322 SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



shade their fruit from the hot sun. I cuhivate with a small 

 hand cultivator, partly invented by myself, and by hoeing. 

 4. What fertilizer do you consider most efficient? A compost 

 of stable manure, muck, and potash. 5. What winter protection 

 do you give, if any ? None needed. For summer protection, 

 pir.e straw between plants ; this answers a double purpose, — to 

 keep the fruit clean, also to protect the plants in warm, dry 

 v/e-ithcr, and retain moisture. 6. Do you consider spring or 

 fall the best season for planting in your locality 1 If I have 

 home-grown plants, I prefer planting from last of August to first 

 of December. Northern plants, unless grown in pots, do best 

 if obtained in November or December. I will add here, for 

 your information, Wilson's Albany is very shy of making run- 

 ners for the first year or two after coming from the North. Seth 

 Boyden and Charles Downing take possession of the ground 

 after fruiting is over. 



William James. 



Mr. P. J. Berkmans, the well-known horticulturist of 

 Augusta, Ga., informed me that the Kentucky, Charles 

 Downing, and Crescent endured the southern sun well, and 

 that the Captain Jack and Sharpless were fine with them ; 

 all the purple cane and black-cap raspberries did well, but 

 none of the foreign kinds thrived. Mr. Berkmans remarked 

 that, even after ten years of bearing, he hesitated to express 

 a positive opinion concerning a fruit, so great are the diflTer- 

 ences caused by location and soil. It is your young men 

 that have been two or three years in the business, who have 

 positive opinions on every subject. 



In the suburbs of Savannah, Ga., I found three quarters 

 of an acre of strawberries that had yielded a clear profit of 

 ;?8oo in one season. The preparation and culture for this 

 profitable crop were as follows : A good coat of manure was 

 S])read early in spring and plowed under. Cow-peas were 

 then sown and plowed under in August, when another coat 

 of manure w^as harrowed in. Planting was commenced 



