CHAPTER X 



THE BUSH FRUITS 



THE raspberry, the blackberry and the currant 

 are almost a necessity in the home garden, and 

 when properly cared for are profitable field 

 crops. The raspberry and blackberry require somewhat 

 the same conditions and treatment. They will grow 

 upon almost any good garden soil if it is well under- 

 drained, but to produce large fruit there must be an 

 abundance of moisture in the soil at the time of 

 ripening. This is obtained upon a thin soil by plow- 

 ing in heavy dressings of stable manure or green 

 crops, by mulching, by frequent stirring of the soil, 

 or by irrigation. These are propagated by suckers 

 from the roots i.e., shoots coming from buds on the 

 roots and by root cuttings. The latter are much the 

 best to plant, as they have much larger and finer roots. 

 Root cuttings are made by digging up in the fall a lot of 

 the roots of the kind desired and cutting them into 

 lengths of about two inches. These are planted before 

 the ground freezes, in trenches about five inches wide 

 and two or three inches apart, about as thick as peas 

 would be planted, and covered with two inches of rich 

 soil. Before the ground freezes the trench should be 

 covered with four to six inches of strawy horse manure 

 or straw. In the spring, after the hard freezing is over, 

 the coarse cover is carefully raked off and the surface 

 raked smooth. During the summer one or more shoots 

 will grow from each piece of root, which by the end of the 

 season will be a foot or more high and will make the best 



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