. 

 Forest leaves can be secured in sutifi- 

 cient quantity in some localities to be 

 available for use among the bush fruits. 

 Where obtainable, pine needles also 

 form an admirable mulch, and with a 

 little care in removing can be used two 

 or three times. Broken cornstalks that 

 have been well tramped over in the 

 barnyard are useful, and sorghum bag- 

 asse is utilized in some sections. In 

 colder and drier climates the only sure 



protection for blackberries and rasp- 

 berries is the laying down and covering 

 of the canes. This is accomplished by 

 digging away from one side of the plant, 

 toppling it over with a fork, and wholly 

 or partially covering the canes with 

 earth from between the rows. This 

 method involves staking or trellising 

 the bushes when they are raised again 

 in spring, but it is found profitable 

 because of the insurance against crop 

 failure which it affords. On most heavy 

 soils water furrows should be run be- 

 tween the rows with a light one horse 

 or shovel plow late in fall, in order 

 that surface water may be promptly 

 removed during the winter months. 



With the strawberry the only pruning 

 needed will be the removal of super- 

 fluous runners. The raspberry and the 

 blackberry, bearing their fruit almost 

 exclusively on branches from canes of 

 the previous year, are benefited by sys- 

 tematic pruning, while the currant and 

 the gooseberry need it as urgently as do 

 the tree fruits or the grape, if large fruit 

 is the object sought. 



Though sometimes subject to serious 

 damage by insects and fungous diseases, 

 the small fruits, as a class, are less in- 

 jured by them than the'J^tree fruits. 

 Most of the serious troubles may be 

 avoided by choosing vigorous and re- 

 sistant varieties or by spraying with well- 

 known insecticides and fungicides. 



VARIETIES FOR MARKEF. 



In the selection of varieties for plant- 

 ing, the best guide will always be local 

 experience. If the grower aims to sup- 

 ply a home demand, he may often find 

 it profitable to grow varieties which, 

 because of lack of firmness, would be 

 valueless for shipment. The published 

 bulletins of the experiment stations af- 

 ford much light on the subject by indi- 

 cating in a general way what the bcha. 



