12 



SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION. 



Small fruits may be successfully grown on almost any soil 

 which is in suitable condition for the ordinary field and garden 

 crops. Land well prepared for corn, potatoes, or any of the 

 root crops, will insure, other conditions being favorable, a prof- 

 itable yield of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, 

 or gooseberries. It is true that some fruits require a strong 

 soil and high cultivation, while others will succeed admirably on 

 rather light, sandy, or gravelly land, with comparatively little 

 care. The extremes, loose sand and heavy clay, should of 

 course be avoided. The slip-shod sloven will do well to inquire 

 for and plant out the varieties last named only. The more care- 

 ful cultivator will select a plot such as he would prefer for gar- 

 den vegetables, and prepare it in a similar manner. 



To say that small fruits must be planted on soil plowed or 

 trenched eighteen, twenty, or twenty-four inches deep, and re- 

 ceive an application of ten, fifteen, or twenty cords of fine old 

 manure to the acre, is only to frighten the novice out of his wits, 

 or, at least, out of any idea he may entertain of growing small 

 fruits at all. It is not denied that surprising results may be 

 attained by adopting such methods, but the returns will not jus- 

 tify the outlay. 



This statement is made after having tested nearly all the vari- 

 ous methods recommended. In one instance the ground was 

 trenched with a spade two feet deep, and well fertilized to that 

 depth with fine old manure. Strawberry plants were set in beds 

 containing three rows each one foot by eighteen inches, with 

 walks of two feet between the beds. All runners were cut as 

 soon as they appeared, and each plant formed a stool as large 

 as a well cultivated hill of beans. The result was simply won- 

 derful. As many as twenty-seven fruit stocks were counted on 

 one plant of the Wilson, and the yield was undoubtedly a quart 

 to a plant in many instances. But it did not pay ; the expense 

 was too great, not less than $300 per acre. I have grown as 

 fine berries, and nearly MS large a crop, with half the manure, 

 on land plowed less than a foot deep. But it must be admit- 

 ted that under the treatment first named the plants continued 

 to yield well one or two years longer than under the hitler. 



Remunerative crops are not likely to be repeated under the 



