SMALL FRUITS 209 



light clay loam, well under-drained, is the best 

 for the majority of our bush fruits and for 

 strawberries as well. We may have success 

 with wide variations from this ideal, but such 

 success depends upon the local treatment of the 

 soil in question. For instance, I have seen 

 many fine fields of strawberries growing in 

 what appeared to be almost pure sand, but 

 investigation usually revealed the fact that 

 such beds had been prepared either by turning 

 under heavy crops of clover or other green stuff 

 or by providing humus in the form of heavy ap- 

 plications of manure. Then too the question of 

 soil is interwoven with the question of variety. 

 In the case of strawberries this is especially 

 true. An Aroma berry plant will thrive and 

 grow great on a heavy soil that would cause a 

 Klondyke to perish. In no case should the soil 

 be of such a heavy character that it will form a 

 stiff hard crust quickly after a rain — leave the 

 good " baking quality" to the flour millers, but 

 avoid it in the berry patch. 



Small fruits are propagated in various ways, 

 according to the sort of fruit that is being 

 grown. In all cases, however, new varieties 

 are produced from seed — just as are the new 

 varieties of practically all plants. Many of 

 these new varieties, too, come as " chance 

 seedlings" in fence corners, along streams and 

 in other waste places where the seeds have been 



