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acre. How much shall we need for the family? We want an average of two quarto 

 on every breakfast and tea table, which would be nearly or about one bushel a week 

 By planting three or f our sorts, we may have them for a month. We must, therefore, 

 provide for four or five bushels. At one-half the amount per acre just indicated, one 

 twentieth of an acre would do, or eight square rods. Prepare the ground at once, sei 

 out the plants, keep the rows clean and free from runners, and you cannot fail to bi 

 highly gratified with the result. Remember the condition — keep the rows clean— foi 

 if you allow them to become weedy, they will bear but little, and will soon run out ; 

 and you will probably come to the conclusion that strawberries " won't pay," and are 

 "a humbug." You would have the same opinion of raising corn if you planted it 

 without plowing the ground, or allowed the weeds and grass to overtop the corn. 

 Strawberries are as easy to hoe as corn. 



Currants follow strawberries. They come at a time when every farmer has plenty 

 of cream to add to them. The Red Dutch, the White Dutch, the Cherry or Versailles, 

 and the White Grape, furnish an excellent supply. Take the two last named, mixed 

 together, the one cream white, and the other deep crimson, and both nearly as large 

 as medium grapes, and they present a rich and attractive appearance, fit for the table 

 of a sovereign — as every American voter is. Currants scarcely ever fail — but'to be 

 really fine they must be properly pruned, and kept well cultivated. Neglect them, 

 allow them to become stunted and full of brush, and the finest will be small and sour; 

 but thin out judiciously the old wood and needless shoots, and by good cultivation put , 

 life and vigor into the bushes, and they will bear trusses of large berries worth seeing.. 

 As a general rule, neglected bushes growing in grass, bear currants about one-fifth the 

 size of those properly cared for. It is not uncommon to find Cherry and Versailles 

 currants five-eighths of an inch in diameter, and White Grape currants half an inch, 

 when well cultivated. 



Raspberries ripen about midsummer in the north. It is wholly needless to say a 

 word in f av«r of their excellence ; the only point is to induce landowners to plant and 

 take care of them — the latter the most difficult of all. Not that there is any particular 

 difficulty in their management, but they are too often entirely neglected. They are as 

 easy to hoe as cabbages, and not harder to prune than to whittle. A little practical 

 attention will teach any one how to do it. Any one who has seen such a fruit as the 

 Mammoth Cluster, yielding berries under good culture three-fourths of an inch average 

 diameter, and at the rate of one hundred good bushels to the acre, ought to be easily 

 1 persuaded to set out two or three dozen bushes, and to give them some attention. 

 Mixed in a dish with the Golden Thornless, which are about the same size, they form 

 a fine ornament to the table. 



Last of all, during the latter part of summer, come the Blackberries. Within a few 

 years, greatly improved varieties have come into cultivation. The Kittatinny is be- 

 coming a general favorite at the east and west, its extreme hardiness giving it an im- 

 portant advantage over most other and tenderer varieties. The most common mistake 

 in the management of blackberry bushes, is, in not pruning them right— or, rather, 

 they are not pruned at all. The shoots grow six or eight feet in one season, bend 

 partly over, obstruct the passage half a rod wide, and catch with their numerous spines 

 every person that comes near them. Allowed to run in this way, they do not bear 

 well. The right way is to pinch them in while growing so as to prevent their becom- 

 ing more than three or four feet high. When they attain this height, nip off with the 

 fingers the green tips of each stem ; and after they throw outside, shoots a foot or so, 

 pinch them off too. Keep pinching as often as necessary, so as to keep them within 

 bounds. Thus treated, they will not require staking, they will be hardier will bear 

 more abundantly, and will not spread themselves beyond discreet bounds,— four im- 

 portant advantages. 



Now, who will hesitate to devote a fourth or an eighth of an acre to small fruits for 

 ins iamily ? lhe labor and attention to keep them all in good order, will be small if 

 begun early. If left till the weeds have full possession, the work will be increased at 

 least twenty fold, and the plants, will be nearly ruined besides. Do the work well and 

 early.and it will require but little labor and expense. A supply of these delicious 

 luxuries through the whole summer, will have an excellent effect in making home 

 attractive to the young people, and thus tend to keep them away from grog shops, 

 midnight parties and carousals. It will have a humanizing influence on all the mem' 

 °" 8 „ i' h f ? famdy and, be worth more than any one eloquent sermon on the amenities 

 and affections of civilized Lie. Do not omit making provisir n for a bountiful supply; 



J. J. Thomas. 



