PART SIX: SMALL FRUITS 



CHAPTER XXXVI 



BERRIES AND CURRANTS IN CALIFORNIA 



In suitable soils and situations, and with proper care and cultiva- 

 tion, 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 straw- 

 berries upon his table every month of the year. Such situations 

 are the thermal belts, which are practically frostless, and, by secur- 

 ing 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 bearing season is much longer 

 than in the eastern States. 



The U. S. Census of 1920 reports the small fruit interests of 

 California for the year 1919 as follows: 



Product 



Kind. Acreage. Quarts. Farm Value. 



Strawberries 4,074 10,808,948 $2,161,612 



Blackberries 1,742 2,549,082 549,816 



Loganberries 459 655,592 131,119 



Raspberries 417 882,432 185,310 



Currants 298 511,278 97,147 



Other berries 46 52,294 7,848 



Totals 7,290 15,458,726 $3,092,852 



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, and local organizations for marketing, all of 



