62 BUSH-FRUITS 



having a black loam with clay subsoil, are reported 

 to give the best results. Stony soils may yield just 

 as good crops, but are even more expensive to work 

 than when used for crops for which the ground is 

 plowed every year. 



LOCATION 



Stronger plants and larger fruit can be obtained 

 from the strong, moist soils of valleys and bottom- 

 lands. Such fruit is not equal in flavor, however, to 

 that of the higher lands, and the plants are more 

 likely to be injured by the winters or by late spring 

 frosts. If close to a large body of water, the latter 

 objection is largely obviated. As is true with all the 

 other berries, a cool, northern exposure, which will 

 suffer as little as possible from drought and hot suns, 

 is to be preferred, though by no means necessary. 

 A closely bounded basin is always to be avoided, for 

 in such a situation the extremes of temperature are 

 likely to be much greater. In the bright days of 

 summer the sun may pour its rays into such a place 

 until the atmosphere, owing to lack of circulation, 

 becomes abnormally hot. At night, on the other 

 hand, the cold air will settle into such a position, 

 greatly increasing the danger of untimely frosts, or 

 of injury from excessive cold. A steep hillside is 

 always objectionable, both from the difficulty of cul- 

 tivation and from the loss of fertility and danger to 

 the plants which may come from excessive washing 

 of the" soil. 



