158 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



people to realize these facts, and I believe a strong 

 feeling of disapprobation prevails against the man- 

 agement of the officers of some insurance compa- 

 nies, at least, and I think, not without reason. 



Reader, have you paid your money to have your 

 buildings insured against fire ? If so, look to eve- 

 ry thing that can affect your policy, for I do not be- 

 lieve there is one in four that is good against a mu- 

 tual fire insurance company, and you nor I may 

 not be among the lucky ones. P. B. P. 



THE CULTIVATION OF GARDEN 

 FRUITS. 



AVe have given several times discussions by the 

 Farmers' Club at Concord, Mass., and they have 

 been of a nature to attract sufficient attention to be 

 copied by other journals. At a recent meeting, the 

 subject under consideration was the cultivation of 

 Garden Fruits. Among the speakers was John 

 B. Moore, Esq., of Concord, well known to the far- 

 mers of Middlesex county, and to the horticultu- 

 rists of the State. We have a sketch of his remarks, 

 and yield our own space in order to give them sea- 

 sonable room. He spoke first of 



The Curramt. — It is a hardy shrub and of easj-^ 

 cultivation ; for sauce, and cooking in various forms, 

 it can be produced at less expense than almost any 

 of the garden fruits ; still, from want of proper cul 

 tivation, you will find ten bushels of poor to one of 

 well grown fruit. In their cultivation, I have tried 

 various methods of pruning ; the tree shape I was 

 much pleased with for three or four years, then I 

 began to have trouble with the worms in the stalk, 

 which has obliged me to give up that manner of 

 pruning. I now raise my plants from the cuttings 

 allowing them to branch from the ground, and oc- 

 casionally thinning out the old wood. I plant a few 

 bushes in a warm and dry location for early use, 

 but for the main crop, select a strong, moist and 

 rich soil, then with good cultivation and proper 

 ^ thinning of the wood, it will be almost a certain 

 crop. 



The Gooseberry. — 1 have had much less expe- 

 * rience with the gooseberry, have cultivated hardly 

 any but the foreign varieties, and losing most of 

 the crop by mildew ; some of the American varie- 

 ties have succeeded better; they require cultivation 

 similar to the currant. 



The Raspberry AND High-bush Blackberry, 

 I have cultivated with indifferent success. Some of 

 the varieties of each are splendid in size and quality. 



The Grape. — That the grape is one of the most 

 desirable of all our fruits there is no doubt, and 

 t>hat for out-door cultivation, the variety called the 

 Concord, for its earliness, hardiness, quality, produc- 

 tiveness, and general vigor of growth, is unsurpass- 

 ed by any variety now in cultivation which we have 

 proved. 



The Strawberry, so high fiavored, fragrant 

 and beautiful in appearance, with its productiveness 



and ready sale in the market, if rightly managed, is 

 so easy of cultivation, that no farmer should neglect 

 to raise enough for the consumption of his family, 

 I know that some farmers say that we cannot afford 

 to grow or eat strawberries or any of the small 

 fruits, but that we must give all our time to the po- 

 tatoes and corn, and that hog and hominy, with oc- 

 casionally a few whortleberries when they do not 

 sell for more than three cents a quart in the mar- 

 ket, is all that farmers can afford to eat. But I be- 

 lieve that if any portion of the community are enti- 

 tled to eat fruits, it is those that grow them, and 

 also that it is a duty that every cultivator owes to 

 his family to produce at least enough for their con- 

 sumption. 



Now as to the method of cultivation. I have 

 tried various modes, single rows, beds and hills, but 

 were I now intending to grow them to any extent 

 I should adopt the following method : in April or 

 May, having the land plowed and harrowed fine, 

 work in manure enough to last two years and proceed 

 to plant in rows three feet apart 5 then sow between 

 each row a row of turnip-beets or some other veg- 

 etables that the crop could be gathered in August ; 

 keep the ground free from weeds, allowing the 

 plants to spread as much as they please. 



The next spring, as soon as the land is dry 

 enough to work, spade over the ground one foot 

 wide where the rows of beets stood, which will 

 leave the beds of strawberries two feet wide, the 

 space of one foot which was dug over making the 

 path ; then thin the plants where too thick. About 

 the first week in June, mulch the paths with fresh 

 cut grass, when everything is done but gathering 

 and marketing the crop. After they are all gath- 

 ered, which will be from the 5th to the 10th of July, 

 put on a dressing of manure, and plow with a sod 

 plow; turn over smoothly, sow with rutabaga, or 

 corn, or oats for fodder. My reasons for this course 

 are the following : the first year the crop of vege- 

 tables between the rows will pay the expenses, and 

 the strawberries are easily managed and very cer- 

 tain to leave the ground well stocked with plants ; 

 the second year you will get a full crop without 

 much labor and little annoyance from weeds ; if you 

 undertake to weed out and continue the bed anoth- 

 er year, you will have an almost endless job of 

 weeding in a very busy time of the year, and if you 

 should go to the trouble, your crop will be much 

 smaller than the first year. By following this plan 

 I think they can be produced much cheaper than 

 otherwise. 



Now suppose a person devotes four square rods 

 to strawberries for his family, — from that with good 

 cultivation he will get 100 quarts, which is much 

 less than I have seen grown on the same quantity 

 of land; how can he supply his family with anything 

 better or cheaper ? 



If you want the profit, compare the result with 



