VIXEYARD AND SMALL FRUITS. 219 



to be raked from the rows to the spaces between. Fur- 

 rows for watering are then to be opened on one or botli 

 sides of each row. 



Irrigating. The preliminary work of the first year 

 is all that is required in the way of cultivation, and the 

 second year's irrigation need only be sufficient to keep 

 the soil in moist tilth until the critical period of fruit- 

 age, when a good deal of irrigation is necessary, but the 

 soil must not become soaked. The fruiting season may 

 be prolonged from four to six weeks by having made a 

 good selection of early and late plants. After the fruit 

 is set use less water on the early varieties and more on 

 the late. It is a good rule to irrigate immediately after 

 the bed or a portion thereof has been picked, as the sup- 

 plied moisture will be largely instrumental in more per- 

 fectly developing the unripened fruit, and bring it to 

 more complete fruition. It is a good plan, in the spring, 

 to remove the winter mulch from the crowns of the 

 plants only, allowing that portion covering the furrows 

 to remain. Irrigation waters passing under this mulch 

 will have a beneficial effect in fertilizing the soil and 

 assisting plant nutrition. After the crop is gathered 

 the mulch may be removed. Some growers go so far as 

 to run a mowing machine ovep the patch, set as high as 

 possible, to cut off the tops of leaves and all the new 

 weeds, after which the rubbish is all raked up together 

 and drawn off. Then cultivate through the center of the 

 paths, apply a coat of well-rotted manure all over the 

 ground, harrow and cross-harrow with weights on the 

 drag, and then flood the water all over the lot and allow 

 it to soak for two days. When again dry cultivate often 

 and irrigate enough only to keep the surface moist. This 

 is done to encourage the new fibrous roots to grow and 

 form new fruit crowns for the succeeding year's crop. 

 The old crowns soon die under this treatment. The 

 winter care is the same as that of the preceding season. 



