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Till! PAiiMk 



small fruits require so much care and attention, and that, too, in the seabOii 

 ■when they are hardest at work at something else. Field work must he done 

 at all events, and the ' horry patch ' struggles on single handed Avith the 

 weeds and grass, till it submits to the inevitable sward. Sftme years ago- 

 coming into possession of a patch of black cap raspberries that had received 

 tho usual shiftless culture, I treated them in the following way: After care- 

 fully plowing and hoeing them, I covered the ground with a heavy layer of 

 very strawy manure, and the work was done, not only for that year but for 

 tho two years following, only renewing the mulch each spiing. Only a 

 few striiggliug Canada thistles will ever grow through such mulch; the soil 

 is always rich and moist, and the berries can ask no better treatment. Since 

 that time I have tried the same plan without removing tho sod, and find tho 

 result is quite as satisfactory. Farmers, try it, and you will not need to 

 complain that berries cost more than they are worth. 



Winter Protection, of Strawberry Vines. — A good strawberry pro- 

 tector is a cheap baked-clay saucer, twelve to thirteen inches in diameter, 

 with a hole in the center. The advantages claimed by its use are: a much 

 larger crop; much finer berries; cleaner, and free from sand and dirt; 

 mulching the ground; the retention of the rains to the roots of the vines; 

 kilhng the weeds; early ripening; easier picking. They are turned over as a 

 winter protection to the vines. Persons who have used it pronounce it tho 

 most important invention ever made in connection with strawberry raising. 



Setting a Strawberry Bed. — The old plan of spading under a portion 

 of the old strawberry bed, so as to leave the plants in rows, will not pay. 

 Better reset clean land with vigorous plants, arranging to grow a crop of 

 potatoes every third year to clean the land and mellow it. The picking of 

 ben-ies on heavy clay lands causes it to become so packed as to require cul- 

 tivating at least one season ixi every four with some hoed crop. Strawberry 

 plants may be set in May or in August; in fact, at almost any time during the 

 spring, summer or fall season. 



Easy Metliod of Disposing of tlie Currant Womn. — A successful 

 small fruit grower circumvents the ravaging currant worm by allowing no 

 sprouts to grow. He allows but three main stems to a bush, and rubs oft' 

 all root sprouts when about six inches long. The worms begin with the new 

 growth first; hence, he says, no sprouts, no worms. The fruit also is ftvr 

 finer on plants thus treated, the common red Dutch being nearly as large as 

 the Cherry currant, and a better bearer. 



An Easy Metliod of Irrigation. — An old fruit can may be pierced 

 with one or more pin holes, and then sunk in the earth near the roots of the 

 •trawberry or tomato, or other plants, the pin holes to be made of such size 

 that when tho can is filled with water the fluid can only escape into the 

 ground veiy slowly. Practical trials of this method of irrigation leave no 

 doubt of its success. Plants thus watered jield bounteous returns throujsh- 

 out the longest droughts. 



Trellises for Blackberries and Raspberries. — The fruit canes of tixt 

 blackberries and raspberries should bo tied up to stakes or trellisea. 

 The young growing canes form the fruiting ones for next year; cut away aU 

 except three to five to each stool, and when largo enough tie them up; the^ 

 sAiould be pinched off at four feet for raapboniea and sis feet for blackberries. 



