212 bcist's family kitchen gardener. 



Planting. — They should be put out in rows three feet apart 

 and four feet from row to row. Two hundred plants is not 

 too many for a family. Grive them plenty of manure every 

 year. Dig deep, but not close to the bottom of the plant. A 

 situation partially shaded, or naturally moist, though not wet. 

 is the best locality. A plantation will last twenty years if 

 properly attended to by enriching every year. 



Pruning. — The first fruit I ever pruned was the Raspberry, 

 and it is the only one that can be reduced to a simple rule. In 

 the Autumn cut out all the old wood that produced fruit the 

 past summer, close to the ground ; tie up the new shoots to a 

 stake or trellis, about five feet high ; then cut off about a foot 

 of the tops of the shoots, and the work is done. In cold situa- 

 tions the plants, after having been deprived of their old wood, 

 have to be laid down all Winter, and covered with earth. Spruce, 

 or Pine branches, till Spring, when they are lifted and tied up 

 as above. The Ohio and Franconia varieties do not require 

 this protection. 



STRAWBERRY. 



Fragaria^ var. — Fraisier^ Fr. — Erdbeerpflanzr, Ger. 



The Strawberry, so called from the ancient practice. — and 

 still continued — of laying straw between the rows to keep the 

 fruit clean. It is not properly a berry, but considered '-a 

 fleshy receptacle, studded with seeds." It is a wholesome and 

 most luscious fruit, and wisely distributed by a bountiful hand 

 over nearly every part of the world. Its cultivation has been 

 little regarded till within the past thirty years ; and even at 

 the present period is very imperfectly understood. Its health- 

 ful influence upon nearly all constitutions, when taken in mod- 

 erate quantities, is admitted by medical men. The demand, 

 for it in a commercial point of view is rapidly on the increase, 

 which has created a desire to know its character an;! improve 



