208 FEUIT-GROWING 



have all seen blackberries, raspberries, goose- 

 berries, and other forms growing with seeming 

 thrift along the roadsides. Why, then, should 

 these same fruits require any real attention 

 when transplanted to our gardens? 



So doubtless have thought many farmers, 

 only to come to grief as they watched their 

 berry plantations sicken and die without pro- 

 ducing any return to pay the labor of the orig- 

 inal planting. As a matter of fact I know of 

 no branch of fruit-growing that requires 

 greater skill or more intensive cultivation than 

 does the growing of the small fruits. And in 

 this connection I use the word "cultivation" in 

 its widest sense, to include all the tricks we 

 practise upon our growing things. 



To begin with the soil must be right, the 

 planting be properly done (and with good 

 plants), the field thoroughly cultivated and the 

 pruning, spraying and harvesting carefully 

 looked after. Neglect one of these points and 

 you court failure as surely as summer follows 

 spring. 



And what, you ask, constitutes the "right 

 soil"? The answer varies somewhat with the 

 kind of small fruit you propose to plant, though 

 in every case it should be fairly rich in quality. 

 If it is not so by nature then I advise you to be 

 liberal with the applications of manure which 

 you put on before the field is set. Perhaps a 



