FRUIT CULTURE IN AMERICA 319 



In all parts of the country and for all classes of grapes thorough tillage by 

 horse-power is the common practice. Tools are made that leave very little to 

 be done by hand. Manuring is resorted to where the soil is not naturally 

 fertile enough, but this is rarely the case until the vineyards have borne several 

 crops. 



THE BERRIES 



Undoubtedly North America leads the world in the popular use of berries. 

 They are not a luxury with us, but a common article of food. The aboriginal 

 inhabitants used them freely, as they grew in the wild state, and they are still 

 so gathered in large quantities by our people ; but almost every native species 

 has been brought under cultivation and others introduced from foreign countries. 

 This work is still going on, and many crosses are made in every conceivable 

 way between varieties, and in some cases between species, with the most 

 favourable results. 



The Strawberry. — The most common of all this class of fruits is the 

 strawberry. It grows wild from Alaska and Hudson's Bay to Mexico. There 

 is not a State or territory where it is not cultivated and the fruits consumed in 

 great abundance. Both city and country people enjoy strawberries and cream 

 when the fruit is in season. By the modern means of transporting in re- 

 frigerator cars strawberries are sent for thousands of miles, and it is possible to 

 find a few in the fancy markets at almost any time of year. During the flood- 

 tide of ripening the humblest may indulge in at least an occasional feast of fresh 

 strawberries. They are sometimes retailed at five cents per quart. There are 

 single railway stations from which more than 100 car-loads of 16,000 quarts 

 each are sent in one season. Fields of 50 to 100 acres belonging to one 

 grower are not uncommon. The methods of culture do not vary greatly, and 

 all of them include the use of horses very largely. By the use of modern tools 

 there is little left for the hand-hoe to do. Even planting is done by machinery 

 in some cases. The most common system of cultivation is what is called the 

 matted row. The plants are set about 2 feet apart in rows that are from 

 3^ to 5 feet apart. By frequent stirring of the soil with horse-cultivators it is 

 kept loose and free from weeds, except in the immediate line of the plants, 

 where some handwork is often necessary. The young plants are allowed to 

 spread over a strip, varying, according to the wish of the grower, from i to 3 

 feet wide. Another plan is to put the rows about 3 feet apart, and the plants a 

 foot apart, or a little more, in the rows, and keep all the runners cut off. This 

 necessitates what is called the stool system. It produces the largest berries, but 

 requires much work. By either method the best growers never allow the plants 

 to bear more than two crops, and some but one. If they are left longer the 

 weeds and grass become very troublesome, and the berries are not so large as on 

 young plants. It is cheaper and better to plough them under and spend the 

 labour on new plantations. The native varieties are well flavoured but small in 

 berry, and this caused the first attempts at cultivation to be made with the 

 English varieties. But the two species were soon hybridised, and a new race 

 was thus originated that surpasses either alone. We now have varieties of 



