PART SIX: SMALL FRUITS 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

 BERRIES AND CURRANTS IN CALIFORNIA 



In suitable soils and situations, and with proper care and cultivation, 

 the small fruits sustain the general reputation of California by the size 

 and quality of the product, and by the long-continued and abundant 

 fruiting of the plants. Probably nowhere else in the world do small 

 fruits better repay generous treatment than in this State, and probably 

 nowhere do they suffer more from neglect. There are parts of the 

 State, of course, where some small fruits, left to their own resources, 

 thrive and bear abundantly, but, speaking of the State as a whole, the 

 price of success is intelligent devotion on the part of the grower. 



There are localities in California which favor almost continuous 

 growth and fruiting of some of the small fruits, and it is no fiction to 

 say that in such a place one may have raspberries and strawberries 

 upon his table every month of the year. Such situations are the thermal 

 belts, which are practically frostless, and, by securing favoring moisture 

 conditions in the soil and proper varieties of the fruits, the existing 

 temperature conditions will produce the results indicated. Though this 

 be the case, the profitable growth of small fruits is not, of course, 

 restricted to such situations, but the largest commercial enterprises are 

 carried on in places where the summer-crop rule prevails, but the bear- 

 ing season is much larger than in the eastern States. 



Small fruits for family use may be grown on all fertile soils, and 

 therefore they should be produced on every farm. Growing for market 

 on a large scale involves considerations of suitability of soil and climate, 

 ease of cultivation, water supply, and facilities for transportation, which 

 will probably occur to any one who gives the matter the thought and 

 personal observation of existing small fruit farms, which such an 

 important commercial venture should command. 



It is often claimed that soil for small fruits should be deep and rich 

 of the types generally called garden soils. There is an advantage in 

 this because of amount of plant food and retention of moisture when 

 well cultivated, but at the same time shallow soils even when overlying 

 hardpan, which may not suit deep rooting trees or garden roots, can 

 be profitably used for small fruits if water and fertilizers are intelli- 

 gently used. This will be stated more fully in the discussion of the 

 strawberry, but the general fact is pertinent to the growth of other 

 small fruits also. 



Preparation of soil for small fruits should be most thorough and 

 careful. Even more generous work than that commanded in Chapter 

 X for trees and vines should be done. It is the more necessary to 

 work deeply because subsequent culture of small fruits must be shallow. 



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