PART SIX: SMALL FRUITS 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

 BERRIES AND CURRENTS IN CALIFORNIA 



In suitable soils and situations, and with proper care and cultiva- 

 tion, the small fruits sustain the general reputation of California 

 by the size and quality of the product, and by the long-continued 

 and abundant fruiting* of the plants. Probably nowhere else in the 

 world do small fruits better repay generous treatment than in this 

 State, and probably nowhere do they suffer more from neglect. 

 There are parts of the State, of course, where some small fruits, left 

 to their own resources, thrive and bear abundantly, but, speaking of 

 the State as a whole, the price of success is intelligent devotion on 

 the part of the grower. 



There are localities in California which favor almost continuous 

 growth and fruiting of some of the small fruits, and it is no fiction 

 to say that in such a place one may have raspberries and straw- 

 berries upon his table every month of the year. Such situations are 

 the thermal belts, which are practically frostless, and, by securing 

 favoring moisture conditions in the soil and proper varieties of the 

 fruits, the existing temperature conditions will produce the results 

 indicated. Though this be the case, the profitable growth of small 

 fruits is not, of course, restricted to such situations, but the largest 

 commercial enterprises are carried on in places where the summer- 

 crop rule prevails, but the bearing season is much larger than in the 

 eastern States. 



Small fruits for family use may be grown on all fertile soils, and 

 therefore they should be produced on every farm. Growing for 

 market on a large scale involves considerations of suitability of soil 

 and climate, ease of cultivation, water supply, and facilities for 

 transportation, which will probably occur to any one who gives the 

 matter the thought and personal observation of existing small fruit 

 farms, which such an important commercial venture should 

 command. 



It is often claimed that soil for small fruits should be deep and 

 rich of the types generally called garden soils. There is an advan- 

 tage in this because of amount of plant food and retention of moist- 

 ure when well cultivated, but at the same time shallow soils even 

 when overlying hardpan, which may not suit deep rooting trees or 



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