142 SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



Few fields in our region are wholly free from them, and a 

 few of the voracious pests would leave the ground bare, for 

 they devour the roots all summer long. In the third place, 

 where so much of the ground is unoccupied, the labor of 

 mulching, so that the soil can be kept moist and the fruit 

 clean is very great. 



In small garden-plots, when the plants can be set only two 

 feet apart each way, the results of this system are often most 

 admirable. The entire spaces between them can be kept 

 mellow and loose, and therefore moist. There is room to 

 dig out and eradicate the roots of the worst weeds. By fre- 

 quently raking the ground over, the annual weeds do not 

 get a chance to start. In the rich soil the plants make 

 great, bushy crowns that nearly touch each other, and as 

 they begin to blossom, the whole space between them can 

 be mulched with straw, grass, etc. The runners can easily 

 be cut away when the plants are thus isolated. Where 

 there are not many white grubs in the soil, the hill system 

 is well adapted to meet garden culture, and the result, in a 

 prolonged season of large, beautiful fruit, will be most satis- 

 factory. JSIoreover, the berries, being exposed on all sides 

 to the sun, will be of the best flavor. 



In the South, the hill system is the only one that can be 

 adopted to advantage. There the plants are set in the 

 summer and autumn, and the crop is taken from them the 

 following spring. Therefore each plant must be kept from 

 running, and be stimulated to do its best within a given 

 space of time. In the South, however, the plants are set 

 but one foot apart in the rows, and thus little space is lost. 



I am satisfied that the method best adapted to our East- 

 ern and Western conditions is what is termed the " narrow 

 row system," believing that it will give the greatest amount 

 of fine fniit with the least degree of trouble and expense. 



