ROEDING'S FRUIT GROWERS' GUIDE 



93 



A berry patch for the home. By planting an assortment, it is possible to have berries from April to December in 

 California. Row 1. Loganberries; Row 2. Cuthbert Raspberries; Row 3. Himalaya Blackberries. 



favorable for berry culture and close to the markets of 

 any consequence they could be made immensely 

 profitable when grown along commercial lines. 



PREPARING THE GROUND 



The preparation of the ground should be thorough. 

 The roots being close to the top of the ground and of a 

 small rather fibrous nature, the importance of having 

 the soil in the very best possible condition to insure a 

 good stand of plants and a satisfactory growth must 

 be apparent to anyone engaged in berry culture. 

 Thorough dressing with well rotted stable manure will 

 do much to promote a vigorous growth the first season, 

 and having secured this, profitable crops may be ex- 

 pected the second year after planting. Mulching with 

 stable manure and discretion in the use of commercial 

 fertilizer will do much to maintain thriftiness in the 

 plants and with it a heavy production of fine, large, 

 luscious berries. As has already been stated berries can 

 not be grown in California without irrigation. So before 

 planting, the land should be graded, having the grade 

 as uniform as possible to prevent flooding. A berry 

 grower should be absolutely certain of water when it is 

 required, and should there be any question about the 

 supply from ditches, a pumping plant should be installed 

 to have water available whenever it is needed, for a 

 delay of even a few days may mean the loss of the entire 

 crop. 



STRAWBERRIES 



In laying off the ground for strawberries it should be 

 graded so the plot has a gradual fall. Extreme care is 

 necessary in this, otherwise sections of the beds may 

 become submerged in irrigating, thus causing the berries 

 to rot. There are several methods of laying out straw- 

 berry beds. In the counties of Alameda, Santa Clara 

 and Santa Cruz, where the business is carried on on a 



commercial scaje, the berry plants are set in a bed two 

 feet wide with a ditch between. The plants are set 

 eighteen inches apart and about four inches from the 

 edge of the bed. In the southern part of the state it is 

 customary to hill up a single row about six inches high 

 with a ditch between. Should there be much fall 

 to the piece of the ground in which the planting is 

 made wooden or metal weirs should be placed in the 

 fields so that when irriga tin g the patch the water in any one 

 section will be on a level. It is very important during 

 the fruit season to keep the plants in an active state of 

 growth by irrigating, weeding and hoeing. In order 

 to obtain large, highly flavored berries pinch off the 

 runners as fast as they appear; this will cause the 

 plants to stock out, as it were, and the very finest 

 strawberries may be expected the following season. 



STANDARD VARIETIES 



Banner, Brandywine, Jessie, Marshall. 



THE BLACKBERRY AND RASPBERRY 



The most satisfactory way of handling blackberries 

 is to plant in rows six feet apart, with eight feet between 

 the rows. The first season all the shoots which have 

 attained a height of two feet should be shortened into 

 twenty inches. This will cause them to send out many 

 lateral shoots, so that instead of having the fruiting 

 shoots confined to a few canes, there will be a number of 

 lateral shoots from each of the main canes for producing 

 fruit clusters. These laterals should have one-half of 

 their growth cut off in the winter months. In the 

 second year, as soon as the season's crop has been har- 

 vested, cut away the fruiting wood, so that all the 

 energy of the plant will be forced into the new growth. 

 The young shoots should again be cut back at the proper 



