THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



249 



the protection of our raspberries, black- 

 beriies and gi-ape-vines alone may cost 

 hundreds of dollars, but it will yield 

 thousands, and the man who says it 

 pays him one hundred dollars a day is 

 quite under the mark. For protection 

 there is nothing better or handier than 

 earth. A four-tined digging fork will 

 hold almost any plant in position whilst 

 soil is being placed upon it. Two men, 

 or man and a boy, can perhaps work to 

 better advantage than one. One will 

 hold the plant down with a fork whilst 

 the other puts on the earth. Many 

 persons use boards, straw, manure, »fcc., 

 &c., but there is nothing so good as 

 earth for protection. This is exempli- 

 fied every year by die potatoes which 

 come up in the spring in a field which 

 has produced a crop the previous year. 

 This tuber is very tender, and if left on 

 the ground exposed to the sun will not 

 stand i"^ of frost, but if protected with 

 four inches of soil will grow in spring 

 after a hard winter. Altliough it 

 freezes as hard as a brick, the frost is 

 drawn so gently from it that the sap- 

 vessels assume their normal condition 

 and the tuber springs into life. From 

 three to four inches of soil is quite 

 sufficient to protect any plant or vine. 

 Care should be taken not to dig too 

 close to the roots ; the earth should be 

 taken from three to four feet away from 

 the stem of the grape or two feet from 

 berry plants. 



Pruning should always be done be- 

 fore the soil is applied, that is the old 

 canes should be removed and the vines 

 neatly trimmed. For raspberries I 

 generally have a wheel i 'arrow-load of 



sods, cut 4x6 inches square and two 

 inches thick ; press the canes down 

 with the fork, placing the sod on the 

 tips. A few shovel-fuls of earth may 

 be added. Grape vines are often put 

 down when there is two inches of frost 

 in the ground, as the hard surface holds 

 the fork whilst the soil is being applied. 

 It is hardly worth stating that the grape 

 should not be buried until the leaves 

 have fallen and the wood is thoroughly 

 brown and ripe. Two men could easily 

 cover two acres of vines in a day, if they 

 have been previously cut loose from the 

 trellises. With regard to raspberries 

 they may be laid down as described, 

 with a sod and manure thrown on them. 

 This keeps them from the sun, and acts 

 as an excellent mulch for next season. 

 The plants protected may be lifted in 

 the spring, when the frost is out of the 

 ground, and danger of hard weather is 

 over. For vines a cloudy day is )ire- 

 ferred, as the sun cracks and dries them 

 if it strikes too hot when they are first 

 exposed. A three-tined hay-fork is the 

 correct thing to i*aise the plants with in 

 the spring. New plants of grapes, rasp- 

 berries or blackbeiries should always be 

 set in fall, and mounded over with earth 

 which should be carefully removed in 

 spring, a stake being set by each plant 

 to show its position. 



The Gold Strawberry. — Nearly every con- 

 temporary just now has an engraving 

 of this berry. li is one of P. M. 

 Augur's seedlings, and is named in 

 honor of the Hon. T. S. Gold of Con- 

 necticut. Mr. Augur claims that this 

 plant is hardy, vigoi'ous, and quite pi'o- 

 ductive, and preserves at the same time 

 high quality. 



